MASTER PROJECTS (CLOSED)

Notes

• Projects are intended for MASTER students on Material’s Science, Condensed Matter, Solid State Physics, Crystallography, Advanced Microscopies, etc.
• The projects are expected to have a duration of about 6 months.
• Research activity costs are covered by running projects.
• No grants or other financial support can be provided

Description and Contacts

Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy of Nanostructured Magnetic Materials

Magneto-optical materials are nowadays intensively researched because of potential applications in optical communications or data storage. An important aspect of this research field is to understand how their properties evolve with the wavelength of the probe light. The student will be trained on using magneto-optical spectroscopy to analyze the properties of nanostructured magnetic materials as well as nanometer-thick magnetic films as a function of the light frequency.

Interested candidates should contact:

Gervasi Herranz and D. Pesquera

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC
Campus de la UAB,
08193 Bellaterra, Spain
gherranz@icmab.es
Phone: +34 93 580 18 53

Imaging ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains with submicron resolution

The data in electronic devices can be stored permanently in magnetic or ferroelectric domains. A direct visualization of these domains is a prerequisite to understand the evolution of their spatial distribution under the application of external fields (magnetic or electric). The candidate will contribute to develop and make use of advanced optical microscopy (confocal) with polarization contrast to image ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains of thin film structures as well as nano-objects with a lateral resolution well below the micrometer. The project will allow the candidate to obtain formation on modern optical microscopy techniques.

Interested candidates should contact:

Gervasi Herranz and Ondřej Vlašín

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC
Campus de la UAB,
08193 Bellaterra, Spain
gherranz@icmab.es
Phone: +34 93 580 18 53

Nanometric Magnetic Tunnel Heteroepitaxies

Spintronics is one of the most advanced technologies to overcome present limitations of conventional electronics. Magnetic materials are at the heart of spintronics and progress requires development of new materials and concepts. We are currently developping spin filters. We offer to contribute to the ongoing research. The student will be trained on using Pulsed laser deposition and sputtering techniques to grown epitaxial layers of oxides and metals. This activity will be combined with advanced structural characterization and atomic-force miscroscopies.

Interested candidates should contact:

Josep Fontcuberta

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC
Campus de la UAB,
08193 Bellaterra, Spain
fontcuberta@icmab.es Phone: +34 93 580 18 53 (228)

Oxide superlattices by pulsed laser deposition with reflection high energy electron diffraction

New artificial materials can be created by exploiting properties derived of interfaces between two materials. Superlattices, i.e., thin films multilayers type A/B/A/B/… with extremely thin A and B layers, maximize the effects of interfaces over bulk effects. Particularly relevant are complex oxides superlattices, permitting enhancement or even creation of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity. The fabrication of oxide superlattices is challenging and requests advanced tools and methodologies of thin film growth. The state-of-the-art pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with real-time control by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) facilities at ICMAB (http:// www.icmab.es/icmab/scientific-technical-services/thin-films/equipments.html) are the optimal set-ups. The student will investigate the thin film growth mechanism in complex epitaxial multilayers formed by ferroelectric (FE: BaTiO₃) and paraelectric (PE: SrTiO₃ and CaTiO₃) films. N x (n x FE / m x PE) multilayers (N = 1 to 50), with n and m ranging from 1 to 10 unit cells. The student will conduct detailed analysis of 1) RHEED patterns, and particularly of the specular spot intensity oscillations, and 2) atomic force microscopy (AFM) topographic images and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns.

Interested candidates should contact:

Florencio Sánchez

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC,

Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain

fsanchez@icmab.es Phone: +34 93 580 18 53 (327)

Atomic control of single crystalline oxide surfaces for tailored epitaxial growth

Accurate manipulation of the surface of single crystalline oxide substrates is being used recently to tune the epitaxial growth of subsequently deposited films (see for instance R. Bachelet, C. Ocal, L. Garzón, J. Fontcuberta, and F. Sánchez, Conducted growth of SrRuO₃ nanodot arrays on self-ordered La_0.18Sr_0.82Al_0.59Ta_0.41O₃(001) surfaces, Applied Physics Letters 99, 051914 (2011), and references therein). The single crystals are typically perovskite oxides, and the main characteristics considering the use as substrate are morphology and chemical termination. Morphology is characterized by terraces (around 100 nm wide) having a single or two chemical terminations separated by steps (around 0.2 or 0.4 nm high) that can be highly disordered or form well ordered patterns. The objective is to control the chemical termination and the steps-terraces morphology of single crystalls usually used as substrates: SrTiO₃(001) and LSAT(001). The student will perform chemical and thermal treatments of the substrates and detailed characterization of the surface by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The engineered substrates will then used to grow epitaxial films of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric oxides, and the impact on the growth mode and film properties will be determined.

Interested candidates should contact:

Florencio Sánchez

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC,

Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain

fsanchez@icmab.es Phone: +34 93 580 18 53 (327)

Mapping electric transport and capacitance at nanoscale

Nanodevices as used in present and future electronic technologies require mapping of materials’ electric and dielectric properties at nanoscale. We aim to contribute to this development by measuring the dielectric response of nanometric thin films of selected insulating materials. The final goal is to determine to what extent substrate-induced strain may induce radically new properties, such as ferroelectricity, in the films. The student will participate in thin film characterization by atomic force microscopy (AFM), current sensing AFM and capacitance microscopy.

Interested candidates should contact:

Josep Fontcuberta & Diego Gutierrez

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC
Campus de la UAB,
08193 Bellaterra, Spain
fontcuberta@icmab.es

Phone: +34 93 580 18 53 (228)

Magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic thin films and superlattices

The aim of this project is the magnetodielectric characterization of multiferroic materials in thin film form. Multiferroics are functional oxides in which at least two ferroic orders coexist (for instance, ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism), and are interesting for a variety of applications, such as magnetic memories or tunable high-frequency devices.

The research involves ferroelectric and dielectric measurements at cryogenic temperatures and under magnetic fields, of thin films and multilayers candidate to display multiferroicity.

The work will include also the correlation of the obtained magnetoelectric properties with microstructure, nanostructure and synthesis conditions, so that the student will adquire experience on the characterization of dielectric and ferroelectric materials, on the physics of multiferroic oxides and on other materials science aspects as structural characterization and thin film fabrication.

Interested candidates should contact:

Lourdes Fàbrega

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC
Campus de la UAB,
08193 Bellaterra, Spain

lourdes@icmab.es

Phone: +34 93 580 18 53 (ext. 313)