Anagrafe della ricerca

Galileo Galilei famously stated, “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” This statement is surely true for today’s nanotechnology. For instance, emergent nanomaterials such as two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) compounds offer exciting, wide opportunities from novel (opto-)electronic devices to catalytic energy conversion and biomedical/healthcare applications. The most widely studied TMD compound is MoS2, which can be grown as ultra-thin layered films and monolayers on flexible substrates in a versatile and mechanically stable manner, while maintaining high mobility in field-effect transistors and sub-parts-per-billion sensitivity for gas detection. Utilizing the unique properties of layered 2D materials, many surprising physical phenomena can be further obtained by stacking them together to form heterostructures. One major challenge, however, is given by the lack of cost-efficient and scalable processes for large-area production of 2D materials, which has limited up to now the progress towards a mature integration of these materials in various technologies. In addition, the fundamental properties of 2D materials are governed by nanoscopic phenomena that are highly susceptible to external perturbations, including environmental conditions during device operation. The role of scientists is thus to bridge the boundaries between laboratory research and industrially relevant "real-world" conditions. For instance, identifying key defects, how they are influenced under device operation and how they affect device performance, as well as a quick robust method of detecting such defects, will help to foster successful translation of 2D materials to innovative technologies. The 2D-EMMA consortium consists of young ambitious researchers from five different Italian regions It aims at developing integrated manufacturing technology for 2D materials based on a novel and technologically relevant growth technique, namely ionized jet deposition. It will also allow overcoming critical experimental problems, such as controlled interfacing, and exploring new integrated electronic and sensing device concepts. This would allow 2D materials to enter the semiconductor roadmap, the key to unlocking their commercial potential. We will bundle our different know-hows and complementary strengths to expand multi-modal operando characterization of nanomaterials like TMDs in technologically relevant device architectures under operative conditions. Our focus for advanced operando characterization will be on scanning probe techniques and electron spectroscopy, which are among the most wide-spread and versatile characterization techniques in modern science, used across all disciplines in academia and industry. The project will allow us to discover the fundamental mechanisms under true operative constraints to have a leveraged impact on the nanomaterials’ effective design and functionality.