PhoXonic Nanomesh for synthetic biology and industrial sensin

​​The past two decades have seen the emergence and coming of age of Metamaterials, i.e. designed materials with physical properties going beyond those of their constituents and defined by the geometry and arrangement of these constituents. Metamaterials were demonstrated and made their way in applications ranging from super-lensing and cloaking, through seismic protection and noise cancellation in ultrasound medical imaging, to microwave shielding, antenna design and telecommunications. In particular, the impact of this field of research was fed by the shift from theoretical concept development to practical implementation through production process refinement. 

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​In the past years, imec has developed a Nanomesh platform that allows producing high complexity 3D metallic networks with well-defined scaffold structure formed of vertical nanowires with horizontal connections at regular intervals. These nanomesh materials can be designed towards nanowire diameter and pitch for both horizontal and vertical directions, based on a self-assembly process in a 3D anodized alumina porous template. This approach allows producing quasi-periodic conductive or dielectric structures that can be seen as quasi-crystals from a metamaterial point of view. 

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​The purpose of the PhD we propose is to study achievable phoxonic (photonic and phononic) properties of nanomeshes first, on the one hand, from a theoretical point of view, scouting achievable performances, and, on the other hand, from an experimental point of view, characterizing existing films. The PhD candidate will then design, produce and characterize a novel phoxonic nanomesh for targeted applications in synthetic biology and/or industrial sensing, where resonant field-enhancement or thermal conductivity bandgaps can have large impact. 

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​This PhD has three important pillars: 1) modelling and simulation of phoxonic nanomesh including extraction of effective material properties, e.g. frequency-dependent refractive index, permittivity, permeability, acoustic velocity, stiffness modulus, …; 2) process adaptations to create novel nanomeshes for a selected application, and 3) characterization of the produced films, first on their own and with time allowing in applications. The PhD student will be involved in the entire fabrication cycle (design, processing and characterization) performed in state-of-the-art facilities available at imec and have the perspective to be upscaled in the unique infrastructure developed by imec for large scale deployment of nanomeshes.​