Belgian Group to Develop Nanomodified Multi-metal Oxide Technique

A Belgian collaborative group will develop an economical and ecologically friendly technique for the synthesis and processing of multi-metal oxide nanoparticles and nanofilms. The particles and films will have precisely controlled size, composition and shape. IMEC (Leuven, Belgium), its associated laboratory IMO of the Limburgs University Center, the University of Leuven and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) have begun work on this four-year project.

The nanoparticles and nanofilms will be prepared using an aqueous solution gel technique. The nanoparticles will undergo further processing to produce nanocomposites. The latter should be suitable for use in ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) devices and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Applications also are expected in biosensors based on electrochemical, electromechanical, optical and acoustic devices.

For these applications, suitable materials with ferroelectric properties are being studied, including some mono-metal oxides such as ZnO, In₂O₃, Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂. Multi-metal oxides also under investigation are perovskite-type materials such as Pb(Zr_xTi_1-x)O₃ (PZT), SrBi₂ (Ta_1-xNb_x)₂O₉(SBT), 0.75Pb(Zn_0.33 ,Nb_0.67)O₃-0.25 BaTiO₃ (PZN-BT) and Bi_4-x La_xTi₃O₁₂ (BLT).

Brightfield TEM image of a ZnO powder doped with 0.5% by weight aluminum formed by an aqueous chemical solution gel process. The main particle size is approximately equal to 20 nm. (Source: IMEC)

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