Synthesis of advanced materials

The synthesis of advanced materials is one of the main activities of IMM. Several state of the art equipments are running in IMM, as well as many methodologies for the realization of advanced materials are developed for various applications, from energetics to nanoelectronics, biomedicine, sensing, environmental/cultural protection. Such materials belong to the sets below:

Nanometer or nanolaminated films

• oxides: ultra-thin films of transition metal oxides/rare earths
• transparent conductive oxides and materials
• nanostructured functionalized semiconductor oxides
• Selenium- and Tellurium-based chalcogenides
• hybrid perovskites, manganites, ruthenium, nitrides
• flexible conductors and semiconductors
• new nanocomposite materials based on nanostructured polymers, titanium and zinc oxide, graphene oxide.

Low-dimensional structures

• 0D: Silicon, Germanium and Silicon Carbide nanoparticles, colloidal nanocrystals of metal oxides, pure, doped and in a core-shell configuration.
• 1D: nanowires and nanotubes of Carbon, Silicon, Titanium, Zinc and Copper oxides, chalcogenide nanowires and core-type (multi) shells based on semiconductors composed of group III -V.
• 2D: two-dimensional materials such as graphene, silicene, phosphorene or hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), antimonene and transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as their interfacing with magnetic materials.
• 3D: graphene foams (a porous graphene three-dimensional structure)
• biocompatible and biodegradable nanomaterials.

In the following, the instrumentation for material synthesis available in IMM is grouped by deposition technique. Wide expertise on the synthesis is evidenced by the list of materials grown by each technique in the different IMM Units.

Chemical Vapor Deposition (thermal CVD, RF- and VHF-Plasma Enhanced CVD, Inductive Coupled Plasma, ECR)

• Transition metal dichalcogenides (MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂…) - Agrate
• C-based nanostructures: carbon nanotubes, graphene in single and few layers, graphene foams – Bologna
• 3C-SiC 4H-SiC Epitaxial growth - Catania HQ
• Si-based amorphous, micro- and nano-crystalline films/multilayers (intrinsic, B or P doped), p-i-n structures – Bologna
• LTO, TEOS, Si₃N₄, poly-Si films and poly-Si nanowires - Bologna
• α-Si:H (P or B doped), α-SiC:H, SiO_xN_yC_z, Si & SiC Nanoparticles, Si nanowires - Catania HQ
• 2D graphene, 3D graphene based structures, Carbon nanotubes - Catania
• SiN_x Nanowires, SiO_x, a-Si:H - Naples
• Silicon based 2D/1D materials – Rome

Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD)/Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE)

• Chalcogenide films and nanowires of Ge, In, Sb, Bi, Te, Se - Agrate
• III-V based nanostructures (nanowires and related nanostructures) - Lecce

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD, Plasma enhanced)

• Magnetic thins films (Fe, Co, Fe₃O₄) and insulating oxides (MgO) - Agrate
• Transition metal oxides, high k dielectrics, transparent oxides – Agrate
• Dielectrics (oxides and nitrides), nano-laminated systems, complex oxide thin films - Catania HQ
• TiO₂, ZnO, Al₂O₃, Ag, Ru, Pt, Pd - Catania

Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)

• Silicene, stanene, ultra-thin oxides – Agrate
• SiGe quantum wells, Ge quantum dots, Ultrathin doped layers (FWHM 3 nm) – Catania
• Van der Waals epitaxial growth of graphene and 2D materials - Lecce    

Sputtering (RF, magnetron, soft PVD)

• TiN, TaN, and deposition of W and Pt for metal gate – Agrate
• Metals, TiN, SiO₂ Al₂O₃, TiO₂, WO₂, SnO₂, ITO, AZO, IWO – Bologna
• Metals, Oxides, Nitrides, Silicides; Hybrid perovskites - Catania HQ
• Rare earths based compounds, Si and Ge quantum dots in SiO2 and SiOC, TiO₂, Cu₂O, GeSbTe alloys – Catania
• Transparent conductive oxides (AZO, ITO, TZO) - Catania
• SIO₂, Si₃N₄, ITO, Er, ZnO - Naples
• Oxide and metal thin films – Rome

Evaporation (thermal/E-beam)

• Metal films (Au, Cr, Ag, Al, Pt, Ti, Ni, Mo,…) and oxides (SiO₂, HfO₂, NiO,…) – Agrate
• Metal films (Au, Cr, Ag, Al, Pt, Pd, Ti, Ni, Fe, Co, Mo,…) and oxides (SiO₂, Al₂O₃, NiO …) - Bologna
• Films of Al, Au, Ti, Pt, Cr - Naples
• Metal films and Pentacene – Rome

Low-cost chemical and physical synthesis (Wet, self-assembly, one-pot, electrodeposition, metal assisted)

• Si and TiO₂ nanowires, TiO₂ nanotubes and nanoplumes, polymeric nanocomposite, ZnO nanorods and nanowalls - NiO nanosheets and nanofoam - Ge colloids – Catania
• Free-standing polymeric nanocomposites, ordered Si nanoholes, self-assembled molecular monolayers, Carbon nanostructures – Catania HQ
• Metal oxide colloidal nanocrystals, surface modified metal oxide nanocrystals and thin films – Lecce
• hybrid polymer-gold nanoparticles, ZnO nanowires – Naples
• ZnO nanomaterials, Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT) and Nickel thin films - Rome

Annealing (Laser, furnaces)

• Metal nanoparticles - Rome
• Si nanoparticles – Bologna

Other processes

• Graphene, porous Al₂O₃- Bologna
• Nanoaggregates synthesis in matrix – Catania HQ

Coordinator: Paola Prete

The synthesis activities are described in more details in the contributions of each Unit reported below: