Nanoscale building blocks for future devices
Our research is focused on discovering novel phenomena and processes occuring during formation of nanoscale materials, and their engineering towards attractive bulding blocks for future nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. We aim to trick the Nature to prepare materials with properties that bulk materials do not exhibit. We focus on three research areas, which complement each other:
- Growth of 1D and 2D nanostructures with engineered properties targeting mostly nanophotonics (plasmonics) and nanoelectronics. This includes study of doping mechanisms, which lead to non-equlibrium dopant concentrations, and mechanisms of defect generation and their mitigation. The materials we are interested in are group IV and III-V semiconductors, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and perovskites.
- Modification of surfaces and nanomaterials by electron/ion beams, which includes changes of surface termination, sputtering, growth, etching, oxidation, defect formation etc., thus allowing new strategies for nanoscale materials growth, manipulation and assembly.
- Development of instrumentation/methodology for real-time SEM observation of nanoscale processes in materials, e.g. growth, phase/structure changes, defect formation etc. with emphasis on 1D (nanowires and nanotubes) and 2D materials. This research is done in close collaboration with ThermoFisher Scientific (formerly FEI) R&D in Brno.
PI: Miroslav Kolibal
My research interest is in materials science at micro- and nanoscale. I am currently focusing on physical phenomena causing growth of low dimensional materials (nanowires, nanotubes, monolayer sheets…) which have promising electronic and optical properties for applications in nanoelectronics and biosensing. Other research interests include real-time electron microscopy of processes at nanoscale, surface modification by electron and ion beams and wet and dry passivation techniques of semiconductor surfaces. My background is in solid state physics and surface science. I have received PhD from Brno University of Technology, with thesis topic Low Energy Ion Spectroscopy. I am tutoring several undergraduate and graduate students. I have several topics for bachelor, diploma or PhD thesis open - you are welcome to contact me.
e-mail: kolibal.m(at)fme.vutbr.cz
Open PhD positions:
1. In-situ microscopy and spectroscopy of 2D materials growth (2 positions)
Revealing the growth mechanisms at nanoscale is particularly challenging from many reasons. The most prominent advances in physics of nanostructure growth were achieved utilizing real-time in-situ monitoring techniques (both microscopic and spectroscopic). In our group, we have a large expertise in real time electron microscopy and, this year, a new vacuum chamber dedicated to Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy was installed to CEITEC Nano infractructure. The aim of this PhD dissertation is to work on revealing puzzling growth modes of two dimensional nanostructures of interest (silicene, phosphorene, transition metal selenides etc.) utilizing state-of-the-art equipment.
For applications details, please check here or contact me.
Team members:
Tomáš Pejchal
Tomáš Musálek
Lukáš Kachtík
Daniel Citterberg
Martin Kovařík
Kristýna Bukvišová
Matěj Nedvěd
Jiří David
Silvestr Stanislav
Alumni (last known position): Petr Glajc (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Rostislav Váňa (Tescan Orsay), Karel Novotný (Tescan Orsay), Ondřej Vyroubal (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Jakub Kuba (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Michal Andrýsek (), Martin Mikula (ON Semiconductor)
Equipment
- MBE-like growth chamber for Ge, Ga, Al, Sn, perovskites (CsPbBr), elemental 2D materials (P, Sn, Sb) and atomic sources of H/O
- Growth chamber dedicated to growth of zinc oxide utilizing in-house designed Zn evaporator and oxygen cracker source
- Other instrumentation of the group (large uhv cluster tool dedicated to surface science)
- All group members have direct access to Ceitec Nano CF, where we utilize mostly MBE chamber in cluster tool for III-Vs NW growth, and relevant analytical techniques (XPS, AEM, STM), plus optical characterization tools (FTIR, inverted optical microscope for combined electrochemical/plasmonic experiments with nanowire-based electrodes) and lithography line.
We have access to ThermoFisher Scientific application labs, where we utilize state-of-the-art SEMs, including modified environmental SEM, for real-time growth experiments