Supervisor: Carlo Ricciardi
Two possible research lines the PhD student may be involved in:
1) Memristive computing
Memristive nanodevices are predicted to introduce new revolutionizing paradigms in in computing and electronics. They are typically simple metal/insulator/metal structures based on resistive switching, i.e. a reversible conductance change due to a reorganization of the matter on a nanometric scale. Thanks to their low power consumption and analog behavior they are a nearly perfect candidate for brain-inspired neuromorphic computing technologies and artificial intelligence. In particular, self-organizing nanowire networks recently showed the possibility to implement memory functions and computing tasks on the same physical substrate (in materia computing).
In such a scenario, our current research on nanowire networks (more details here) is focusing on:
- brain-inspired computing
- criticality effects for enhanced neuromorphic behavior
- modeling of emergent behavior by graph theory
- multiterminal characterization of memristive emergent behavior.
2) Nanomechanical sensing
Micro and nanomechanical resonators have been widely used in the last decades as highly sensitive mass detectors for biological and chemical applications.
Since more than fifteen years, we are developing nanomechanical bioassays able to successfully detect minimum concentrations of target molecules such as tumor biomarkers, allergens, and carcinogenic small molecules. More recently, we focused on Suspended Microchannel Resonators (SMRs) to minimize the damping associated with the fluidic viscous drag, and DNA nanoresonators to investigate structural properties of DNA-ligand complexes.
In such a scenario, our current research (more details here) is focusing on:
- Dilectrophoresis (DEP) and Raman spectroscopy integration on totally transparent SMRs
- SMR for single particle/cell bioassay in liquid
- DNA nanomechanical resonators for epigenetics and structural changes in DNA-ligand complexes