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PHANTOMS at NEXUS Forum: bridging micro and nanotechnologies

Since July 2002, NEXUS and PHANTOMS have jointly started a concerted action aimed at bridging micro and nanotechnologies. Under this new activity entitled NanoINDEX (funded within the IST programme), PHANTOMS identified experts in nanotechnology in 3 MST related topics (NEMS, modelling and nanofabrication) who participated in the NEXUS User-Supplier-Clubs (USC) at the 2 days NEXUS Forum organised in Brussels last week. A plenary session on Nanotechnology also provided a better understanding of the future potential of nanotechnology in the context of microsystems-driven applications within the USCs Aerospace and Geophysics, CAD Tools, Telecommunications, Medical Devices or Peripherals and Multimedia.

NanoINDEX has been set-up to establish strong links between the micro-technologists of NEXUS and the nano-technologists of PHANTOMS. Clearly, the User-Supplier-Clubs of the NEXUS Association formed last week the basis for such an interaction and led to a list of possible “nano” inputs to increase the performance of Microsystems such as filters (using nanotubes arrays) or integrated optics (using photonic crystals) for telecommunication.

Among the Invited contributions presented at the NEXUS Forum on day 2, several representatives from the European Commission presented the results of EoIs within the 6th Framework Programme and future driving forces for MNT IPs and NoEs. Dirk Beernaert presented the IST European Commission vision “Put Microsystems and M@NT inside everything building the -Ambient Intelligence Landscape-” using the “Micro and nano inside” concept.

The feedback from nano experts on day 1 USC meetings was presented during the PHANTOMS invited talk and clearly in the scope of the EU concept mentioned above i.e. “Nano Inside”. On this basis, several actions were taken:

• Include MST presentations at the next Nanotechnology EU/PHANTOMS workshop to be held in Toulouse next February 2003. This will expose both communities to industrial problems and basic research during the Working Groups, stimulate discussions and define strategies/activities for the near mid-term future (roadmaps).
• Create a "Nanotechnology" USC in order to explore new functionality offered by nanostructures, nanodevices and functional materials in Microsystems.

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