Francesca Iacopi of University of Technology Sydney

Harnessing graphene’s properties on a silicon platform could augment integrated technologies with a broad range of novel miniaturized functionalities. We will review the learnings from the development of our epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide on silicon technology and some of its most promising applications. This platform allows to obtain any complex graphene -coated silicon carbide 3D nanostructures in a site – selective fashion at the wafer -scale and with sufficient adhesion for integration. Key capabilities for nano-optics and metasurfaces in the MIR are specifically unlocked by the graphene/silicon carbide combination.

We have recently demonstrated that the sheet resistance of epitaxial graphene on 3C-SiC on silicon is comparable to that of epitaxial graphene on SiC wafers, despite substantially smaller grains. We also indicate that the control of the graphene interfaces, particularly when integrated, can be a more important factor than achieving large grain sizes. In addition, we show that well- engineered defects in graphene are preferable to defect -free graphene for most electrochemical applications, including biosensing. Promising examples of application of this technology in the More than Moore domain include integrated energy storage, MIR sensing and detection, and sensors for electro-encephalography.

Biography:

Francesca Iacopi received her MSc in Physics from Roma La Sapienza University, Italy (1996), her PhD in E.E./Materials Science from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2004), and she is currently Professor of Nanoelectronics, in the Faculty of Engineering and IT of the University of Technology Sydney, and Chief Investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS).

Iacopi has over 20 years’ R&D experience in semiconductor Industry and Academia. Her research focus is the translation of basic scientific advances in nanomaterials and novel device concepts into industrial processes. Her seminal work at IMEC on low-k dielectrics for on-chip interconnects over the 1999-2009 decade has informed the industrial uptake of porous dielectrics into modern semiconductor microprocessors. More recently, she invented a process to harness the properties of graphene on silicon for integrated micro-technologies. Major awards include a Gold Graduate Student Award from the Materials Research Society (2003), a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (2012-2016), a Global Innovation Award (TechConnect, 2014) and was listed among the 30 most innovative Australian engineers in 2018. Prof. Iacopi is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, serves in the Board of Governors of IEEE EDS (2021-23), as well as in various technical and strategic committees for IEEE and the Materials Research Society, and was selected as EDS Distinguished Lecturer in 2021.