EU-funded researchers developed a microwave microscopy platform that can probe material properties across all scales: from elusive processes that take place at semiconductor interfaces to macroscale electric and magnetic behaviour.

Nanotechnology is rapidly expanding and quietly worming its way into more products. Advances in the field open up a variety of new applications outside of the technology’s core area of microchips, such as in medicine, energy, batteries, fuels and chemical sensors. Successful manufacture of nanotechnology products requires better understanding of how matter behaves at the atomic scale.

“The quality and performance of the manufactured products strongly depend on the chemical, electrical, electronic and optical properties of materials at the nanoscale. Precise control over performance may be accomplished through modifying material interfaces,” notes Kamel Haddadi, coordinator of the EU-funded MMAMA project. “Deep insight into the interface properties is crucial as they often mask or superimpose the properties of bulk semiconductors, rendering product design challenging.”

For more information:

New microwave microscopy platform spurs development of high-quality semiconductor materials | Results In Brief | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)