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A few years ago the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development proposed an Austrian Nano Initiative to strengthen the national activities in the field of NanoScience and Technology. In 2004 FFG and FWF, the two funding agencies administering the program, issued the First Call for Program Line I: Project Clusters in this emerging interdisciplinary field. The Johannes Kepler University (JKU) and Upper Austrian Research (UAR), the research institution of the province of Upper Austria, brought together a consortium of three companies and four research institutions, which participated in the First Call with their proposal Nanostructured Surfaces and Interfaces (NSI). Following the suggestions of an international refereeing board, five out of a total of eight consortia proposals submitted to the First Call were awarded funding for a two-year period each. The project cluster NSI, which consists of six interlinked research projects, receives funding of € 1.5 Mio. NSI is coordinated by F.Schäffler from the Institut for Semiconductor Physics; and co-chaired by O.Höglinger from UAR. After lengthy contract negotiations, project work started fully mid of 2005, more than a year after application for funding.
The purpose of NSI is, to link the expertise and infrastructure in the field of NanoScience and Technology, which was systematically developed since the early 1990s in Linz and Upper Austria, and to make them available to both the Austrian industry and to education inside and outside the university. NSI is expected to convert the rather loosely linked NanoScience and Technology activities in Linz into a nationally and internationally competitive center of excellence. It is intended to develop NSI into a local node in the emerging Austrian NanoScience and Technology Network, located in Upper Austria, the leading industrial center of Austria. In terms of education, the research projects of NSI provide qualified research positions for the students of the first Austrian NanoScience and Technology course, which was launched in 2002 at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz.
NSI covers three of the four main competence areas of the NanoScience and Technology activities in Linz and Upper Austria, and makes them available to the concept of the Austrian Nano Initiative. These three competence fields are Biocompatible Nanostructures, Polymers and Nanocomposites, and Metal Surfaces and Interfaces. Semiconductor Nanostructures, the fourth core competence in Linz, is already more advanced regarding its national and international integration and will mainly be pursued in the recently installed, Austrain-German Spezialforschungsbereich IR-ON funded by FWF. Links between NSI and IR-ON exist via participation of the Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics in several of the NSI projects. This way the expertise and infrastructure available in and around the cleanroom of the institute is made available in an interdisciplinary approach to the other core competence areas.
In the following, the six projects of NSI are briefly outlined, ordered with respect to the three aforementioned competence areas.
1. Biocompatible Nanostructures
1.1 Nanostructured und Biofunctionalized Surfaces (NABIOS)
In this project methods and techniques from semiconductor technology and surface science are combined with molecular chemistry and single molecule spectroscopy. In a first step, gold surfaces are nanostructured by e-beam lithography at the Institute for Semiconductor Physics. Simultaneously, the Institute for Biophysics develops linker molecules that allow binding of a single bio-molecule on each of the nanopatterned Au islands. Finally, UAR provides single molecule detection using the fluorescence microscope ("nanoreader") they developed recently in the framework of the national GEN-AU project. NABIOS combines in an interdisciplinary way the technologies and expertise of groups in three different fields of NanoScience and Technology.
1.2 Nano-Biocompatible Polymerfoils (NBPF)
In this project the surfaces of polymer foils are nanostructured by laser radiation in a way that allows the ordered arrangement of cell cultures for medical diagnosis and therapy. This approach provides a local modification of the polymer surface that avoids the disadvantages of conventional techniques, such as reduced mechanical stability or enhanced bio-degradation. The consortium comprises the institutes for Applied Physics and Biophysics (both JKU) for laser patterning and bio-compatibility, and the Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology (Univ. Vienna) for the automatic positioning of cell cultures.
2. Polymers und Nanocomposites
2.1 Nanometric Organic Actuators (NANORAC)
This entirely new approach employs organic semiconductors to realize nano-electromechanical (NEM) functionality. As yet, dielectrics were utilized for such purposes, which are not easily integrated into electronic circuits. The new approach aims toward organic actuators that can be controlled by integrated organic electronic components. NANORAC combines the expertise of the Linz Institut for Organic Solarcells (LIOS) und der Group for the Physics of Soft Matter, both from JKU.
2.2 Sol-Gel-enhanced Catalysts for the Fabrication of Carbon-Nanotubes (SolTube)
Carbon-Nanotubes (CNT) are an intense research area for a large number of potential applications.. SolTube introduces a Sol-Gel-Process for the deposition of a homogeneous dispersion of Nanoparticels on a surface. These then work as catalysts for the growth of a densely packed CNTs. In the long run, membranes consisting of dense arrays of CNTs are envisaged for nanofiltration purposes. SolTube is led by the company Profactor from Steyer near Linz, which provide the sol-gel process. Electrovac, a leading European manufacturer of CNTs and CNFs provides CVD growth. This project is supported by the analytical tools and expertise in CVD growth of CNTs available in university institutes in Linz and at TU Vienna.
3. Nanostructured Metal Surfaces and Interfaces
3.1 Optical Properties of Metal Clusters on Crystalline Surfaces (MetClust)
In this project the basic properties of nanometer-sized metal clusters on crystalline PET and quartz-surfaces are investigated with optical und magneto-optical methods. In particular, Reflectance Difference Spectroscopy (RDS) will be employed, a field in which pioneering contributions were made in Linz. The project is coordinated by the Institute for Surface Science, with contributions from the Institute for Solid State Physics, and the company Hueck Folien.
3.2 In-Line-Charakterization of Nanometer-Thick Metallayers on Polymerfoils (PolyMet)
This project is closely related to MetClust, and aims toward an exploitations of the optical techniques developed in MetClust for industrial surveillance of foil production lines. For this purpose a prototype set-up will be developed for in-line control of nm-thick metal films on polymer foils. This project is a collaboration between Hueck Folien and the Institute for Surface Physics.
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