 NMP-2007-1.2-2 Equipment and methods for nanotechnology
Technical content / scope: Equipment and methods for characterisation and operations at the nanoscale are needed in order to explore and exploit size dependent phenomena with the aim of developing innovative materials, products, devices and processes or enhance quality control systems. The research projects should focus on the development of instrumentation and methods for measurement, analysis and operations at the nanoscale to characterize nano-features with improved resolution and/or increased sensitivity, based on novel approaches or novel combinations of approaches. This is a particular challenge when the feature sizes approach the 10 nm range or beyond. The equipment developed should be capable of working accurately, reliably and reproducibly and it is intended to meet the performance and cost requirements at research laboratory level. Accordingly, the proposed projects should aim at developing tools, namely instruments and/or methods and/or their combination, including novel software both for measurement and analysis, and data handling – as appropriate. The projects should represent a clear step ahead of the state-of-the-art. Significant technical applications are on-line and off-line characterisation and operations at nanoscale e.g. characterisation and quantification of measure of novel functionalities and performance, handling and treatment of samples or positioning at atomic level.
Funding scheme: Collaborative projects targeted to SMEs
Specific features: SME dedicated collaborative projects are specifically designed to encourage SME participation in research and innovation representing the complete value added of the targeted fields. Research and innovation activities need to be covered by the projects. In each project, at least 35% of the EC contribution is expected to be allocated to the participating SMEs. The projects will be led by SMEs with R&D capacities but the coordinator does not need to be an SME. The participating SMEs should have the decision making power in the project management. The output should be for the benefit of the participating SMEs and the targeted SME dominated industrial communities. Additional activities other than research could be included as appropriate, such as metrology, pre- and co-normative activities like the development of (certified) reference materials, safety issues, specific education modules or the analysis of existing and required regulations.
Expected impact: (i) New or improved equipment; (ii) support to the development of new nanotechnology-based products and industrial processes, to their tailoring of properties and reliability.
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