Nanolab

The Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (NanoLab) is working on research topics in advanced nanoelectronics, with special emphasis on the technology, design and modelling of nanoscale solid-state devices. The group explores new materials, novel fabrication techniques, and novel device concepts for future applications in energy efficient Edge Artificial Intelligence, Internet-of-Things and  Quantum Computing.

Recent works

Ferroelectric gating of two-dimensional semiconductors for the integration of steep-slope logic and neuromorphic devices

In his research, Sadegh Kamaei has introduced an innovative technology that merges the capabilities of continuous analog processing with the precision of digital devices. This pioneering approach involves integrating ultra-thin, two-dimensional semiconductors with ferroelectric materials, offering a novel means to enhance energy efficiency and introduce additional functionalities in computing. Explore the details in the latest issue of Nature Electronics.

Giant switchable non thermally-activated conduction in 180° domain walls in tetragonal Pb(Zr,Ti)O3

In this work, Felix Risch observed the formation of highly conductive domain walls in strain driven ferroelectric thin film PZT. Domain walls are promising candidates for future nanoelectronic elements (e.g. artificial synapses, memristive elements, etc.) to be implemented in novel information processing schemes like neuromorphic computing. The work showcases the feasability for on-demand writing of non-volatile conductive channels for prototype memory devices with high current read-outs. More details can be found in Nature Communications.

Quantum Dots Array on Ultra-Thin SOI Nanowires with Ferromagnetic Cobalt Barrier Gates for enhanced Spin Qubit Control

In a joint work between EPFL, University of Basel and IBM Züruch presented at the 2023 VLSI Symposium, Fabio Bersano reported the first integration of ferromagnetic nanosized cobalt barrier gates in quantum dots arrays on FD-SOI nanowires. This innovative structure not only improves the driving and addressability of electron spin qubits but also minimizes decoherence fields, mitigating the degradation of quantum information.

News

2024 IEEE AWARD

Professor Adrian M. Ionescu was awarded the prestigious IEEE Cledo Brunetti award for leadership and contributions to the field of energy-efficient steep slope devices and technologies.

April 2024

Professor Adrian M. Ionescu was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania. The honorary degree is a distinction offered by a university to a personality who has made his or her mark in a particular field.

December 2023

Sadegh Kamaei received the EPFL Microsystems & Microelectronics Doctoral Program 2023 Thesis Distinction for his dissertation titled “Energy-Efficient Electronic Functions through the Co-integration of 2D and Ferroelectric Materials.

December 2021

Luca Capua presented his conference paper (co-authored by Yann Sprunger) titled ‘Double-Gate Si Nanowire FET Sensor Arrays For Label-Free C-Reactive Protein detection enabled by antibodies fragments and pseudo-super-Nernstian back-gate operation’ at IEDM 2021, in San Francisco.


January 2021

Clara Moldovan awarded the Musy award for entrepeneurship, supporting her to transfer the novel energy storage technology developed in Nanolab to address an essential market application today. She led the development of high density supercapacitors based on aligned carbon nanotubes structures, which due to their high surface area and to the device design and optimized processes can store very high energy levels, removing the performance gap between batteries and supercapacitors while charging ultra-fast, extending the lifetime and use environmentally friendly materials. This allows the resulting spin-off, Swistor, to offer a competitive energy storage solution.

Link to EPFL news

January 2021

Yogesh Chauhan 2021 IEEE Fellow. Piscataway, New Jersey, USA, January 2021: former member of Nanolab Yogesh Chauhan, from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, has been named an IEEE Fellow, being recognized for contributions to compact modeling of Si and GaN transistors.

December 2020

Professor Adrian M. Ionescu appointed to Proceedings of IEEE Editorial Board. In its last meeting the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board fully endorsed the appointment of our lab director, professor Ionescu, as a member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the IEEE, effective 1 January 2021 through 31 December 2023. The Proceedings of the IEEE is one of the most distinguished journals serving the engineering profession. It is the IEEE leading journal to provide in-depth review, survey, and tutorial coverage of the technical developments in electronics, electrical engineering, and computer science.

Link to the journal

August 2020

Luca Capua will hold an e-poster presentation on “Antibodies fragments as capturing sites to enhance cardiac troponin detection (cTn) in Extended Gate Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (EGFET)” at the ESC Congress 2020, Amsterdam, NL.

Link to the conference website

July 2020

Matteo Cavalieri is giving a presentation on “Fabrication of ferroelectric Gd:HfO2 by pulsed laser deposition in a CMOS compatible process” at the IFCS-ISAF 2020, Keystone, CO, USA.

Link to the conference website

May 2020

A paper written by Nicolò Oliva, “WSe2/SnSe2 vdW heterojunction Tunnel FET with subthermionic characteristic and MOSFET co-integrated on same WSe2 flake” was published on Nature. The paper shows a p-type TFET co-integrated on the same flake with a p-type MOSFET in a WSe2/SnSe2 material system platform, which represents the new state-of-the-art in the field.

Check out EPFL’s review on this work.