Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Tailoring topological properties in Weyl semimetal thin films

Project description

Controlling the unique electric properties in topological semimetals

The recently discovered Weyl and Dirac semimetals are types of topological materials that are attracting great interest for their plethora of potential applications. These include high-energy physics, solid-state physics, electronics, spintronics, spin-caloritronics, quantum computing and energy harvesting. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme, the TOP WSF project plans to fabricate thin films of selected topological semimetals with different magnetic ground states (non-magnetic, ferromagnetic, non-collinear antiferromagnetic). The project will use pulsed-laser deposition for their synthesis and establish a protocol to optimise the growing conditions. The ultimate goal is to investigate how their topological electric and thermoelectric transport properties evolve as a function of different parameters, including thin-film thickness, temperature, magnetic fields and strain.

Objective

Recently discovered topological Dirac and Weyl semimetals are provoking an incredible interest not only because they represent a point of contact between high-energy and solid state physics, but also due to the technological perspectives they offer in the fields of electronics, spintronics, spin-caloritronics, quantum computing and energy harvesting. Although several exceptional properties, caused by the non-trivial topology, have been observed on macroscopic single crystals, many concrete applications pass through the integration of candidate materials into nano/micro-structured devices. To this aim, the establishment of methods to fabricate high-quality thin films and the investigation of the evolution of their topological transport properties with scaling the sample dimensions is a crucial step, but the current state of art is still strongly lacking.
In this project, I want to fabricate thin films of selected topological semimetals with different magnetic ground states (non-magnetic, ferromagnetic, non-collinear antiferromagnetic) using the pulsed-laser deposition technique and set a protocol to optimize the growing conditions. The aim is to explore the evolution of their topological electric and thermoelectric transport properties, including anomalous Hall and Nernst effects, chiral anomalies and giant magnetoresistance, as a function of different tunable parameters (thin film thickness, sample lateral size, temperature, magnetic field, strain). This will be achieved through a sophisticated method of sample patterning with a multiple-approach, which combines optical lithography and focused-ion-beam techniques. In this way, I will be able to obtain highly conditioned micro/nano-structures with an optimal control over the geometrical factors. This study will be of crucial importance to obtain at the same time a new insight into the fundamental physics of topological semimetals and a clue into the actual perspectives of transport devices.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 171 473,28
Address
VIA BALBI 5
16126 GENOVA
Italy

See on map

Region
Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 171 473,28
My booklet 0 0