Professor Hongzhou Zhang

Breakthroughs in fabrication technologies have enabled profound advancements in the natural sciences and have been empowering modern industry. Mirroring these breakthroughs, this proposal aims to develop a novel method for ultimate material modification with unprecedented precision and controllability, and expand the fundamental knowledge of emerging functional nanomaterials. It helps us to revolutionise device prototyping and demonstrate a new memory switch for making smaller, faster and more energy-efficient computer chips, leading to a myriad of other technologies in the future. This proposal will hence support the sustainability and innovation of Ireland"s industries and enhance the local economy.

Graphene electronics has the potential to revolutionize information industry. However, technologies to modify graphene properties in a controlled and scalable way are still lacking. The helium-ion microscope (HIM) is a new enabling technology for characterization and fabrication of nanostructures, while its values are not clear. Built on our previous work in both fields, this project is expected to gain insights into HIM imaging and machinery for graphene metrology and modification. We will develop a HIM-centred integrated platform to fabricate graphene nano-ribbons with well-defined properties and enable significant improvements in graphene electronics. This project will also demonstrate the capabilities and values of the helium-ion microscope in nanoscience and nanotechnology. As a core specialization of the CRANN facility, the project feeds greatly into the future roadmap for the information and communications technology sector, a sector strongly represented in the Irish economy.

The aim of the Action is to create a coordinated effort in the field of ion beam based nanoengineering that will put European researchers and commercial businesses at the forefront of the quickly moving field of functional nanostructured materials. The Action will unite developers and practitioners of focused ion beam technology to enable them to build the most efficient tool sets and application techniques for the identification, fabrication and characterization of next generation functional nanomaterials. The Action will develop ion sources and instrumentation for the sub 10 nm fabrication and materials analysis. These objectives will be reached through Europe wide networking between researchers from theoretical and experimental groups traditionally not interacting closely. The challenge to overcome is the increasing fragmentation of the FIB landscape between operators of established technologies, developers providing new techniques and methods and designers of functional nanomaterials not aware of the possibilities provided by these emerging focused ion beam technology and methods. A tight feedback loop between academic and commercial technology developers with researchers of fundamental ion solid interactions and scientists developing new functional nanomaterials will be formed through a series of conferences, training schools and short term scientific missions. This will enable European researchers to develop bleeding edge functional nanomaterials allowing them to offer solutions to many of the important socioeconomic questions defined by the various research programs in Europe. New and emerging focused ion beam technology developed by the Action will play an important role for Quantum Technologies, Semiconductor Industry, Functional Nanomaterials and Medical applications.