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DIRECTOR’S REVIEW - Missing tools in the toolbox

Runar
One important task of universities is to provide students with the skills they and the society will need in the future. Most of the education at Helsinki University of Technology does  indeed meet the high standards, but there are in my mind at least two skills missing in the toolbox of young researchers.

Patents. Today doctorate degrees can be, and usually are, earned in material and related sciences without any significant knowledge about patents. This is a weakness. It is not only about writing one, or how to apply for a patent, but also being able to benefit from the information available in patent data bases. This is taught , but the subject matter has not got the attention it deserves. One reason might be that departments are focused on teaching their very scientific or technological subjects. Patents are a no man’s land. Yet most upcoming researchers will need this knowledge. For those aiming at a R&D career in material science a basic course in patenting should be highly recommended on a master’s level and mandatory for a doctor’s degree.

Experimental design using orthogonal matrices. Under different names and degrees of sophistication experimental design techniques based on orthogonal matrices are widely used, not the least in industry. Numerous companies in Finland alone have trained their employees in these techniques. Yet very few have this knowledge when graduating from Helsinki University of Technology. The use of orthogonal matrix experiments is briefly presented in a course on experimental design and statistical methods, but only as a mathematical tool without examples linked to other disciplines. As with patents, the wider importance is not acknowledged within teaching programs of different departments. Insight into these techniques should be part of the masters education at least for those studying material and related sciences.

Runar Törnqvist

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Editorial: Materials Science and Technology as part of the new Centres of Excellence for Strategic Research in Finland

It is widely recognized that although the innovation systems in Finland have functioned quite well up to date the future challenges are not met in the best possible ways by the current system of funding of research, development and innovation activities.  Typically funding is fragmented into a number of short-term projects, which do not have long-term objectives that guarantee the continuation of research.

In order to strengthen the technology areas important to Finland and to create new ones the technology council of the Finnish government decided in 2006 to create a network of centers, which are founded at least to areas of the five main industrial clusters important to the development of the Finnish society. These are aimed at supporting the speed up of innovation activities of the industrial companies by giving the companies an opportunity to determine the goals of the long-term research carried out at the centers. The centers are formed at least for the forest cluster, metal products and machinery cluster, energy cluster, well-being cluster and ICT-cluster. Additional clusters can also be proposed if needed. The proposed structure of the clusters is a share holders' company.

Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) has announced that it would like to be an active participant in all the clusters formed. From the Center for New Materials (UMK’s) perspective all the clusters, which define materials science and technology as a key area, are important and consequently it is the Center’s strategy to participate already in the planning process of the center. The first cluster company formed is the Forest Industry Cluster Company. According to its strategy TKK is one of the actors of the company and is also participating in the KCL-VTT-TKK initiative for a joint research platform, which is also very close to the interests of UMK.

Next clusters to be formed are likely the metal products and machinery cluster and the energy cluster, which both are being prepared under the leadership of the Finnish Technology Industries association. These are scheduled to be ready for application early next year. Materials science and technologies are important for both of the clusters and in MeKo-SHOK (cluster for the metal products and machinery) one of the themes under preparation is the “breakthrough materials”, which is close to the core competence of UMK.

The board of directors for the UMK has decided to follow closely and participate with all those cluster preparations which are important from a materials point of view.  These clusters should be based on strong networking of research performers both domestically and internationally. The co-operation of the members of UMK is therefore very important in this process as well as later when the cluster companies are activated.

Prof. Simo-Pekka Hannula
Chair, Board of Directors for UMK Center for New Materials

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Researchers from the UMK Center for New Materials at TKK have developed a method for synthesizing amaminol


Post graduate student Esa Kumpulainen and Professor Ari Koskinen at the UMK Center of New Materials of Helsinki University of Technology, TKK, have first in the world discovered a method to synthesize the amaminol natural product, first discovered in Okinawa in 2000 and found to efficiently kill leukaemia cells in a completely new manner. Amaminol cannot be extracted from nature in sufficient amount even for research purposes. Thus the method developed is the only way to synthesize amaminol in adequate amounts to more precisely evaluate its potential for medical purposes.

Professor Ari Koskinen has during his career developed syntheses routes for several natural products such as the cancer drug Taxolin®. The synthesis of amaminol was part of Esa Kumpulainen´s dissertation work done under the supervison of Professor Koskinen.

More information: 
Professor Ari Koskinen,
UMK Center of New Materials, TKK
ari.koskinen@tkk.fi

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World’s first Heath Transistor – Tiniest Refrigerator ever built at TKK

A group of physicists at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, have designed and fabricated a nanoscale heat transistor, making it the world’s tiniest refrigerator. A working prototype was nanofabricated utilizing electron beam lithography by scientists working at the Low Temperature Laboratory. The device operates at extremely low temperatures, only about one tenth of a degree above absolute zero. The actual heat transistor operation is made possible by an accurate control of individual electrons flowing through a hybrid superconductor – normal metal structure.

The Finnish researchers have investigated refrigeration techniques based on evaporative cooling of electrons already for over a decade. In a traditional field effect transistor, a gate voltage is employed to adjust the flow of electrical current in a channel. In the present device, however, it was observed for the first time that besides controlling electrical current, the gate can also be utilized for the precise adjustment of the cooling power of the structure. The remarkably small device measures only a couple of micrometers across, with the most relevant contacts having dimensions of merely a few tens of nanometers.


Figure: Colored scanning electron microscope image of the heat transistor structure fabricated at TKK. In a conventional transistor the flow of electrical current is controlled by a gate voltage, whereas in the new device it was for the first time possible to adjust also the cooling power in a similar manner (the gate is the gray conductor to the left). In refrigerator operation, the “hottest”, most energetic electrons are “drawn out of” the normal metal island (shown in yellow) into the superconducting metal (the gray “fingers” to the right).


Electronic refrigerators may find future applications for example in space research in the form of precise cooling of extremely sensitive radiation detectors. Their simplicity and small size can be beneficial also in several other fields, such as certain sensors for imaging applications.

- Miniature refrigeration techniques are undergoing rapid development at the moment. The heat transistor allows for a very accurate, fast and low-loss adjustment of the heat flux, says Professor Jukka Pekola. The present research interest in the heat transistor structure stems, however, purely from the grounds of basic research, emphasizes Pekola. It is the first step towards the realization of a device in which the principles of thermodynamics in a nanoscale electric circuit are studied for instance by cyclic single-electron refrigeration or in coolers based on Brownian motion.

The heat transistor was designed and fabricated at the Low Temperature Laboratory in collaboration with the Laboratory of Physics of the Helsinki University of Technology, and the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy. The latest experimental results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Olli-Pentti Saira, Matthias Meschke, Francesco Giazotto, Alexander M. Savin, Mikko Möttönen, and Jukka P. Pekola, Heat Transistor: Demonstration of Gate-Controlled Electron Refrigeration, Physical Review Letters 99, 027203 (2007).
 
Additional information:
Professor Jukka Pekola
Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology
Tel. +358 9 451 4913
jukka.pekola@tkk.fi

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Researcher's view


Reetta Kaila is working as a research scientist aiming for Ph.D. at the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry, TKK. Her research is focused on reforming reactions of renewable and fossil fuels to produce H2-rich fuel gas suitable for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. In her work she prepares and characterizes heterogeneous noble metal catalysts. These catalysts are tested in a continuous reactor system at high reaction temperatures (500–900 °C). Due to high temperatures, thermal stability of the catalyst materials is essential. Moreover, to control the reaction system and to avoid side reactions, high activity and selectivity of the catalysts for reforming is required.

The Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry employs around 30 people, including teaching personnel, research scientists and administrative staff. In the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry we study catalytic phenomena and apply this knowledge to the conversion of raw materials into useful products in cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways. Reaction mechanisms and kinetics are studied on the basis of experimental data. Mathematical models describing chemical and physical phenomena are derived, and the models are utilized in process design and scale-up. The laboratory is headed by Professor Outi Krause.

Reforming of renewable and fossil fuels on noble metal catalysts


Figure 1. Main and side reactions in autothermal reforming of liquid hydrocarbons or alcohols.

For energy production, the substitution of fossil fuels by H2 is a suitable option for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, in particular CO2. The major advantages of using H2 or H2-rich mixtures as fuel include the diversity of primary fuels (natural gas, biomass, crude oil) that can be used in H2 production, its clean combustion and the possibility of long-term storage of the fuel. Moreover, H2-rich mixtures can be used as fuel for fuel cells1.
The growing interest in fuel cell technologies as replacements for internal combustion engines increases the demand for H2 production. The development of an economy based on H2 requires major structural changes that could take several decades. Therefore, commercially available fuels such as gasoline and diesel could be used as near- and mid term H2 carriers to achieve some immediate reduction in green house gas emissions. Moreover, they are easy to store and their volumetric H2 density is high2.

> Read more

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Researcher's view:


Lorenz Lechner is working as a research scientist and is currently pursuing his PhD a TKK´s Low Temperature Laboratory. His research concentrates on high frequency phenomena in carbon nano materials. In addition he assists in coordinating the European ISP5 project CARDEQ  and is the designated focused ion beam expert for Micronova.

Qualification for these jobs is the Diploma (M.Sc.) in physics he received in 2005 from the University of Regensburg, Germany. To keep a good health-work balance he is a dedicated bicycle commuter, is into all kinds of outdoor activities, engages in Aikido, and enjoys cooking for himself and friends.

"Already back in Germany my work and Diploma Thesis was about transport phenomena in carbon nanotubes. When I was asked to continue with my PhD in Regensburg I hesitated because I felt wanderlust. My professor told me about this excellent group at the Low Temperature Laboratory working in the same area of research. Even though I knew little about Finland at that time I was very happy that my application there was accepted. After all, going to Helsinki to work in low temperature physics seemed just natural to me."

Nano Electromechanical Resonators - Towards the Quantum Limit

Miniaturization of transistors has lead to enormous performance improvements in computers over the past decades. As a consequence more and more of the (mobile) appliances that surround us become intelligent. However, in order to be useful without constant human interaction they have to rely on other sources of input. Fortunately miniaturization has also lead to a quantum leap in sensor design. What started out as big electromechanical devices has been transformed to silicon technology and shrunk to MEMS size. These micro-electromechanical systems can now be found as force, pressure, and acceleration sensors in cars, cellphones, notebooks, and even pacemakers. But microscale is not the limit: researchers are now striving for nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS).

> Read more

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Researchers from the Laboratory of Physics at TKK take the NanoBudsTM to global markets through their company Canatu Ltd


 
Nanomaterials research group (http://www.fyslab.hut.fi/nanomat/) from the Laboratory of Physics, UMK Center for New Materials at TKK has achieved several major results in the field of nanotechnology and the research seems to move from one breakthrough to the next. The most significant result is the discovery of a new material – NanoBudTM, that happened almost two years ago.

- NanoBud is a compound material that can replace for example materials used in microelectronics. Compound material means that NanoBuds combines the chemical reactivity of the fullerenes and the electrical, optical and mechanical properties of the carbon nanotubes, Esko Kauppinen says.

- Our group has studied nanomaterials for over ten years and it consists of almost 20 researchers, of whom four have been in the group for over five years, including myself. When considering the world-class research, this is a key issue. If the group lacks its core team that possesses the accumulated knowledge you can’t expect high quality results. The time span of these results is around ten years, Kauppinen states.

In addition to the research at TKK Kauppinen and his group have strong impact on the development of the national level in the nanotechnology research. The group has been involved in founding the National Microscopy Center and the Nanopoli Center at the Otaniemi campus and has been acquiring funding for the multimillion euro electron microscopes that will maintain the competitiveness of the research in this field. Kauppinen’s group will move to the new Nanopoli  from the VTT premises already by the end of the current year.
 
After Nanopoli is finished, the technology campus at Otaniemi has an excellent national level cluster of nanotechnology research. The cluster consists of Micronova, which has been operational already since 2003, of Nanopoli that will be finished this year and of the Microscopy Center that will also be finished this year.

- For example in Japan half of the funding is invested into the infrastructure, but in Finland this number is less than 10%. Due to this the funding for the larger instruments must increase in the future, Kauppinen says.

Previously Kauppinen did research at VTT but moved to TKK with his group in the beginning of 2003. The group has studied metal- and metaloxide nanomaterials from the mid 90’s and produced single-walled nanotubes and characterized their structure after moving to TKK.
The nanotubes are tubes that are rolled from a network of carbon atoms, graphene, that is one atom layer thick. The diameter of the tubes is around one nanometer and the length can be from tens of nanometers to centimeters. The nanotubes possess many interesting characteristics: they conduct electricity better than metals, they are better semiconductors than silicon and are tens of times stronger than steel.

In Kauppinen’s group the nanotubes, NanoBuds and other nanomaterials are produced by a continuous process that has been developed in the group. In the process the materials are produced into a flowing gas phase – hence the other name of the technique: aerosol-reactor technique. In addition to carbon nanomaterials also nanoparticles from medicines, peptides and proteins are produced. These nanoparticles are used to develop new drug administering techniques.

The application areas are for example electronics and drug administering. The carbon NanoBuds are used to develop transparent, flexible films for, for example, display- and solar cell applications. Also transistors are being developed from the networks of nanotubes and NanoBuds.
The high level of nanomaterials research has been achieved by skillfully combining the group’s own expertise with the expertise acquired elsewhere and by participating in several international and EU-projects. Without the competent networking, competitive research infrastructure and good ideas one cannot expect breakthrough results. The researchers must be present there, where the best know-how is and investments into the infrastructure must be secured, Kauppinen sums up. We do collaborations in many directions: USA, Europe, Japan, China and Russia, where we always aim to find the best partners, Kauppinen continues.

CANATU OY – Born in TKK

The core team of the Nanomaterials group: Esko Kauppinen, David P. Brown, Albert G. Nasibulin and Hua Jing founded Canatu Oy in 2004. The mission of Canatu Oy is to develop commercial applications for NanoBuds and bring these products into the vast markets of the electronics industry. The company has many patents that are awaiting commercialization. The real work in the company is expected to begin by the end of the current year. We wish all the best for the brave entrepreneurs. www.canatu.com
- It is a challenge to change from a researcher into an entrepreneur and it requires a long background work that could take years. Now when the entrepreneurial activity is starting it is still important to invest enough, especially in the basic research, in order to constantly produce new innovations, says Kauppinen.

Expectations from UMK

Esko Kauppinen’s group has had very close contacts with UMK ever since their founding in 2002, and knows the operating principles of the center very well. The founding principle of UMK was to get some sense into the equipment acquirement processes and to guide the laboratories to acquire and use the equipment together. So far UMK has been successful in this task, but there is still work to be done especially in promoting the joint-use of the equipment.
- Joint-use investments have become increasingly important as the funding for the investments diminishes all the time and this meagerness is a strong promoter of the joint-use, Kauppinen notes. For its part, UMK can utilize its own means of communication and promote the results achieved in the materials research for both national and international communities and media. UMK must maintain an unprejudiced and innovative attitude and continue to operate as horizontally independent, Kauppinen continues.

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Funding from Ministry of Education - tools to TKK's Nano Research

UMK - Center for New Materials - distributes funds the Ministry of Education allocated for nanosciences on the development of the equipment base in nano research at TKK. During 2005-2007 nano funding has paid for the acquisition of about 30 pieces of equipment. The joint equipment use of the member laboratories are listed in the equipment pool maintained by UMK.

The Ministry of Education has allocated a total of  21,5 million euros of special funding on national level for nanosciences and technology research since 2005. This special nano funding reaches until 2009. Of the total funding TKK got 6,8 million euros which was distributed by UMK to develop the equipment base in nano research at TKK.

One of the important functions of UMK is to coordinate and develop the infrastructure that services nano research at TKK. In practice this means that UMK makes a recommendation to the rector, on the basis on the member laboratories’ applications, on what sort of equipment the aforementioned nano funding from the Ministry of Education is used on. So far TKK has followed this recommendation.The condition for receiving this funding is that the equipment is in joint use. The allocated funds are to be used for the acquisition of larger equipment complexes for the development of nanosciences at TKK and to assist in even getting production lines working. For the main part the equipment is characterization instruments for analysis and measurement in basic research.

Previously the distribution of funding was decided within TKK, but in 2006 a change was made and the 2007 project proposals were evaluated by an outside workgroup, consisting of independent experts. The workgroup estimated the proposals according to the criteria above and made a proposal to the board of UMK of which equipment acquisitions should be funded. The final decision is made on basis of the proposals by the principal of TKK. The amount of applications has grown from 10 in 2005 to 35 this year. The final decisions about 2008 funding will be confirmed next year.

Good results has been had with the money reserved for nanosciences and technology development from the Ministry of Education, when equipment acquisitions have been made centrally and in collaboration with the laboratories. Joint use of equipment also promotes cross disciplinary research, when team members meet in different environments.

Micronova – a national level micro and nanotechnology research centre – is acquiring a versatile focused beam nanofabrication cluster tool, mainly funded by nano funds. This tool is a versatile fabrication, imaging and characterization instrument.  The total price of this purchase is about one million euro of which 800 million euro will be funding from the nano funds.

The collection of technical data was started in November 2006. Equipment tests and comparisons were run at the facilities of prospective suppliers during spring 2007. On the basis of the technical comparisons two suppliers were chosen for the tendering: Carl Zeiss (NVision) and FEI Company (Helios). The tendering process started in July 2007 and final negotiations with the two possible suppliers are currently in their final stages. The purchase agreement is expected to be signed during October 2007. The system will be installed during the first quarter of 2008, and the users will be fully trained by September 2008.

It is expected that all groups that need complicated nanostructures and devices will be taking advantage of the amazing capabilities of this instrument. Furthermore, the system will be used for the preparation of TEM samples for ultra-high resolution electron microscopy. In addition, the system will also be used for the structural and compositional analysis of nano and microstructures with potential applications in failure analysis.  The nanofabrication cluster can be used for the fabrication and characterization of complicated 3-dimensional nanoscale structures and devices. The system can also be retrofitted with a cryo-stage for the controlled ion milling of soft materials, for instance biological materials for electron microscopy.

The national level Microscopy centre being completed in spring 2008 is acquiring a new Sub Å TEM electron microscope, partially funded by nano funds. UMK granted a total of 2.4 million euro for the acquisition of the equipment in 2005-2007.

The new electron microscope takes Finnish nano microscopy research to a new level and so keeps this area of research competitive on an international level. Other examples of important equipment acquisitions are the high vacuum atomic force microscope for the Physics Laboratory, the electron beam lithography additional feature for the electron microscope at the Low Temperature Laboratory in Micronova, and chemical analysis additional feature for the TEM-microscope at Materials Science Laboratory.

The equipment acquired with the nano funds are in joint use, even though they are located in a specific laboratory. During 2005-2007 nano funding has paid for the acquisition of about 30 pieces of equipment. The joint use equipment of the member laboratories are listed in the equipment pool maintained by UMK. There is a total of 60-70 pieces of equipment in the pool, of which some have been acquired using other funding but the laboratories have wanted to report them for joint use. Link to pool: http://www.umk.fi/en/member_activities_equipment

More intormation:
Mika Koskenvuori
Center for New Materials, UMK
+358 (0)9 451 3048
mika.koskenvuori@tkk.fi

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UMK Colloquium has gained new audience


The Colloquium on New Materials - Fall 2007 season was preceded by a presentation by Dr. Jyrki Saarinen who acts as a senior vice president of strategic business development at Heptagon Oy (www.heptagon.fi). Dr. Saarinen outlined the steps that have been taken to bring Heptagon to it's current success giving valuable lessons to anyone interested in or thinking about moving from research into business tracks.

Heptagon was founded by seven researchers from TKK's Physics Department in 1993 and the foundation was due to the excellent basic research done in the department in the 80's.

Following Dr. Saarinen's presentation this seasons theme has been to introduce the new FiDiPro-professors at TKK. These introductions will continue also in the spring and fall seasons of 2008. In addition to FiDiPro-lectures, various experts from universities, research institutes and companies have been giving the lectures.

The seminar has already gathered five times with a higher average audience than ever before - the increase in the average average number of listeners being over 40 %. Feel free to join the rest of the three talks on wednesdays at 11.15 - 12.00 in the lecture hall K - main building of TKK. The full program of the seminar can be accessed at: http://www.umk.fi/en/events_colloquium

8.11Dr. Panu Helistö (VTT) - THz-imaging
15.11No lecture
22.11Mr. Ben Karlemo (Luvata Oy) - Superconducting wires
30.11Prof. Peter Lund (TKK) - Energy and nanotechnology

For details contact:
Mika Koskenvuori
Center for New Materials, UMK
+358 (0)9 451 3048
mika.koskenvuori@tkk.fi

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Dissertations on materials sciences at TKK – May - Oct -07

Again, the whole spectrum of materials sciences is represented in the dissertations defended at TKK. At least 26 dissertations defended from May - October -07 can be considered to belong into materials sciences.  List of dissertations

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UMK Center for New Materials contact information:

Director

Dr. Runar Törnqvist
Tel: + 358 9 451 6068 or +358 50 3800564
runar.tornqvist@tkk.fi
Scientific director

Professor Olli Ikkala
Tel. + 3589 451 3154 or + 358 50 4100454
olli.ikkala@tkk.fi

Chair of the UMK Board of Directors
Professor Simo-Pekka Hannula
Tel. +358 9 451 2675
simo-pekka.hannula@tkk.fi

Coordinator
Mika Koskenvuori
Tel +358 9 451 2948
mika.koskenvuori@tkk.fi

Communications officer
Aila Blomberg
Tel. + 358 50 541 8829
aila.blomberg@tkk.fi

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