Chalmers University of Technology (CUT)
Chalmers is a private Swedish university of technology where research and teaching are conducted on a broad front within natural sciences, technology and architecture. Chalmers recently defined eight strategic interdisciplinary research areas which are highly prioritized by the university and receive additional financing. Graphene is involved in three of these areas – nanotechnology, materials science and information and communication technology – and has a central role in the university’s strategy. Graphene research at Chalmers involves several departments and transgresses many disciplinary boundaries. Much of the experimental research on these fields benefits greatly from our outstanding infrastructure such as the large (1240 m²) MC2 clean room and advanced microscopy equipment.
In this project Chalmers has the main responsibility for project coordination and management. The project leader is Professor Jari Kinaret, who is the Director of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Chalmers (http://www.chalmers.se/nano). Chalmers Industriteknik (CIT), which is a non-profit foundation that acts as an interface between the university, industry and society at large, participates in the project on a consulting basis, and has the main responsibility for developing the governance structure for the flagship.
Chalmers is presently engaged in 133 FP7 projects, coordinating 12 of them (including two of graphene), and has extensive experience from administering European programs.
Staff involved: Prof. Kinaret is the head of the Condensed Matter Theory group at Chalmers. He was born in 1962 in Finland, where he also obtained his M.Sc. degrees in theoretical physics and electrical engineering before moving to MIT where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Physics in 1992. In 1995 he moved to a faculty position in Gothenburg, Sweden. His main research directions are fundamental and applied NEMS based on carbon nanotubes and graphene, nano-opto-electromechanics, and, most recently, graphene plasmonics.
Assoc. Prof. Tomas Löfwander, at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience MC2 at Chalmers, shares the coordination responsibilities for the Coordination Action. His research interests lie in theoretical condensed matter physics in general, with current focus on theory of engineered quantum systems such as graphene devices. He is also the coordinator of the ConceptGraphene European research project.
Mr Andreas Norgren at the Chalmers Industriteknik has extensive experience from large international collaborative projects and from IPR management. His role in the Coordination Action focuses on governance and forms for corporate participation.
Partner 2
University of Manchester (UNIMAN)
The University of Manchester is one of the largest in the UK, with over, 11,400 staff, 27,000 undergraduate and 9,800 postgraduate students. The University has an annual turnover of £754M (2008/09) and its external research funding of £273.6M puts it in the top 5 UK universities by research income.
The University dedicates itself to solving some of the major social, economic and environmental problems confronting mankind and is at the forefront of new discoveries in science and engineering with an exceptional record of generating new ideas and innovations, such as the recent discovery of graphene. The quality, breadth and volume of research activity is unparalleled in the UK as indicated in the results of the independent UK 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).
Within the University, the School of Physics and Astronomy is one of the largest and most active in the UK. With over 80 Academic staff, Manchester is the only Physics department in the UK to be both in the top five for the volume of world-leading and internationally excellent research and to have the maximum rating for teaching as reported by the RAE and QAA (UK Quality Assurance Agency) government assessment panels respectively.
The Condensed Matter Physics Group in the School has an international reputation for its outstanding research in mesoscopic physics. Grants from UK research councils, the EC and other international organisations fund the group’s research which is supported by the excellent facilities of Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, specializing in the fabrication, visualisation and characterisation of structures and devices, with clean room, microscopy and lithography facilities.
Staff involved: Prof Andre Geim joined Manchester in 2001 as Professor of Physics. With over 20 years research experience, he now holds the position of Langworthy Research Professor and is Head of the Condensed Matter Physics group and Director of Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and holds the prestigious Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professorship. He has published over 150 research papers, many in Nature and Science.
Prof Kostya Novoselov came to Manchester as a postdoctoral researcher in 2001. In 2005 he was awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship, followed by a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 2007. He has published over 90 research papers, including several in Nature and Science. His work is supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant on the physics and applications of graphene.
Professors Geim and Novoselov are best known for their discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms, most notably graphene in 2004. Since then, graphene has rapidly become one of the hottest topics in materials science and solid-state physics. They were jointly awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”.
Partner 3
University of Lancaster (UNILAN)
The University of Lancaster is one of the research-led universities in the UK. In the 2010 league tables, it appeared among the top ten universities in the country. The Lancaster Physics Department has been rated No1 in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise run by HEFCE, and it has scored 5* in the RAE 2001.
Staff involved: Prof. Vladimir Falko (in some publications Fal’ko) obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 in Chernogolovka where he studied quantum transport in semiconductor microstructures. He worked in the Max-Planck-Institut in in Grenoble (HMFL) and Stuttgart (with K von Klitzing) on the transport, dynamical, and optical properties of two-dimensional electron systems in semiconductor heterostructures. Since 1996, he was an EPSRC Advanced Fellow, Lecturer and Professor at Lancaster University developing theories of spin effects in semiconductor quantum dots, such as spin-orbit coupling, hyperfine interactions in quantum dots, ferromagnetic tunnel junctions, and, since 2004, graphene. His achievements in the theory of low-dimensional materials and nanoelectronics have been recognised by the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award.
Falko was the coordinator in the FP5 NMP STREP SFINX and ESF CRP ‘SpiCo’, He was co-editor of 3 focused issues on graphene (European Journal of Physics in 2007 and Solid State Communication in 2009 and 2011). He chaired the annual “Graphene Week” conference series [Dresden 2006, Trieste 2008, Obergurgl 2009, College Park Maryland 2010, Obergurgl 2011] and initiated the ESF Eurocores program ‘Eurographene’.
The Lancaster GRAPHENE-CA team also includes Drs E Burovski, V Cheainov, E McCann, and N Drummond.
Partner 4
The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge (UCAM-DENG)
The Department of Engineering is the largest Department in Cambridge. The research covers a broad spectrum including large area silicon and carbon materials, nanotubes, nanowires, nanoelectronics, high-k dielectrics, spectroscopy, novel photovoltaic cells, with extensive collaborations with electronics firms such as Philips, Thales, IBM, Seagate, Motorola, Dow-Corning, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Hitachi, Nokia, Thomas Swan, and Semelab. The new Electrical Engineering Division building comprises the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) and the EPSRC Integrated Knowledge Centre on Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Photonics and Electronics. This provides a world-class research and technology centre encouraging research activities to proceed to development and exploitation in close collaboration with industry.
The Nanomaterials and Spectroscopy group focuses on growth and characterisation of graphene, diamond-like carbon, carbon nanotubes and semiconducting nanowires for coating, optoelectronics and sensing applications. The experimental activity is paralleled by first principles calculations and modelling in each of these areas. The group has pioneered Raman and Rayleigh spectroscopy in graphene; showed the presence of Kohn anomalies in the phonon dispersion of graphene, graphite and nanotubes, key for the interpretation of their Raman spectra and to understand the electron-phonon interactions. They also have demonstrated electrochemical top gating of single and bilayer graphene devices, worked on large-scale production of graphene by chemical exfoliation of graphite, and graphene chemical modifications. They have explained the role of doping and disorder and strain in the Raman spectra of graphene. They have demonstrated the first graphene-mode locked laser. They have pioneered the field of diamond-like carbons, with several key results for their growth, characterisation and device applications.
Staff involved: Dr Andrea C Ferrari is University Reader in Nanotechnology in the Cambridge University Engineering Department and Official Fellow of Pembroke College. He is head of the Nanomaterials and Spectroscopy Group. His research interests combine growth, characterisation and device assembly. He is author of more than 200 papers and more than 120 invited, keynote and plenary presentations. He has given more than 100 invited seminars and lectures in universities, research centers and companies worldwide. He has over 10000 citations to his papers and an h index of 46. He was awarded the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation, the European Union Marie Curie Excellence Award, the Philip Leverhulme Prize and the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award for his work on carbon nanotechnology. He received a European Research Council grant. He edited a book on spectroscopy of carbon materials, and three special issues of Physica E on nanotubes, nanowires and graphene. He has chaired the 2006, 2007, and 2010 “Science and Technology of Nanotubes and Nanowires and graphene” symposia of the European Materials Research Society as well as the 2009 Materials Research Society symposium on “Large area electronics from carbon nanotubes, graphene and related non-carbon nanostructures”. He is one of the main organiser of the Nanotube 2011 conference, as well as the GRAPHENE 2011 conference. He is investigator of various grants sponsored by the EPSRC, The European Union, The European Research Council, The Royal Society, the Korean government, The Cambridge-MIT institute, The British Council, the Newton Trust. He has had several collaborations with companies such as Advance Nanotech, Dow Corning, Nokia, IBM, Hitachi, and Diagenode.
Dr Francesco Bonaccorso gained a PhD from the Department of Physics, University of Messina in Italy after working at the Italian National Research Council in Messina, the Engineering Department of Cambridge
University (UK) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Vanderbilt University (USA). In June 2009 he was awarded a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship at the Engineering Department of Cambridge University, and elected to a Research Fellowship at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. He is currently Honorary Research Convenor at Hughes Hall and research associate for the graphene-CA pilot at the nanomaterials spectroscopy group (NMS) in the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University. His research interests encompass solution processing of carbon nanomaterials (such as
graphene, nanotubes and nanodiamonds), their spectroscopic characterization, incorporation into polymer composites and application in solar cells, light emitting devices, ultrafast lasers, smart windows and touch-screens.
Partner 5
AMO GmbH
The research foundry AMO is a German SME with 40 employees specializing in applied research and development for nano- and optoelectronics. AMO hosts the Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen (AMICA), a 350 m² clean room with a large installed base of equipment for silicon semiconductor process technology, and employs leading European research groups in nanoelectronics and UV-nanoimprinting. For more information please refer to www.amo.de. AMO is active in research on “More Moore” and “Beyond CMOS” devices in cooperation with leading European academic and industrial partners and is coordinating several German and European projects in the field of nano-manufacturing and nano-electronics. Currently AMO is involved in seven European projects.
The research on graphene electronics started at AMO in 2006. In 2007 AMO demonstrated the first top-gated grapheme-based transistor in the world. AMO has coordinated several national projects in the field of graphene electronics and is the co-coordinator of the priority programme on graphene funded by the German science foundation DFG. On the European scale, AMO is coordinating the FP7 STREP GRAND and is leader of the task carbon-electronics in the FP7-funded network of excellence Nanosil.
Staff involved: Daniel Neumaier studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and the University of Regensburg and received his Dipl. phys. degree in 2006. From 2006 until 2009 he worked in the group of Dieter Weiss at the University of Regensburg in the field of III/V spintronics. In 2009, he received the PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) degree from the University of Regensburg. Since 2009 he heads the graphene-electronics group at AMO GmbH currently consisting of seven researchers. He is managing several national research projects on graphene, is the coordinative manager of the FP7 STREP GRAND and is leader of the carbon-electronics task in the network of excellence Nanosil. He is author or coauthor of several publications in high level journals.
Heinrich Kurz received his PhD in physics at the University of Wien, Austria, in 1971. He was with Phillips Research in Hamburg, Germany from 1971 to 1981. He spent two years at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, where he worked with N. Bloembergen on fundamentals of laser annealing with ps-pulses. He obtained his habilitation in experimental physics in 1983 from Hamburg University. He has organized one of the first international MRS conferences on ion implantation and laser annealing in 1981. Since 1984 he is with the RWTH Aachen University where he took the chair for Semiconductor Technology in 1990. He founded the nanotechnology Spin-Off AMO GmbH in 1993 as its managing director. Heinrich Kurz received the “Alfried-Krupp“ award and he is the author or co-author of more than 400 publications in optics and semiconductor technology. His h-index is larger 50.
Partner 6
Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN)
The Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (Institut Català de Nanotecnologia, ICN) is a non-profit research institute created in 2003 by the Departament of Universities, Research and Society of the Information (DURSI, Governement of Catalonia) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to foster cutting-edge research in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The ICN is a member of the Catalonian network of excellence of 39 research centres (CERCA), fostered and supported by the Generalitat, and it also participates in several important collaborations, such as the BCN-b (Barcelona Nanotechnology Cluster-Bellaterra) network and the joint Centre for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CIN2) with a local node of the Spanish research council CSIC.
The ICN is located on the Bellaterra campus of the UAB near Barcelona (around 50.000 students) with direct access to numerous shared facilities, including the clean room of the National Centre for Microelectronics (CNM), and very close to the ALBA Synchrotron and associated science parks. The ICN is still in its initial growth phase, currently numbering some 80 full-time researchers, and expected to grow to 150 within the next few years. Research is conducted via independent research lines, broadly grouped into two areas – Nanophysics, including atomic-scale material studies of fundamental and applied character, theoretical studies, quantum nanoelectronics, nanoelectronic devices, nanophononics, nanophotonics, NEMS, spintronics and nanofabrication; and Nanochemistry and Nanobiochmistry, including inorganic nanoparticles, supramolecular chemistry, and biosensors. These are supported by a number of technical platforms, including nanoscience instrumentation, nanofabrication and electron microscopy. The ICN also has an active technology transfer program, with a growing patent portfolio, one spin-off company and a number of active commercial R&D contracts.
Staff involved: Stephan Roche (1969) is ICREA Research Professor, leads the ”Theoretical and computational Nanosciences Group” of the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology. He is a theoretical physicist with 20 years experience in quantum transport and the development of computational modeling of complex nanomaterials and quantum nanodevices, working in different international environments including Japan, France Spain and Germany. His expertise includes computational developments (with tight-binding and ab-initio methods) of order N quantum transport (Kubo and Landauer-Büttiker conductances), which have allowed the first pioneering mesoscopic transport studies in chemically disordered carbon nanotubes and graphene-based materials. He has published more than seventy papers in journals such as Review of Modern Physics, Phys. Rev. Lett., Nano Lett. (22 papers), and is co-editor of the book: Nanotubes: From Science to Applications (Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Physics, 2006). His h-index is close to 30, with about 2.000 citations. He has given more than thirty invited talks in international conferences. In 2009, he was awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel prize by the Alexander Von-Humboldt Foundation (Germany). He has particpated in 6 National or European projects including GRAND (Graphene devices http://www.grand-project.eu/). He is currently coordinating the French ANR project NANOSIM_GRAPHENE (http://www.nanosimgraphene.org/) on graphene material and device simulation, and he has been one of the main organisers of GRAPHENE 2011, an International conference held in Bilbao in April 2011.
Partner 7
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
The National Research Council (CNR) is the largest Italian institution dedicated to scientific research; its duty is to carry out and spread research activities in the main sectors of knowledge, and applications of research to the economic and social development of the country. To this end, the activities of the organization are divided into macro areas of interdisciplinary research: biotechnology, medicine, materials, environment and land, information and communications, advanced systems of production, judicial and socio-economic sciences, classical studies and arts. CNR is distributed all over Italy through a network of institutes aiming at promoting a wide diffusion of its competences throughout the national territory, and has a long-lasting experience in both supervising large research projects at national level as well as participating to larger european network of joint research within the past and presents EU framework programs.
Staff involved: Dr Vincenzo Palermo (Bologna, Italy) is group leader of the Nanochemistry lab in the CNR Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (ISOF). Since 2009 he is also the unit leader (capo-commessa) of the CNR research unit “Functional Organic Materials for High-Tech applications”.
He is member of the scientific committee of EUROGRAPHENE project, and coordinator of two large EU projects dedicated to the development of new graphene-organic composites for microelectronics using supramolecular chemistry.
His main research interests are in the self-assembly and nanoscale electrical characterization of innovative materials.
He is author of more than 60 papers and several reviews on ISI journals (Advanced Materials, JACS, etc.), which received more than 800 citations up to now. He has been referee for several ISI journals in the fields of supramolecular chemistry and materials science (Acs-Nano, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Nanoscale, Soft Matter, Synthetic Metals, Surface Science, J. Phys. Chem., Physica E).
Aside from his scientific activity, Vincenzo Palermo is involved in science dissemination and communication, giving seminars on science and history for high-school students and public audience.
Partner 8
Nokia (NOKIA)
Nokia Research Center (NRC) is chartered with exploring new frontiers for mobility, solving scientific challenges to transform the converging Internet and communications industries. NRC consists of a global research network with some 500 people operating from 13 locations worldwide: Berkeley, Cambridge, Hollywood, and Palo Alto, USA; Cambridge, UK; Lausanne, Switzerland; Helsinki and Tampere, Finland; Nairobi, Kenya; Bangalore, India and Beijing, Shenzhen in China.
http://research.nokia.com.
Staff involved: Jani Kivioja is a Research Leader in Nanosensing placed at NRC Cambridge. He has a Doctor of Science (tech) in Technical Physics. He is leading a research team in Nokia with wide variety of topics related to nanotechnology. In Nokia he has been in research in electronics and optoelectronics, self-assembled structures, semiconductor nanoelectronics and biotechnology. His current interests are in graphene based optical, electrical and electro-optical systems and self-assembled plasmonics.
Markku Rouvala´s career has involved electrical component and systems designs in computera and telephone/internet networking and mobile plataform designs, and energy storage and harvesting with nanoenhanced technologies for future mobile plataforms. After joining Nokia in 1994 Rouvala has acquired experience in server designs, and in Nokia Mobile Phones and Nokia Research Center from custom designs for electromechanical miniaturized structures form conectivity. In the recent years he has participed in forming of Nokia Research Laboratory in Cambridge on nanotechnology research. His current research interests include mobile device energy research, nanoelectronics, nanocarbons and design conceps. Rouvala has degrees from the Helsinki University of Technology (1996) and Cambridge University (2008) in Electrical Engineering and Micro- and Nanotechnologies.
Partner 9
European Science Foundation (ESF)
The European Science Foundation (ESF, http://www.esf.org) is an association of 79 member organisations devoted to scientific research in 30 European countries. Since it was established in 1974, it has coordinated a wide range of pan-European scientific initiatives, and its flexible organisation structure means it can respond quickly to new developments. ESF's core purpose is to promote high quality science at a European level. The ESF is committed to facilitating cooperation and collaboration in European science on behalf of its principal stakeholders (Member Organisations and Europe's scientific community). This cross-border activity combines both 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' approaches in the long-term development of science. The Foundation is committed to providing scientific leadership through its networking expertise and by ensuring that there is a European added value to all of its initiatives and projects.
Staff involved: Dr. Ana Helman holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Paris Sud in Orsay, France. She worked as Research Scientists at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, Netherlands in 2005-2006. Her research expertise is in semiconductor physics and devices, low dimensional nanostructures, processing and characterization of semiconductor nanostructures and opto - electronic devices.
Since 2008, she has been working as Science Officer at the European Science Foundation in charge of the coordination of European Collaborative Research Programmes (EUROCORES) in the field of physics and materials science. She is currently coordinating the EUROCORES programme "Maximising the Impact of Graphene Research in Science and Innovation EuroGRAPHENE, http://www.esf.org/eurographene). She is also Scientific Secretary of the ESF Materials Science and Engineering Expert Committee (MatSEEC, http://www.esf.org/matseec) established in 2009.
Short film produced by the European Graphene-Flagship initiative, introducing graphene, the 'wonder substance' set to revolutionise the electronics industry.
Short film introducing the European "Graphene-Flagship" initiative, aimed at bringing together a focused, interdisciplinary European research community targeting a radical technology shift, exploiting the unique properties of graphene and related two-dimensional materials.
Introducing Graphene
