TRIENNIAL REPORT CNR - INFM

Transcription

1 Laboratorio Nazionale MDM Materials and Devices for Microelectronics TRIENNIAL REPORT CNR - INFM

2 present Triennial Report describes the research activities carried out at the MDM National Laboratory, also in collaboration with other academic and industrial institutions, TThe during the years The Report has been divided into eight chapters dealing with the most representative active research lines providing an introduction followed by a synthetic description of selected studies. These are related to the investigation of materials and processes for ultra-scaled logic and memory devices based on the CMOS technology, novel non-volatile memory devices, spintronics, neuroelectronics, and metamaterials. The theoretical effort, in support of the main experimental activities is also reported. All these activities were enabled by the financial support from INFM, CNR, STMicroelectronics, the European Commission, the Ministry of University and Research, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A description of the personnel, the facilities, the main projects, and of the financial support completes the report. Marco Fanciulli Director 1

3 CONTENTS ø Introduction 8 ø Facilities 10 ø Scientific Board 12 ø Executive Board 13 ø Personnel 14 ø Publications 22 ø Conferences 30 ø Organization of conferences 37 ø Research Projects 38 ø International Collaborations 48 ø National Collaborations 49 2

4 1. Scaling issues in CMOS logic and memory devices ø 1 Scaling issues in CMOS logic and memory devices 50 ø 1.1 Structural and electrical properties of Hf-based oxides 52 or interpoly applications C. Wiemer, R. Piagge, S. Spiga, E. Bonera, M. Fanciulli, M. Alessandri, G. Ghidini, M. Caniatti, A. Sebastiani, D. Caputo ø 1.2 Al 2 as interpoly dielectrics in non-volatile memory devices 54 C. Wiemer, R. Piagge, S. Spiga, E. Bonera, V. Fiorentini, M. Fanciulli, M. Alessandri, G. Ghidini, A. Del Vitto, M. Caniatti, A. Sebastiani, S. Alberici, G. Pavia ø 1.3 HfO 2 as gate dielectrics for ultra-scaled CMOS devices 56 S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, G. Scarel, S. Baldovino, G. Tallarida, M. Fanciulli, C. M. Compagnoni, A. S. Spinelli, A. Bianchini, A. L. Lacaita ø 1.4 Nanoscale electrical properties of HfO 2 and ZrO 2 thin films 59 studied by conducting atomic-force microscopy S. Kremmer, H. Wurmbauer, C. Teichert, G. Tallarida, S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, and M. Fanciulli ø 1.5 Thermal stability of HfO 2 /TiN gate stacks for 45 nm CMOS devices 62 C. Wiemer, M. Perego, M. Fanciulli, V. Cosnier, P. Besson, V. Loup, L. Vandroux, S. Minoret, M. Cassé, X. Garros, J-M. Pedini, S. Lhostis, K. Dabertrand, C. Morin ø 1.6 Oxygen diffusion in HfO 2 /SiO 2 /Si stacks 64 S. Ferrari and M. Fanciulli ø 1.7 Characterization of the mechanical stress induced 65 in silicon during device fabrication E. Bonera, M. Fanciulli, G. Carnevale, M. Mariani ø 1.8 Low-k materials for intra-metal dielectrics 67 A. M. Ferretti, C. Wiemer, E. Bonera, C. Rossi, M. Fanciulli ø 1.9 Advanced materials for interconnects 70 G. Tallarida, C. Wiemer, L. Aina, S. Alberici, E. Ravizza, A. Giussani, G. Pavia, E. Varesi, G. Brunoldi, S. Guerrieri, S. Grasso, E. Ravizza, S. Spadoni 3

5 2. Emerging Materials for nanoscale CMOS devices ø 2 Emerging Materials for nanoscale CMOS devices 74 ø 2.1 Rare earth oxides on Si for logic and memory applications: 76 binary and ternary compounds G. Scarel, C. Wiemer, S. Spiga, E. Bonera, G. Seguini, G. Tallarida, X. Li, M. Fanciulli, Y. Lebedinskii, A. Zenkevich, I.L. Fedushkin, V. Fiorentini, F. Boscherini, S.D. Elliott, S. Schamm, G. Pavia ø 2.2 Band alignment at the La 2 Hf 2 O 7 /(001)Si interface 78 G. Seguini, S. Spiga, E. Bonera, M. Fanciulli, A. Reyes Huamantinco, C.J. Först, C.R. Ashman, P.E. Blöchl, A. Dimoulas, G. Mavrou ø 2.3 Dielectrics for channel materials alternative to Si: towards strained-si, 80 Ge and GaAs devices S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, G. Scarel, G. Seguini, M. Perego, S. Ferrari, S. Baldovino, M. Fanciulli, A. Zenkevich, Y. Lebedinskii, Y. Panayiotatos, A. Dimoulas ø 2.4 GeO 2 films grown on Ge subtrates by Atomic Layer 84 Deposition and Molecular Beam Epitaxy A. Molle, M. N. K. Bhuiyan, G. Tallarida, M. Perego, G. Scarel, M. Fanciulli, I. L. Fedushkin, A. A. Skatova ø 2.5 HfO 2 as gate dielectrics for Ge-based devices 86 S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, G. Scarel, G. Tallarida, G. Seguini, M. Perego, S. Ferrari, M. Fanciulli, G. Mavrou, A. Dimoulas, S. Kremmer, C. Teichert, G. Pavia ø 2.6 Epitaxial HfO 2 on high-mobility semiconductors: theory and experiment 89 C. Wiemer, A. Debernardi, G. Scarel, M. Perego, M. Fanciulli ø 2.7 Epitaxial Gd 2 films on Ge 92 A. Molle, M. N. K. Bhuiyan, G. Tallarida, C. Wiemer, M. Fanciulli, G. Pavia 3. Innovative Technologies in Non-Volatile Memories ø 3 Innovative Technologies in Non-Volatile Memories 94 ø 3.1 Si nanocrystals in a dielectric matrix: synthesis and characterization 96 M. Perego, S. Spiga, M. Fanciulli, C. Bonafos, and G. Benassayag 4

6 ø 3.2 Metallic nanocrystals embedded in SiO 2 : low temperature CEMS 98 characterization R. Mantovan, S. Spiga, A. Debernardi, and M. Fanciulli ø 3.3 Structural and functional properties of phase change 100 materials grown by sputtering and MOCVD C. Wiemer, M. Fanciulli, C. Giessen, R. Bez, A. Pirovano, S. Rushworth, J. Siegel, C. N. Afonso, A. Abrutis, V. Plausinaitiene ø 3.4 Thermal characterization on phase change materials 102 J. L. Battaglia, A. Teren, C. Monguzzi, E. Varesi, R. Cecchini, C. Wiemer, R. Fallica, A. Kusiak, C. Rossignol, N. Chigarev, S. Cocco ø 3.5 Binary oxides for resistive switching non volatile memories 105 S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, G. Scarel, M. Perego, G. Tallarida, S. Ferrari, A. Cappella, H. Lu, M. Fanciulli ø 3.6 Electrical and chemical investigations of ZnO layers grown by Atomic 107 Layer Deposition for selectors in crossbar non volatile memories S. Ferrari, E. Speets, N. Huby, A. Pirovano, E. Guziewicz, A. Wójcik, M. Pra, P. Lugli 4. Spintronics ø 4 Spintronics 110 ø 4.1 Atomic Layer Deposition for magnetic tunnel junctions 112 M. Georgieva, H. Lu, M. Perego, G. Scarel, A. Zenkevich, M. Fanciulli ø 4.2 Characterization of Fe/high-κ oxide interfaces 114 R. Mantovan, C. Wiemer, A. Zenkevich, M. Fanciulli ø 4.3 Shallow donor electron spin coherence and manipulation in Si and SiGe 117 M. Fanciulli, A. Ponti, A. Ferretti ø 4.4 Study of the static magnetic field and microwave irradiation response 119 of the random telegraph signal in MOSFETs for qubit implementation E. Prati, M. Fanciulli, G. Ferrari, M. Sampietro ø 4.5 On-line and off-line Mössbauer spectroscopy investigation 122 of the magnetic properties of oxides R. Mantovan, M. Fanciulli, G. Weyer, H.P. Gunnlaugsson, D. Naidoo, R. Sielemann, K. Bharuth-Ram, T. Agne 5

7 5. Devices based on organic and polymeric semiconductors ø 5 Devices based on organic and polymeric semiconductors 124 ø 5.1 Al 2 gate dielectric in poly (3-hexylthiophene) based transistors 126 E. Peron, F. Perissinotti, G. Tallarida, S. Ferrari, L. Fumagalli, D. Natali, and M. Sampietro ø 5.2 Atomic Layer Deposited Al 2 as a capping layer 127 for polymer based transistors S. Ferrari, F. Perissinotti, E. Peron, L. Fumagalli, D. Natali, and M. Sampietro ø 5.3 A novel method for the production of top contact thin film 128 transistors based on organic semiconductors S. Ferrari, F. Perissinotti, E. Peron, L. Fumagalli, D. Natali, and M. Sampietro 6. Very high-κ oxide for Neuroelectronics ø 6 Very high-κ oxide for Neuroelectronics 130 ø 6.1 Electrical properties of neuroelectronic devices with various interlayers 132 between TiO 2 and p-si(100) F. Wallrapp, G. Scarel, M. Perego, G. Seguini, M. Fanciulli, and P. Fromherz ø 6.2 Energy band alignment at the TiO 2 /Si interface 133 with various interlayers M. Perego, G. Seguini, G. Scarel, M. Fanciulli, F. Wallrapp, and P. Fromherz 6

8 7. Metamaterials ø 7 Metamaterials 136 ø 7.1 Theory of propagation in negative refractive index media 138 E. Prati ø 7.2 Experiments on transmission of negative refractive index media 140 based on Split Ring Resonators C. Amabile and E. Prati 8. Tailoring innovative devices by parameters-free simulations ø 8 Tailoring innovative devices by parameters-free simulations 142 ø 8.1 Semiconducting and high-κ oxides for ultra-scaled devices and spintronics 144 A. Debernardi and M. Fanciulli ø 8.2 The magnetic map of Mn-based thin film alloys on Ni substrates 146 B.R. Malonda-Boungou, B. M Passi-Mabiala, A. Debernardi, S. Meza-Aguilar, C. Demangeat ø 8.3 Parameter free calculation of shallow states in external field 147 A. Debernardi, M. Fanciulli, and A. Baldereschi ø 8.4 Heterojunction for spintronic devices 149 A. Debernardi, M. Peressi, and A. Baldereschi 7

9 Introduction TThe MDM (Materials and Devices for Microelectronics) Laboratory is an Italian National Laboratory belonging to INFM, the Italian Institute for the Physics of Matter since 2006 part of CNR, the National Research Council. MDM is a state-of-the-art facility located within the STMicroelectronics complex at Agrate Brianza, near Milan (Italy), and its major research activities are focused on investigating the structural, electrical, optical and magnetic properties of materials for present and future nanoelectronics, as well as developing innovative processes and characterization techniques. The cooperation between MDM and STM, one of the most important semiconductor industries worldwide, began in 1996 with the establishment of a small laboratory at Agrate, which is one of STM s largest multi-functional sites, hosting manufacturing, R&D (Research and Development), product design and marketing activities. The importance of the research performed at MDM derives from the most critical trend in electronics, namely the continually decreasing dimensions of the transistors and other components used to build microand nano-electronic devices, the System-on-Chip devices that integrate tens or hundreds of millions of transistors on a tiny silicon chip and provide the heart of electronic applications such as mobile phones, settop boxes and car engine management units. Typically, these dimensions are reduced by around 30% every two years. The reason why the global semiconductor industry pursues this goal of continual reduction is that reducing the size of the transistors used to build complex devices makes the resulting devices faster, cheaper and less power-consuming, thereby enabling the expansion of existing markets and the creation of new applications. However, the development of a new generation of semiconductor technology often involves the introduction of specialized new materials and it is essential that the properties of these materials are thoroughly understood and characterized before they can be introduced into a high volume manufacturing flow that is both complex and highly cost-sensitive. 8

10 The strong collaboration with the industrial partner should also be seen as an opportunity for scientists to address fundamental issues in condensed matter, made possible by the availability of advanced and state of the art industrial devices and prototypes. The research activity carried out at the MDM Laboratory is a delicate balance among: ø long-term actions aimed at the development of materials, processes, as well as advanced characterization techniques and methodologies for future scenarios in nano-electronics; ø medium-term actions strongly connected with issues in these fields and with potential impact on the next generation devices; ø short-term actions aimed at solving problems encountered by the industrial partner in its R&D and production activity. With the national and the international collaborations established during the years the capabilities of addressing different problems, relevant for industrial applications, are strongly enhanced and, at the same time, new fundamental research activities are stimulated. The Laboratory is also strongly active in training students and young researchers, at the national and international level, and is involved in several seminars, schools, and courses. The training activity focuses on fundamental as well as more applied and industrial-related issues. Mainly due to the external projects started in the last three years the personnel including staff researchers and technicians, post-doctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, undergraduate students, and administrative personnel, grew from 18 persons to 40. 9

11 Facilities facilities comprise 360 TThe m2 of laboratories, including a 94 m 2 class 1000 clean room, plus administration and support offices. Further extensions are planned for Advanced Materials Growth and Process Facilities ø 94 m 2 clean room class 1000 (Extension to 120 m 2 in 2007) ø Atomic layer deposition (ALD) with line (4 wafers) ø Atomic layer deposition (ALD) with line (8 wafers) ø Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) equipped with O source ø Metallorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) (Feb.2007) ø Cluster tool (ALD, evaporator, sputtering, preparation) (2007) ø Photo-lithography ø Electron-beam lithography ø Thermal and e-beam evaporator ø Rapid thermal processing (RTP) and furnace annealing systems ø Wet bench for wafers cleaning ø X-ray irradiation

12 Characterization Facilities ø Scanning electron microscope (SEM) ø Scanning probes in air or controlled atmosphere: - AFM, STM, MFM/EFM, SCFM, KPFM - SThM - SNOM ø Scanning probes in UHV and at variable temperature ( K): - AFM, STM, KPFM, BEEM ø X-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflectivity (XRR) ø Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) and reflectivity (XRR) (Oct. 2006) ø X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) ø Low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS) ø ToF-SIMS (Access to the STMicroelectronics system) ø Electrical characterization ( K): - I-V, C-V, G-V - Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace-DLTS - Noise - Internal photoemission spectroscopy (IPE) - Inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy (IETS) - Hall effect (2007) ø Optical Spectroscopies ( K): - Micro-Raman with excitation in the visible (488 nm, 633 nm) - Micro-Raman with excitation in the UV (347 nm) - Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy - Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) (middle- and far-ir) - Spectroscopic ellipsomtery (SE) ø Electron spin resonance spectroscopy ( K): - X-band and Q-band CW-ESR - Pulse EPR in X-band (FT-EPR) - Electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) - Electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) in X band - Multi-frequency EDMR (up to 40 GHz, upgrade up to 200 GHz in 2007, fields up to 12 T, temperatures down to 260 mk) ø 57 Fe and 119 Sn conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) (120 K and room temperature set-ups) Computational Facilities: ø 6 nodes of a 32 node cluster E4-InfiniNode (2 CPU AMD Opteron 250, 4 GB di RAM) located at the National supercomputer facility CASPUR

13 SCIENTIFIC BOARD (Since 2007) ø Paolo Giuseppe Cappelletti FTM Vice President Non Volatile Memories Technology Development STMicroelectronics Srl Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: paolo.cappelletti@st.com ø Alain Claverie Directeur de Recherche CNRS CEMES-CNRS Groupe Nanomatériaux 29, rue Jeanne Marvig, BP Toulouse Cedex 4, France Phone: Fax: ø Paolo Lugli Professor Lehrstuhl für Nanoelektronik Technische Universität München Arcisstrasse 21 D München, Germany Phone Fax: ø Theodore M. Moustakas Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor of Physics Director of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Laboratory Boston University 8 St Mary s St Boston, MA 02215, USA Phone: Fax: claverie@cemes.fr nano@ei.tum.de tdm@bu.edu ø Michael Pepper Head of the Semiconductor Physics Group Cavendish Laboratory J.J. Thomson Avenue, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) Secretary: +44 (0) mp10000@cam.ac.uk ø Matthias Wuttig wuttig@physik.rwth-aachen.de Professor Physikalisches Institut IA RWTH-Aachen D Aachen, Germany Phone: Fax

14 EXECUTIVE BOARD (Since 2007) ø Marco Fanciulli Director CNR-INFM MDM National Laboratory Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: ø Sabina Spiga sabina.spiga@mdm.infm.it Researcher CNR-INFM MDM National Laboratory Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: ø Grazia Tallarida grazia.tallarida@mdm.infm.it Researcher CNR-INFM MDM National Laboratory Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: ø Giorgio De Santi giorgio.desanti@st.com FTM - Director Agrate R2 Operations and Manufacturing Process Development STMicroelectronics Srl Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: ø Pietro Palella General Manager STMicroelectronics Srl Via C. Olivetti Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy phone: Fax: ø Alberto Modelli Physics & Materials Characterization Manager STMicroelectronics Srl Via C. Olivetti, Agrate Brianza (Mi), Italy Phone: Fax: pietro.palella@st.com e.mail: alberto.modelli@st.com 13

15 Personnel Marco Fanciulli, Director of Research Marco Fanciulli graduated cum Laude in Nuclear Engineering at the Politecnico of Torino (Italy) in 1987 and obtained his PhD in Applied Physics from Boston University, Boston (USA) in 1993 for his work on the characterization of wide-band-gap semiconductors using magnetic resonance spectroscopies. In 1993 he joined the Institute of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Aarhus (Denmark) as an assistant professor to conduct research on defects in silicon using different techniques (DLTS, CEMS, EPR) and on transition metal silicides. In 1997 he was appointed associate professor. From 1998 he is the director of the MDM Laboratory. He has published more than 150 papers on the growth, by MBE, PLD, ALD, and characterization, using different spectroscopy methods most of them related to hyperfine interaction and magnetic resonance detection, of different materials. His current interests are related to the characterization of high-κ materials and of nanocrystals embedded in silicon oxide, to the development of advanced magnetic resonance characterization techniques, to the development of silicon based qubits, and to other fundamental issues related to materials and devices for nanoelectronics and spintronics. He has been the coordinator of the European FET assessment project ESRQC (Electron Spin Resonance for Quantum Computing) and of industrial projects with STMicroelectronics. He has been the principal investigator in two EC projects on nanocrystals (GROWTH: NEON Nanoparticles for electronics) and on epitaxial oxides (IST: INVEST Integration of very high-κ dielectrics with silicon CMOS technology) as well as in other national projects. Currently he is the principal investigator in three EC projects: ET4US Epitaxial technologies for ultimate scaling, REALISE Rare earth oxide atomic layer deposition for innovation in electronics; and EMMA Emerging Materials for Mass-storage Architectures. In the recent years he organized several international workshops and symposia. Marco Fanciulli has been also professor of semiconductor physics at the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) since Alberto Debernardi, Senior Researcher Alberto Debernardi has mainly developed his professional experience within the framework of density functional theory. In 1995 he received his PhD at the SISSA - Trieste (Italy) presenting a new method to study the anharmonic effects in crystals from density functional perturbation theory; he applied his method to compute the phonon lifetime of semiconductors. After a postodctoral experience at the MPI-Stuttgart were he collaborated with Cardona and Parrinello groups on vibrational properties of semiconductors, and at the IPCMS of Strasbourg were he computed ab initio magneto optical and thermodynamics properties of metals, he was researcher ( ) at INFM, at Trieste University/SISSA where he studied by first principles magnetic semiconductors, interfaces and magnetic heterostructures. In 2001, he took the Degree Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, at the Strasbourg University. During the July 2002 and 2003 he was invited professor at the Tours University. Since summer 2004, he is senior researcher at MDM Laboratory, his present research interests include high dielectric constant oxides, quantum computation, diluted magnetic semiconductors, spintronic. Since 2001, he has been responsible of seven national super-computing projects (CINECA,CASPUR). Emiliano Bonera, Researcher Emiliano Bonera graduated at the Università degli Studi of Pavia (Italy) in 1998 after being also an exchange student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. The topic of his dissertation was near-field microscopy. He obtained his PhD in 2002 from the University of Leeds with a thesis about 14

16 micro- and near-field optical characterisation of microelectronic materials. His interests span mainly on Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy, internal photoemission spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and near-field optical microscopy. He applied these techniques to the study of semiconductors, doped glasses, nanocrystals, high-κ materials, and other microelectronics-related issues. In the period he has been Post-Doctoral Fellow at the MDM Laboratory, where he has been working as a researcher from Sandro Ferrari, Researcher Sandro Ferrari is a research staff member at the MDM Laboratory. He received the Degree in Chemistry from Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) in 1993 and the PhD from Università degli Studi of Brescia (Italy) in He joined the MDM Laboratory in 1998 and his reearch is focused on dielectrics for CMOS applications, organic and polymeric semiconductors for microelectronics and novel concepts in Non Volatile Memory devices. His main interest is the integration of polymers and oxides into micro- and nanoelectronic devices. Sandro Ferrari holds currently more than 50 publications in peerreviews journals, has organized two Workshops and co-ordinated the European Project ESQUI. He is currently the coordinator of the European IST project Versatile as well as of the PROTEO project founded by Fondazione Cariplo. Anna Maria Ferretti, Researcher Anna M. Ferretti is a researcher at the MDM Laboratory since July Her interests are focused on the characterization of semiconductors and oxide for microelectronic and quantum computing with CW and pulse EPR spectroscopy. She received the Degree in Chemistry in 1999 and the PhD in 2002 from Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy). During her PhD she spent one year at the Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich Switzerland at the ESR laboratory of Prof. Arthur Schweiger where she studied the pulse EPR technique. In 2002 she won the JEOL young investigator prize for her studies done on catalytic materials with pulse EPR. She spent her Post Doc (2003) at Fondazione San Raffaele with a Telethon grant studying proteins with NMR. Enrico Prati, Researcher Enrico Prati obtained his PhD for his work on microwave frequency transport in semiconductors at the Istituto per i Processi Chimico Fisici of the CNR and at the Università degli Studi of Pisa (Italy) in Part of the work was realized at Caswell Technology - Marconi Towcester, (UK). He joined the MDM Laboratory in The present research fields are both theoretical and experimental aspects of: electrically detected magnetic resonance, tunneling and localization in low dimensional electron systems under microwave irradiation, magnetic resonance effects of random telegraph noise in silicon MOS devices, and metamaterials. In February 2004 he has been awarded with the Young Scientist Award 2004 by the URSI Commettee for his work on negative refractive index propagation and metamaterials. He is now coordinating for MDM the project MARTA on metamaterials. He is presently Vice Secretary of ADI, the Italian PhD Society. Giovanna Scarel, Researcher Giovanna Scarel received the Laurea Degree in Physics from the Università degli studi of Trieste (Italy) and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (USA). From March 2003 she is reseracher at the MDM Laboratory. She is involved in the growth of high dielectric constant oxides relevant for advanced devices. Giovanna Scarel was the coordinator of a project on the ALD growth and characterization of rare earth oxides (PAIS-REOHΚ by INFM), and is presently working within the European Project REALISE on the same topic. Giovanna Scarel has more than 40 published papers and contributions to book chapters, and is editor of a book on rare earth oxides. 15

17 Sabina Spiga, Researcher Sabina Spiga graduated in Physics at the Università degli Studi of Bologna (Italy) in She obtained her PhD in Material Science from the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) in 2001 with a thesis on the synthesis and characterization of nanocrystals embedded in thin dielectric layers. In she was post-doc fellow at the MDM Laboratory; where she was appointed as research associate in Her current interest focuses on materials (high-κ oxides, oxides for resistive switching memories, nanocrystals) and processes for advanced CMOS devices, as well as on their electrical characterization. Her activity is carried out in the framework of European (GROWTH/NEON, IST/ET4US, IST/EMMA), Industrial and Italian R&D projects. Grazia Tallarida, Researcher Grazia Tallarida received the Laurea degree in Physics at the Università degli Studi of Roma (Italy) La Sapienza in After spending two years as reasearch assistant at the Engineering Department of the Cambridge University (UK), she joined MDM Laboratory in 96 where she currently holds a permanent position as researcher. At MDM Laboratory, she is in charge of the scanning probe microscopy activity and her main research topic is the development and application of SPM based techniques for the characterisation of thin films and nanostructures. Her interests include also the characterisation of the initial stages of growth of epitaxial oxides on semiconductors and the investigation of advanced materials for ultra-scaled devices. Claudia Wiemer, Researcher Claudia Wiemer graduated in Physics at the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) in She obtained her PhD in Applied Physics at the Ecole Polytéchnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) in She joined Stanford University (USA) as a Post doctoral fellow in 1997, working on total reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis by synchrotron radiation. She joined MDM Laboratory in 2000, supported by a fellowship of the European project ESQUI. She has been a researcher associate at MDM Laboratory since Her main interests focus on the structural properties of oxide films, on the growth by MOCVD and characterization of calcogenides materials and on advanced X-ray methodologies. She is actively involved in the European projects ET4US, CHEMAPH (coordinator) and FOREMOST. She has currently 53 accepted refereed publications. Claudio Amabile, Post-Doctoral Fellow Claudio Amabile graduated in Physics at the Università degli Studi of Roma (Italy) La Sapienza in 2002 with a thesis about the dependence on doping of the resistivity tensor of high Tc superconductors in high magnetic fields determined through multicontact DC measurement. In his PhD thesis he studied the microwave response of various superconductors in high magnetic fields through a novel broadband technique; he also spent six months in the research center of Juelich (Germany), where he patterned and characterized magnesium diborides nanobridges for THz radiation receivers. He is currently working as postdoctoral researcher at MDM Laboratory where he is involved in the design and realization of metamaterials based microwave devices. His main interests are low temperature physics and electromagnetic behaviour of various systems. Dmitry Azamat, Post-Doctoral Fellow Dmitry Azamat obtained his PhD (Candidate of Sciences) in Solid State Physics from St. Petersburg State University in He joined the MDM Laboratory in 2005 to work on EPR of low-symmetry defects in bulk ZnO. His scientific interests include radiospectroscopy of point defects in solids, recombination processes in insulators and semiconductors, low-dimensional semiconductor structures, optical 16

18 detection of magnetic resonance. Currently he is research scientist at the A.F.Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute (Germany). Md. Nurul Kabir Bhuiyan, Post-Doctoral Fellow Md. Nurul Kabir Bhuiyan is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at MDM Laboratory since 2005, carrying out a research activity on the growth of high-κ oxide thin films on Ge, GaAs and Si substrates by MBE, and the characterization of films by RHEED, XPS and LEIS, in the framework of the European project ET4US. He obtained his Doctor of Engineering degree in Materials Science and Technology from Toyama University (Japan) in March 2005, where he mainly worked on the epitaxial growth of high-κ SrTi thin films on Si substrates by MBE and the characterization of films by RHEED, XPS, AFM and XRD. He received his B.Sc. (Honours) and M. Sc. in Physics, University of Dhaka (Bangladesh) in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Milena Georgieva, Post-Doctoral Fellow Milena Georgieva received the MSc degree in Solid State Physics in 1995 from the University of Sofia (Bulgaria). In January 2004 she obtained a PhD degree in Physics from the University of Salford (UK) for her work on thin magnetic films and trilayer devices with application in Spintronics. She has been a research scientist at the University of Sofia in the period and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Salford between January August Since September 2005 she is a post-doctoral fellow at the MDM Laboratory. She gained experience in a number of techniques such as: VSM, SQUID magnetometry, AFM/MFM, XRD/XRR, TEM, photolithography and wet etching. Nolwenn Huby, post-doctoral Fellow Nolwenn Huby received the degree in Material Science in 2003 at the University of Rennes (France). In September 2006 she obtained her PhD in Electronics and Material Science from the University of Bordeaux (France). After the realisation of organic light emitting diodes (OLED), she performed electrical, optical and structural investigations in order to connect the molecular properties of the emissive molecules and the performances of the devices. Then she joined MDM Laboratory in October 2006 supported by a post-doctoral fellowship of the European project VERSATILE. The aim is the realization and the integration of non volatile memories based on II-VI and polymers semiconductors. Xiaolong Li, Post-Doctoral Fellow Xiaolong Li was a post-doctoral fellow at MDM Laboratory from September 2005 to September During this period, he mainly worked on the investigation of dielectric films, in the framework of the project SOLARIS concerning the characterisation of Magnetic Tunnel Junction. He obtained his PhD degree from the National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in The topic of his PhD thesis was the microstructural characterization of high-tc superconductors, high-κ dielectrics, and ferroelectric thin films. He has a rich experience and skills on X-ray scattering analysis, synchrotron radiation facility and XPS quantitative analysis. Hongliang Lu, Post-Doctoral Fellow Hongliang Lu received his PhD in Microelectronics from Fudan University of Shanghai (China) in June The topic of his dissertation was the investigation of high dielectric constant oxide films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD). He won a fellowship at the MDM Laboratory in November His research interests are related to the growth and characterization of metal oxide thin films deposited by ALD. 17

19 Roberto Mantovan, Post-doctoral Fellow Roberto Mantovan graduated in 2002 at the Department of Physics at the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy). In January 2006, he obtained his PhD from the same University presenting a thesis about the Mössbauer spectroscopy investigation of materials for non-volatile memory devices. R. Mantovan has been working at MDM Laboratory since His research activity is mainly focused on the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to investigate the structural and magnetic properties of materials for spintronics. R. Mantovan is involved in on-line Mössbauer experiments at ISOLDE-CERN, in order to investigate the magnetic properties of Fe/Mn-implanted oxides and semiconductors. He works on the developing of lithographic process to fabricate structures and demonstrators for spintronics applications. Alessandro Molle, Post-Doctoral Fellow Alessandro Molle graduated in 2001 and obtained the PhD degree in Materials Science in 2005 at the Università degli Studi of Genova (Italy) after experiencing several beamtimes at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France). He joined the MDM Laboratory in 2005 as a Post-Doc Fellow, involved in the molecular beam epitaxial growth and in situ characterization of high-κ oxide films on semiconductors, within the European Project ET4US. His Post-Doc fellowship has been recently renewed within the ATHOS Project in collaboration with IMEC (Belgium). Michele Perego, Post-Doctoral Fellow Michele Perego is post-doc fellow at the MDM Laboratory. He received the Degree in Physics from the Università degli Studi dell Insubria (Italy) in In February 2004 he obtained his PhD from the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) for his work on the TOF-SIMS characterization of nanocrystals embedded in thin oxide films. His research activity is focused on the synthesis and characterization of new materials (high-κ, nanocrystals) for advanced CMOS devices. He is expert in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy. He holds more than 25 publications in peer reviews journals and he is currently the coordinator of the MATRIX project funded by Fondazione Cariplo. Inma Suàrez Lòpez, Post-Doctoral Fellow Inma Suàrez Lòpez graduated in Chemistry from the University of Málaga (Spain) in She completed her PhD at the University of Manchester in the UK under the supervision of Prof. J.C. Vickerman (Surface Analysis) and Prof. C.M. Carr (Textile Department). Her PhD thesis centered on the surface characterization and quantification of textile processes using ToF- SIMS. As an undergraduate she undertook several placements (Croatia - Pliva Co., University of Dortmund and Delft University) related to organic and analytical chemistry. Inma Suàrez Lòpez has been working at MDM Laboratory since Her current study focuses on novel routes for organic thin film transistors device fabrication by photolithography processes. Andrew Teren, Post-Doctoral Fellow Andrew Teren obtained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, Chicago (USA) in Afterwards, he did post-doctoral work from at Forschungzentrum Juelich (Germany) on MOCVD growth and electrical characterization of high-κ dielectric thin films for microelectronic applications (within the European project Medea+). During , he worked at Belford Research Inc. (USA) on electrical characterization of strained Si devices. In he was a post-doctoral researcher at MDM Laboratory, where he was responsible for material characterization of chalcogenide materials and coordinator of the European project Chemaph of the 6 framework. 18

20 Stergios N. Volkos, Post-doctoral Fellow Stergios N. Volkos holds a BEng. (Hons.) degree in Electronics, MPhil. degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics and PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics, all awarded by the University of Manchester (UK). Currently, he is a post-doctoral fellow in the MDM Laboratory working within the framework of an EU project called REALISE. His research field is predominantly focused on defects in high-κ dielectrics (transition metal and rare earth oxides) and at their interfaces with a silicon substrate. The experimental tools of primary interest include Current-Voltage (IV), Capacitance-Voltage (CV), Deep-Level-Transient-Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Inelastic- Electron-Tunneling-Spectroscopy (IETS) techniques. Giuseppe Bano, Post-Graduate Fellow Giuseppe Bano recived the Degree in Physics from the Università degli Studi of Milano (Italy) in December Topic of his dissertation was the investigation of point defect electronic structure in crystal oxide, by ab-initio Quantum Mechanical approach. In spring 2003, he attended classes in Nanotechnology at the Università degli Studi of Milano, and then won a fellowship in MDM Laboratory. In MDM his main activity concerned FT-IR characterization of thin high-κ oxide films and the developement of a smal ALD reactor for in-situ measurements. He is actually employed as Thin film Metrology Engineer in the R&D department of STMicroelectronics. Simone Malacrida, Post-Graduate Fellow Simone Malacrida received his Laurea Degree in Electronics Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in The topic of his dissertation was the material composition of photosensitive optical fibers for Bragg gratings fabrication. He collaborated with Corning OTI (Italy) to develop a new fluorine core doped fiber (US Patent N ). After that, he worked at Underwriters Laboratories in industrial electronics safety certification. He joined MDM Laboratory in December His research activity was focused on the electrical properties of high-κ materials under ET4US European project. Concerning MAE bilateral project between Italy and Poland, he also collaborated with the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFPAN) to perform Laplace DLTS on MIS devices for studying oxide interface defects. He has been also trained in experimental cryogenic processes. Francesca Perissinotti, Post-Graduate Fellow Francesca Perissinotti graduated in Material Science at the Università degli Studi of Torino (Italy) in 2003, with a thesis work about Morphological defects on Silicon Carbide for the production of electronic devices. In 2004 she started a post-graduate fellowship in MDM Laboratory to work on the process development for electronic devices, initially in the project Teseo Transistors with organic semiconductors and then in the project Proteo Electronic devices with n and p type organic semiconductors. During this period, she participated to the Organic Electronic Workshop in 2004 at IMEC (Leuven), to the MMD Meeting (Genova) and ICANS 21 (Lisbona) in Elisabetta Peron, Post-Graduate Fellow Elisabetta Peron graduated in Chemistry at the Università degli Studi of Padova (Italy) in 2001 and received her Master Course degree in Materials for Micro- and Nano-Technologies at the Università degli Studi of Pavia (Italy) in She worked at EniTecnologie, the corporate research center of Eni Gruop, where her main research activity was the characterization of nanoemulsions and of rocks saturated with complex fluid by NMR relaxometric technique. She joined MDM Laboratory in April 2004, where her main research activity was the study of polymeric semiconductors, regarding both their characterization and their use in devices. 19