Nanotechnology Research – Initiatives, Networks & Associations

The NanoOffice is part of the Center for Interdisciplinary Technology Studies (ZIT) at Darmstadt Technical University. It serves as a platform for interdisciplinary discussions, the development of joint initiatives and the pursuit of various research and outreach projects.

The materials investigated include metals, amorphous and crystalline alloys, semiconductors, oxide, nitride and carbide ceramics in the form of clusters, thin films, multilayers and bulk nanocrystalline materials. All synthesis techniques are based on vapor phase processes such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and DC- and RF- Magnetron Sputtering for thin films and multilayers and Chemical Vapor Synthesis (CVS) and Inert Gas Condensation (IGC) for clusters and nanocrystalline materials.

The DEEPEN project is Europe?s leading research partnership for integrated understanding of the ethical challenges posed by emerging nanotechnologies in real world circumstances, and their implications for civil society, for governance, and for scientific practice.

The project Development of Lithography Technology for Nanoscale Structuring of Materials Using Laser Beam Interference (DELILA) focuses on researching and developing a new production technology for fabrication of 2D and 3D nano structures and devices. In particular, DELILA will enable low cost and large volume production of surface structures and patterns with nanometric resolution.

The "Design for Micro & Nano Manufacture (Patent-DfMM)" Network of Excellence aims to establish a new technical community that will address the underlying engineering science to ensure that problems affecting the manufacture and reliability of products based on MNT can be addressed before prototype and pre-production.

DINAMICS is a European FP6-funded project that aims to promote the uptake of nanotechnological approaches by developing an integrated costeffective nanobiological sensor for detection of bioterrorism and environmental assays. The prime deliverable is an exploitable lab-on-a-chip device for detection of pathogens in water using on-the-spot recognition and detection based on the nanotechnological assembly of unlabelled DNA.

A European project for the devolopment of an integrated platform to assess the risk of nanoparticles.

The main driver for the industrial consortium DOMINO is the need to establish design methods for the manufacture of novel dispersed nano-particulate products, allowing the rapid implementation of processes to manufacture predictable products, which meet rigorous quality standards.

DYNASYNC, short for 'Dynamics in Nano-scale Materials Studied with Synchrotron Radiation', is a Framework Six project. Seven laboratories from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary and Poland collaborate in an ambitious specific targeted research project to address size-dependent quantum phenomena on nano-scale both theoretically and experimentally.