Smart And Neuromorfic Biointerfacing Systems - Our Technologies

Activities of this AdR are carried out in 3 laboratories:

FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THIN FILMS

Physical.chemical laboratory equipped for the deposition of polymeric thin films employing several techniques:

• Langmuir Schaefer and Langmuir Blodgett
• Spin coating
• Dip coating and Layer-by-Layer
• Electrodeposition

Access to FTIR spectroscopy and UV-VIS spectrophotometry. 

Furthermore our laboratory is equipped with a coating system (Diener P6) allowing the realization of protective layers, the production of flexible and freestanding substrates and the devices encapsulation in Parylene. This latter is a biocompatible, transparent dielectric material with low friction coefficient and excellent chemical resistance. 

Technical Spec:

• Coating thickness: 0,5 mm a 30 mm
• Rotating holder equipped with six stabs with 170 mm diameter
• The coating is not affected by edges or substrate defects
• Evaporation of different Parylene materials: N,D,C,F-VT4

Our laboratory features a Thermal UV-Ozone Cleaner System (Novascan) for the cleaning silicon wafers and several substrates (glass, organic substrates etc…), the removing photoresist, UV polymers activation , AFM, SEM and TEM samples preparation, the increasing of wettability of surfaces, the removing organic impurities.

 

 

FABRICATION OF 3D NANO/MICRO ENGINEERED SYSTEMS

Thanks to the partnership with Politecnico di Torino, a cleanroom is available at the IMEM@PoliTo Unit (https://areeweb.polito.it/ricerca/micronanotech/) for the implementation of micro- and nano-scale technological processes. The cleanroom is composed of ISO 14644 Class5 (U.S Fed-Std 209D Class 100) and ISO 14644 Class6 (U.S Fed-Std 209D Class 1000) areas. The cleanroom hosts the main micro-nano scale technologies for the fabrication of MEMS, microsensors, microfluidics and for their integration with nanostructures:

• Double side Mask Aligner
• Laser Direct Writer
• Reactive Ion Etcher (RIE) and Deep Reactive Ion Etcher (DRIE)
• Chemical Benches for Lithographic processes and for Wet Etching
• E-Gun Evaporator
• Rapid Thermal Annealer (RTA)
• ICP-Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (ICP-PECVD)
• Graphene deposition furnace
• Electroplating
• Hot Embossing
• CNC Milling
• Micro Electro-Discharge Machining.

The Lab is also provided with a significant set of Rapid Prototyping & Additive Manufacturing technologies: (i) Ink-Jet 3D Printing, (ii) 3D Plastic Sintering, (iii) MicroStereoLithography, (iv) Electrospinning, (v) Ink-Jet Printing, (vi) 2 Photon Polymerization (2PP).

One of the Labs present in IMEM is equipped to provide the fabrication of polymeric smart nano and micro containers in the form of capsules and freestanding microchambers employing the layer-by-layer and the one-step dip coating techniques.

Our laboratory is equipped with a PCB Printer (Voltera) that allows us to realize small printed circuits made in conductive inks and solder pastes. Moreover, this technology can be used as dispensing system  for the deposition of homemade inks on different substrates (flexible or not) .

 

Access to: SEM-FIB

 

ELECTRONICS AND OPTICS STUDY AND CHARACTERIZATION

 

For the electrical and optical characterization, our lab is equipped with: 

- a fully motorized  optical microscope  NIKON-ECLIPSE Ni-E equipped with a CAMERA DS-Qi2  and epifluorescence set up. This machine can be employed as an inspection microscope, thanks to the possibility of acquiring 3D topographic images  (Z-stack)  and Large Images, and also for the analysis of biological samples in reflection, trasmission and epifluorescence (with different wavelenghts- λ-stack)  configurations . 

- a National Instrument measuring apparatus (Chassis Ni PXle-1073; Modules: SMU NiPXle 4138/39, NiPXl- 6289) for the electrical characterizations of the single or integrated in more complex circuits electronic devices.