Nanotechnology top-down. An introduction, from microeletronic to micromachining applications

Workshop, 10th February 2006, Department of Materials Science, University of Milano - Bicocca. …there are two ways in generating arrays of nanostructures: one is the bottom–up approach, where the spontaneous microscopic forces driving to aggregation and separation of atoms/moleculesare exploited; the other is the top–down approach, where the nanostructures are carved into substrates and, eventually, filled with different materials. In the latter case, complex and expensive equipments are needed in order to actually project and executean artificial design to the nanometric scale... Edited by Marziale Milani, Leo Miglio, Simone Magni. Leo Miglio is full Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Department of Materials Science, University of Milano–Bicocca. The main achievements of his research group are in the modelling and simulation of thermodynamic and kinetic features of nanometric epitaxial structures, such as Ge dots on Si (001). He is Dean of the local PhD School in Nanostructures and Nanotechnologies and Director of L-NESS, the Interuniversity Center between Politecnico of Milano and University of Milano–Bicocca, devoted to the epitaxial growth and the lithography of nanometric structures for microelectronic, optoelectronic and spintronic applications. Marziale Milani is currently Professor of Physics at the Department of Materials Science, University of Milano - Bicocca. He is lecturing on “Laboratory of Measurements” for Biological Science and “Physics and Applications of Lasers” for Optics and Optometry at the same University. His main research field covers laser physics, synergetics, metabolomics and submicron imaging and manipulation of soft matter by focused ion and electron beams. Simone Magni is a PhD student in Materials Science at the University of Milano – Bicocca. After a degree thesis in Physics devoted to statistical properties of electrostatic turbulence in cold magnetized plasmas, his researches switched to microscopy and micromanipulation by systems incorporating a Focused Ion Beam with a Scanning Electron Microscope, specially in the characterisation of soft and biological materials.