The European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants are considered the most prestigious and highly endowed grants in the European research landscape. In this year's award round, two of these grants went to TU Wien - one of them was awarded to Tibor Grasser, the head of the Institute for Microelectronics. In his project "F2GO - Fluorides for next-generation 2D nanoelectronics," Tibor will be investigating fluorides, including calcium fluoride, as ultrathin insulators for 2D nanoelectronics. Early research has already shown that these materials are superior to conventional amorphous insulators, such as silicon dioxide, because they have a less reactive surface and bind to the semiconductor exclusively via van der Waals forces. With these materials, ever thinner semiconductors and insulators can be achieved.

While the semiconductor industry has advanced rapidly, less attention has been paid to insulators. However, semiconductors and insulators must always be thought of together, because, if the two materials do not fit together, electrons are deflected and even trapped at the interface, the insulator ages, and the material breaks down. Silicon and silicon dioxide are a good example of a well-matched pair. Tibor and his research group have been investigating insulators and their interface with semiconductor channels for over 15 years, and for the last several years, the team has also been researching the ultrathin insulator calcium fluoride for 2D materials. The main goal of the project will be to investigate other fluoride compounds in addition to calcium fluoride, for example magnesium fluoride. To ensure that the insulators eventually find a suitable 2D semiconductor, the team will presort suitable candidates and then test them experimentally.

For more details see TU News (Text in German)

We congratulate our colleagues and we wish them excellent results in the project!