A Mesoscale framework for the modeling of defects and interfaces in crystals

This project addresses the mesoscale modeling of crystalline systems. It builds on the phase-field crystal (PFC) model and its amplitude expansion (APFC), which provide convenient coarse-grained descriptions of crystalline structures. It aims at i) delivering novel theoretical tools that bridge micro- and macroscopic features while studying crystals accounting for real material properties, ii) overcoming limitations of current state-of-the-art theoretical approaches in this field through new and hybrid approaches, iii) enabling applications to technology-relevant crystalline systems and related open problems in materials science.

NAtuRal instability of semiConductors thIn SOlid films for sensing and photonic applications - NARCISO

NARCISO "NAtuRal instability of semiConductors thIn SOlid films for sensing and photonic applications"is an interdisciplinary project merging physics, chemistry, material science, fluid dynamics, and photonics with a high potential for applications and industrial scale-up of the relevant results. We propose to exploit the natural instability of thin solid films (solid state dewetting of silicon and germanium, SSD) to form complex patterns and nano-architectures (e.g. monocrystalline atomically-smooth structures, disordered hyperuniform metamaterials) that cannot be implemented with conventional methods.

Micro-crystals Single Photon InfraREd detectors – µSPIRE

µSPIRE aims at establishing a technological platform for homo- and hetero- structure based photonic and electronic devices using the self-assembling of epitaxial crystals on patterned Si substrates. Emerging micro-electronic and photonic devices strongly require the integration on Si of a variety of semiconducting materials such as Ge, GaAs, GaN and SiC, in order to add novel functionalities to the Si platform. µSPIRE pursues this goal employing a novel deposition approach, which we termed vertical hetero-epitaxy (VHE), optimizied with the aid of simulations. VHE exploits the patterning of conventional Si substrates, in combination with epitaxial deposition, to attain the self-assembly of arrays of Ge and GaAs epitaxial micro-crystals elongated in the vertical direction, featuring structural and electronic properties unparalleled by “conventional” epitaxial growth.