Progress beyond the state of the art until the end of the project:
The project progressed beyond the state of the art in the manipulation of bose einstein condensates, the development of novel resist formulations, laser technology and theory of holographic pattern generation.
Potential impact including socio-economic impact:
The aim of nanolace was to make it possible to do industrial scale production of devices, where two or all of the device dimensions are less than 5 nm;
and producing nanomembranes with holes in the range 1-10 nm. During the past ten to fifteen years the EU has taken a leadership role in both research and commercial
development of lithography. EU lithography tool vendor ASML is the world leader for commercial tools. Innovative new lithography technologies from EU companies, such as multiple electron beam lithography and thermal scanning probe lithography
amongst others, together with the high investment of the EU commission to support research projects in this field, demonstrate the strong interest of the EU in this topic. Nanolace breakthroughs will strengthen the leading position of Europe in the lithography industry, supporting EU policies on EU competitiveness and innovation.
The increase in the capability of computer processors and their improved power performance and efficiency thanks to the introduction of quantum electronic devices will ultimately simplify or enhance consumers’ lives, who are increasingly connected to information at all times, and remove one of the biggest obstacles holding back the Internet of Things and wearable computing, namely: poor battery performance. Moreover, the miniaturisation of electronic devices thanks to Nanolace will satisfy consumer’s increasing demand of smart, small and light wearable devices. The application of Nanolace for the production of nanomembranes for energy efficient de-salination has the potential of a huge societal impact. The UN Sustainable development goal calls for universal access to drinking water. According to the International Water Organisation around 1% of the world’s drinking water is currently
provided by desalination. Desalination is a particularly attractive mean for providing water in the long term, because over 50% of the world population lives in urban centres bordering the ocean and, in many parts, including
Northern Africa the population concentration along the coast exceeds 75%.
While the nanolace goals could not be achieved in the framework of this project the perspectives remain important.
