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Author: Verónica Savignano
Year-end message from SBPMat’s President.
Dear members of the Brazilian Material Research Society (SBPMat),
This year-end message is, above all else, an appreciation of everyone who has contributed to the major progress of the materials research in Brazil, as well as to SBPMat’s development and strengthening.
2014 was another year of achievements and accomplishments for SBPMat. The event held in João Pessoa was a great proof of that. There were over 2,000 papers registered, with huge attendance rates in all symposia, and a high portion of young researchers and students. The participation was remarkable, both numerically and in terms of quality; the internationalization degree was another highlight of the event. We could not forget to express our gratitude to Professors Iêda Maria Garcia dos Santos and Severino Jackson Guedes de Lima, in recognition for the excellent work they performed by organizing the 2014 SBPMat Meeting.
The release of the document “Science Impact – Materials research in Brazil” was another great achievement for SBPMat in this year of 2014, in addition to the progress of the “University Chapters” program, which has been coordinated by Professor Rodrigo Fernando Bianchi. In these activities, as in all others, there was always the invaluable contribution of the entire SBPMat Directors and Counselors. The success of the SPBMat Newsletter, conducted so efficiently, proves the increasing interest in SBPMat, both in Brazil and abroad.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a 2015 full of accomplishments and success.
Featured paper: Clarify the germanium processing for applications in micro and nanoelectronics.
The scientific paper by members of the Brazilian community on Materials research featured this month is: GeO2/Ge structure submitted to annealing in deuterium: Incorporation pathways and associated oxide modifications. Bom, N.M.; Soares, G.V.; Hartmann, S.; Bordin, A.; Radtke, C. Applied Physics Letters 105, 141605 (2014); DOI: 10.1063/1.4898062.
Clarifying the processing of germanium for applications in micro and nanoelectronics
Germanium (Ge) is one of the semiconductor materials listed as possible alternatives to silicon for applications in the micro and nanoelectronics industry. However, the processing of materials based in germanium, aiming to optimize its electric properties for these applications is still presented as a challenge to the science.
In this context, a research team from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) investigated the heat treatment (annealing) of germanium structures in deuterium atmosphere (hydrogen isotope which allows the use of analytical techniques specified for its quantification). The results of the study were recently published in the renowned periodical Applied Physics Letters (APL).
The study which the cited article derived from is part of the PhD research, in progress, by Nicolau Molina Bom, supervised by Professor Claudio Radtke in the framework of the postgraduate program in Microelectronics from UFRGS. “This work came up as a sequency of studies developed during my Masters, involving systems of aluminium oxide on germanium (Al2O3/Ge)”, Nicolau reports.
In the Masters’ research, also supervised by Radtke, Bom observed that the deposition of dielectric materials on germanium substrates, as well as its processing by means of heat treatment, induces the semiconductor oxidation and the formation of zirconium dioxide (GeO2). Due to reactions that occur between the oxide that is formed and the germanium substrate, the structure causes physical and chemical changes which bring about the degradation of its electric properties. “Thus, it became clear that the understanding of these mechanisms was fundamental to the use of germanium in industrial applications”, says Bom.
Incorporation of hydrogen
In the article published in APL, the authors report that the heat treatment was carried out in samples of germanium oxide on germanium (GeO2/Ge), of germanium oxide on silicon (GeO2/Si) and of silicon dioxide on silicon (SiO2/Si). One of the effects of the treatment evinced by means of analysis was the hydrogen incorporation, to greater proportions in GeO2/Ge than in SiO2/Si.
Authors assigned this effect to the occupation by hydrogen atoms of oxygen vacancies (points of crystalline network in which there are “vacancies” in the place of atoms that would be expected to be there), brought about during the heat treatment, in the interior of the germanium dioxide and in the GeO2/Ge interface.
Another effect observed by scientists was the oxide layer volatilization, mainly at temperatures superior to 450 oC, leading to changes in the chemical structure of the remaining oxide layer.
Schematic representation of the main results of the article, sent by Nicolau Bom.
Contribution and work applications
“The greatest merit of our study consists in clarifying the physical and chemical process involved in the incorporation of hydrogen in GeO2/Ge structures”, evaluates Nicolau Bom, who is the corresponding author of the article. “Besides, the understanding of these interactions will have a key role in the choice of the appropriate processing parameters in industrial applications involving germanium”, adds him.
In fact, results of this study can be applied, for example, in the development of metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET) based in germanium structures. “The MOSFET is the “flagship” of the micro/nanoelectronics industry and is a reference for the Moore’s law”remarks Bom. However, according to the PhD Candidate, the results presented in the cited article can also be useful in manufacturing devices with innovative architectures, such as the quantum well field-effect transistor (QWFET). “The high performance presented by QWFETs – due to the high mobilities obtained by the quantum confinement – set this device as a promising alternative to overcome the physical limitations of the conventional MOSFETs”, states Bom.
The study that the APL article derived from was funded by the INCT Namitec, INCT of Surface Engineering, CNPq, CAPES and FAPERGS.
Physics, Chemistry, Surface Science and Micro/nanoelectronics
The APL article inserts itself in a greater context of research, in the group of “Physical-chemistry of solid surfaces and interfaces” (FQSSI) at UFRGS. The central idea that guides this work is to understand the physical-chemical mechanisms involved in alternative materials to the classic structure SiO2/Si, in such a way to overcome the limitations of the silicon-based nanoelectronics . “In this context, the interdisciplinarity between physics, chemistry and engineering is a natural consequence of this work, where the knowledge derived from the different fields of study complement each other in the investigation of these systems”, remarks him.
Besides the studies about germanium, the group counts on works developed around dielectrics which door has high dielectric constant (the so-called high-k), SiC (material oriented to applications in extreme conditions of temperature, voltage and frequency) and graphene.
Professors Edgar Zanotto and Victor Pandolfelli joined the ranks of the members of the Brazilian National Academy of Engineering.
Professors Edgar Dutra Zanotto and Victor Carlos Pandolfelli, members of the Brazilian Materials research community, were elected to join the ranks of the full members of the Brazilian National Academy of Engineering (ANE) and were sworn, with other 25 engineers, on November 27, 2014, at the Auditorium of the Navy Arsenal in Rio de Janeiro.
By electing full members, ANE honors and recognizes great talents in the professional field by highlighting them as examples and a sources of inspiration for future generations.
Zanotto and Pandolfelli are full Professors of the Materials Engineering Department (DEMa) of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil.
Edgar Zanotto is a Materials Engineer by UFSCar, Master in Physics from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and PhD in Glass Technology from the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom). At UFSCar, he coordinates the Vitreous Materials Laboratory (LaMaV), established by him in 1977. Amongst many distinctions, he is a Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit and member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), the World Academy of Ceramics (WAC) and the World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS). In addition to several executive and advisory positions, he is the Director of the Center for Research, Technology and Education in Vitreous Materials (CeRTEVE). Zanotto holds a 1 A-level fellowship for research productivity in the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and has focused his research work into themes related to glass and glass-ceramics. Zanotto is one of the founders of SBPMat.
Victor Carlos Pandolfelli earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Materials from DEMa – UFSCar, and his PhD in Materials from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). Pandolfelli is a member of the advisory board of the World Academy of Ceramics (WAC), member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the American Ceramic Society, and visiting Professor of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology (China), to name a few of his many distinctions. He is the Latin-American coordinator of the Federation for International Refractories Research and Education (FIRE), an organization comprising universities in different countries and major companies in the field of refractories. Since 1993, he coordinates the ALCOA (Aluminum Company of Americas) Laboratory at UFSCar. Pandolfelli also holds a 1 A-level fellowship for research productivity in CNPq. Among his main research topics, it is worth mentioning high temperature ceramic materials.
About ANAE
ANE recognizes that the country’s sovereignty, as well as the welfare and security of its population, critically rely on competent, innovative, ethical engineering, concerned about meeting the needs of all segments of society – taking into account the sustainability of the civilization, while based on long term global prospects.
(Português) Chamada CNPq-CISB-Saab do Ciência sem Fronteiras: doutorado sanduíche e pós-doutorado na Suécia.
Advanced School on Glasses and Glass-Ceramics. 100 positions available for top-quality Masters and PhD students.
The Advanced School on Glasses and Glass-Ceramics (G&GC São Carlos) will take place in São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, in August 1-9, 2015. The School is organized by the CeRTEV (Center for Research, Technology and Education in Vitreous Materials and will be funded by FAPESP (The São Paulo Research Foundation) and the Department of Materials Engineering of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar).
We are aiming at selecting 100 top-quality Masters and PhD students (50 Brazilians, and 50 foreigners from all over the world), with excellent CVs, who are currently doing research in the area of glasses and glass-ceramics. We will cover the international travel expenses to and from Brazil, as well as the hotel expenses, including breakfast, and lunch while in São Carlos, for nine nights. Internal travel expenses (for instance, to reach the international airports in other countries), compulsory health insurance, VISA application and dinners will not be covered. The travel expenses of Brazilian students coming to São Carlos will also be covered.
The theoretical and experimental lectures will be taught by the most senior faculty of the CeRTEV as well as by several well-known, highly experienced international invited instructors. The classes will cover the fundamentals of structure, relaxation processes, crystal nucleation, growth, overall crystallization, and properties (mechanical, electrical, optical and bio) of glasses and glass-ceramics.
Interested candidates are cordially invited to upload the following documents in the School’s website*:
- Letter of intent;
- CV (2-3 page biosketch). Only students working on glassand glass-ceramic research will be considered;
- Official (signed) declaration from your university proving that you are enrolled in a Masters or PhD program at the time of registration.
A signed recommendation letter should be sent directly from the thesis advisor to dedz@ufscar.br and ligia.diniz91@gmail.com and o.lucas.lima@gmail.com.
Depending on the number of high-quality applications received the number of students per research group may be restricted. Submissions with incomplete documentation will not be considered.
Questions should be addressed to Professors Edgar D. Zanotto (dedz@ufscar.br), Marcello Andreeta (andreeta@ufscar.br) or Hellmut Eckert (eckert@ifsc.usp.br).
Registration will be open from December 2014 to January 2015. The selected candidates will hear from us by February – March 2015.
*School Website: http://www.certev.ufscar.br/g-cc-brasil
(Português) Concurso para professor no Instituto Politécnico da UERJ.
(Português) Concurso para professor em Termodinâmica dos Materiais na Universidade Federal de Lavras (MG).
SBPMat newsletter – year 1, issue 11.
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20th anniversary of the establishment of the São Carlos Institute of Physics, and six decades participating in the history of Materials research in Brazil.
2014 is a celebration year for one of the protagonist institutions of the history of Materials research in Brazil. The São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC), from University of São Paulo (USP), celebrates its 20th anniversary.
However, the origins of IFSC and its contributions to Brazilian Materials Science and Engineering date back to 60 years ago. “From its origins, IFSC had a central role in the development of Materials Science and Engineering, since Materials research was present with the pioneers of IFSC,” says Professor Antonio Carlos Hernandes, IFSC dean from 2010 to 2014 and researcher in the field of Materials.
The beginning of the history can be set in 1953, when USP, which had been founded in 1934, opened a teaching and research facility in the then small city of São Carlos, in the heart of the state of São Paulo. It was the School of Engineering of São Carlos (EESC), which exists to the present. At the time, the dean of the school, Theodoreto Souto, mandated to form a team of lecturers and researchers, recruited professors to São Carlos, mainly in São Paulo (USP), in Rio de Janeiro and abroad, but failed for them to settle in town for long.
From Rio de Janeiro, the first to integrate the EESC professors’ team was physicist Armando Dias Tavares, assistant of Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro in the Physics laboratories of the National School of Philosophy of the University of Rio de Janeiro (now Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ). Then, collaborators and students of Dias Tavares, who had learned to do science in the “school” of Costa Ribeiro and Bernhard Gross (main pioneers of Materials research in Brazil) left the “marvelous city” to the inland of São Paulo, invited by Souto. Among them, the newly graduated in Physics and Chemistry and honeymooners Sergio Mascarenhas Oliveira and Yvonne Primerano Mascarenhas – a couple who leaved an important legacy in the history of Materials Science and Engineering in the region and in the country – arrived in São Carlos in 1956.
At a time when most of the human and material resources for research in Physics, in the world and in Brazil, were intended for Nuclear and High Energy Physics, the Mascarenhas couple chose to start studies in Condensed Matter Physics, field they had worked with Costa Ribeiro in Rio de Janeiro. Documents prepared by IFSC state that Sergio and Yvonne saw two possibilities in that area for the group of São Carlos: to internationally stand out in a field where there was less competition, and to generate applications that had a positive impact on the region’s economy and quality of life of its population.
Thus, in the 1960s, Sergio Mascarenhas created the Condensed Matter Physics Group. “Thanks to a very strong exchange between USP in Sao Carlos, and the universities of Princeton and Carnegie Mellon in the United States, and also groups from England and Germany, mainly in Stuttgart, we managed to establish a very intense research training program, which continues to this day”, Mascarenhas commented in an interview granted in 2013 to the SBPMat Newsletter. Among the works with the greatest impact conducted at the time by the São Carlos group, it is possible to mention research related to defects in crystals, such as ionic crystals with a color core, which were later used for optical memories.
In the late 1960s, a new teaching and research institution, the Federal University of São Carlos (USFCar), was created in town, with the effective participation of professors of the EESC group. In particular, Sergio Mascarenhas, who was the first dean (pro tempore) of the university, proposed the creation of the first graduate course in Materials Engineering in Latin America, seeking to build a bridge between Materials Science and the generation of products, processes and services. The course started its activities in 1970.
In another pioneering initiative in the Materials field, the São Carlos group, with Sergio Mascarenhas as head of the organization, hosted the Brazilian community of solid state physicists (then consisting of about 50 researchers) in town to conduct the “First National Symposium on Solid State Physics and Materials Science “in a small shed.
As a result of the growth, institutionalization and gain of autonomy trodden by Mascarenhas and colleagues of the São Carlos group, in 1971 the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of São Carlos (IFQSC) was created, and the first dean was Mascarenhas himself. IFQSC had from its very beginning a Department of Physics and Materials Science, and a Department of Chemistry and Molecular Physics. Another step was taken in 1994 when IFSC was dismembered, giving rise to the Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos (IQSC) and IFSC, whose first dean was Yvonne Primerano Mascarenhas.
Another milestone in the part of IFSC in the history of Materials research in Brazil was the creation, in 1993, of the inter-unit program in Materials Science and Engineering at USP São Carlos. Managed by IFSC, the program brings together professors of this Institute, IQSC and EESC, as well as researchers from other institutions in the region.
Action with academic and social impact
Besides participating in the inter-unit program, IFSC has one of the most acknowledged and applied postgraduate programs in Physics in the country, which has obtained, since its creation, full marks in assessments from the Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES). Within its master’s and doctorate, it is possible to perform research in a wide range of topics, including several possibilities in the Materials field, from fundamental research in Condensed Matter Physics to studies on semiconductor materials, polymers, ceramics and glass. Also in the Materials field, IFSC currently has consolidated research groups, for example, the Polymer Group of “Professor Bernhard Gross,” and is home to large projects such as National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs) and Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers.
However, the impact of academic performance of the São Carlos group in the Materials field has exceeded the limits of the city of São Carlos. According to Professor Antonio Carlos Hernandes, the first consequence of this performance was the graduation of doctors (PhD) who began to operate in such field in other higher education institutions. “Thus, many university and research centers operating in Materials today have the IFSC training on their DNA”, says Hernandez.
“IFSC brings together what is essential to the quality of Materials research, with equipment and people with experience in various types of materials,” says Professor Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Junior, deputy dean of IFSC for the period 2012- 2016. Relying on these features, Novais adds, hundreds of masters and doctors graduated in Materials, many of which have become leaders of research groups in all regions of Brazil. “These leaders of various institutions, as well as others who are part of IFSC, currently play an important role in organizing the Materials community in the country, acting in the Brazilian Materials Research Society (SBPMat), coordinating events and national and international cooperation programs, and formulating public policies”, he adds.
But the impact of IFSC’s performance in the Materials field goes beyond the academic environment. Professor Hernandes highlights, among other examples, the creation of technology-based companies located in the city of São Carlos. “These high-tech companies originated from IFSC researchers work, often involving Materials research”, professor Novais states, which also brings up another type of social contribution made by professors and researchers of the institute, the “tireless work of popularization of science, with various programs for students of primary and secondary education, as well as for the general public. “