Dr. Androula Nassiopoulou Androula G. Nassiopoulou is the Head of the Nano4NPS research group at NCSR Demokritos, in Athens, Greece (http://nano4nps.imel.demokritos.gr). She holds a Physics diploma from the University of Athens, an MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Paris XI, France and a habilitation to direct research (doctorat d’Etat) from the University of Reims, France. She directed the Institute of Microelectronics of NCSR Demokritos for 12 years and contributed to its establishment as a Centre of Excellence at national and European level. Her current research interests are mainly on Si nanostructures and porous materials and their applications in nanoelectronic devices, sensors and solar cells
Semiconductor nanostructures in the form of quantum wires or quantum dots have attracted a lot of interest the last years due to their interesting properties, which are very different from those of their bulk counterparts. Highly porous materials are composed of interconnected quantum wires and dots and as a consequence they possess on average the intrinsic properties of those nanostructures. In this talk we will first make a short introduction on the properties of Si nanowires and nanocrystals and will present some of their currently investigated applications. We will then focus on highly porous Si and its extraordinary properties as a dielectric and thermal isolation material. Based on these properties, interesting applications in on-chip electronic devices and sensors were developed in our group and will be reviewed.