PhD Student - Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices

Description of Group/Project:

The Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices (AEMD) group focuses on the material sciences and technology aspects of novel electronic materials, with a strong emphasis on graphene as well as other 2D materials (MoS2). The group also works towards the development of technological applications based on these materials such as electronics, bioelectronics and biosensing, neural interfaces, etc.

The activities cut across different scientific aspects, from the fundamentals (the physics of devices and semiconductors) to materials (growth of graphene and MoS2 materials by CVD and MOCVD, surface functionalisation, advanced characterisation), through to devices (fabrication technology, nanofabrication) and applications (neural implants and biomedical technologies, biosensors, flexible electronics).

Main Tasks and responsibilities:

The research activity of the candidate will be mainly part of the MINIGRAPH project (an EIC pathfinder project funded by the European Commission), which aims at developing a new generation of brain implants with closed-loop neuromodulation capabilities enabled by high-density arrays of graphene microelectrodes.

The PhD candidate will be involved in activities related to the design, fabrication, and assessment of several components of neural interface technologies, with a focus on the design, fabrication, and characterization of neural probes based on thin-film graphene technology .

The candidate will be working in a very multidisciplinary project that covers topics such as materials science of graphene and other 2D materials, thin film technologies for neural interfaces, as well as in-vivo device validation of the neural technologies capable of recording and stimulation brain tissue. The candidate will work as part of an international team and she/he is expected to actively participate in this collaboration.