Maria Dinescu - IFA

Maria Dinescu
National Institute for Lasers,
Plasma and Radiation Physics
(NILPRP)
http://ppam.inflpr.ro

NILPRP (National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and
Radiation Physics) Bucharest, Romania
• In the top position in the country as importance (dimension and
scientific contribution)
• Main field: lasers and plasma physics and applications
• 450 peoples: 235 scientists, 60 PhD students
• Five departments
• Laser Department (PPAM)
• Laboratory of Solid State and Quantum Electronics
• Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion Laboratory
• Low Temperature Plasma Laboratory
• Accelerators Laboratory
• Laser Metrology
• Involved in national and international (EURATOM, FP7, NATO SfP,
EUREKA etc.) projects

NILPRP
PHOTONIC PROCESSING OF ADVANCED MATERIALS
Group (PPAM)
http://ppam.inflpr.ro
The group was organized starting with 1996 and in present contains 17 qualified scientists and 2 technicians.
Topic
The activity is focused on laser processing of matter, with applications in thin films and nanostructures with
functional properties, functional polymers, protein and cell transfer for tissue engineering, chemical sensors for the
detection of warfare agents.
Expertise:
Thin films and heterostructures obtained by PLD and RF-PLD for different electronic applications :
-Ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and relaxors for electronic, microwave and optoelectronic applications: titanates (PZT,
La doped PZT, BTO, BST, etc), niobites ( SBN, PMN, NKN), tantalates (SBT, BZT, NBT).
-Zinc oxide (ZnO): piezoelectric, n-type semiconductor, p-type semiconductor- ZnO/MgxZn1-xO and
MgxZn1-x/ ZnO /MgxZn1-x
-III-V compounds: AlN, InN, GaN and their combinations.
-Heterostructures: PMN/LSCO; PZT/TiN; CN/SiCN/SiC; SBN/STON.
-High-k dielectric materials: ZrO2, ZrSixOy, HfO2, HfSixOy, Nb2O5, NbSixOy, Ta2O5, TaSixOy.
-Wide band gap semiconductor metallic oxide: WOx.
Nanomaterials for catalytic and biological applications:
- catalytic systems and porous materials fabrication by laser and conventional techniques.
- nanomaterials for drug delivery.

International Projects
1999-2011
• Romanian Coordinator of FP 7, FP7-ICT-2009-4-247868, e-LIFT “Laser printing of
organic/inorganic material for the fabrication of electronic devices” project, (2010-2012)
• NATO-SfP Project Co-Director 982671 project, Polymers based piezoelectric sensor array for
chemical warfare agents detection, (2007-2011)
• Romanian Coordinator of FP 6, NMP3-CT-2006-033297, 3D-DEMO, Single step 3D Deposition of
complex nanopatterned Multifunctional Oxides thin films, project (2006-2010) Priority 3
– NMP research area: 3.4.2.2-2 “Multifunctional ceramic thin films with radically new
properties”
• Romanian Coordinator of FP 5 IST –2001-33326 “Piezoelectric sensor arrays for
biomolecular interactions and gas monitoring” (PISARRO) project (2002-2004)
• NATO Linkage grant "Growth of Ferroelectric Thin Films by fs Pulsed Laser Deposition"
(2003-2005)
• NATO SfP Co-Director of the Project 97-1934, “ Laser Based Clean Technologies for Smart
Sensor Applications”, (1999-2002)

RF Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition
Experimental set-up

Fundamentals of the MAPLE process
Most of the laser energy is absorbed by the volatile matrix:
• photochemical decomposition can be minimized
Frozen
target
Laser
light
Thin film
of
polymer/
protein
Target
holder,
frozen
Solvent
molecules,
pumped away
Substrate
The solvent and the solute concentration are chosen that
• the solute can be dissolved without formation of clusters
• no chemical or photochemical reactions between the solvent and
solute

X-Y-Z processing system

X-Y-Z processing system

PPAM
Processing
Laboratory
PHOTONIC PROCESSING OF ADVANCED MATERIALS Group (PPAM)
Processing Equipments
PLD and RF-PLD deposition systems
12 cm
x-y-z laser
processing
system
(LIFT)

NILPRP
Morphological analysis
PHOTONIC PROCESSING OF ADVANCED MATERIALS Group (PPAM)
Characterization Equipments
Structural analysis
AFM
XRD
Optical analysis
Spectroellipsometer
Dielectric and ferroelectric analysis
Impedance analyzer
Chemical analysis
SIMS

Other equipments-INFLPR
• SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope)
• X-Ray diffractometer for powders, with
temperature chamber
• FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectroscopy)
• Contact Angle Measurements
• Plasma Spectroscopy
• ….

Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT)
Laser light is focused on
the target interface
An expelling process
takes place
Ejected material is deposited
on the receiving substrate
• Precise and high density patterns
• High spatial resolution
• Contact or Non-contact, rapid, automated method
• Flexibility as working distances, target material, size of the transferred droplets
• No significant damage to transferred material under specific conditions …

OUR APPROACH: LIFT using a sacrificial release layer (TP)
/Polymer
TRIAZENE POLYMER
Advantages
Target
(Nagel et al., Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 2007)
•Avoid direct irradiation of sensitive
material
•After laser radiation large amount
of gaseous products that acts as
carrier for larger ablation products

Printing on sensor matrices
Polymer λ Ф
[mJ/cm 2 ]
Bck
pressure
[mbar]
Film
thickne
ss [nm]
PIB 266 nm 0.2 ~ 10 -4 ~ 60
PEI 0.4
PECH 0.6
XeCl, 308 nm, 1 Hz, Ф=400-500 mJ/cm 2 , TP 100nm
PIB PEI
PEI PECH
DONOR
DONOR
DONOR
RECEIVER
400 µm 400 µm 400 µm
15

Sensor array responses to simulant DMMP and EA
2-port SAW resonators operating at 392 MHz.
The interdigital transducers were shaped
with a Gaussian apotization, with a wavelength
of 8 and fingers overlap of 450µm, while the cavity
length was 1276 µm.
Frequency response against time of PEI, PIB and PECH
polymers to different concentrations of DMMP.
The frequency shift normalized to the central frequency
(about 392 MHZ).

Sensor array responses to sarin nerve agent
Tests carried aut at CBRN military base (Bucharest)
The testing setup of SAW sensors with sarin gas
Time response of a PIB coated sensor to
4.6 ppm of Sarin/
1.78 ppm of Sarin
Response curve for PEI, PIB and PECH
coated SAW sensors to
different concentrations of Sarin
17

NOT limited to polymer materials
Examples of various materials
Quantum dots, Xu et al,
Nanotech (2007)
Functional OLEDs, R. Fardel et al,
Appl. Phys. Lett. (2007)
Al, R. Fardel et al,
Appl. Surf. Sci. (2007)
GdGaO, Banks et al., (2008)
Polystyrene microbeads, A. Palla-Papavlu et
al., JAP (2010)
Mammalian cells,
Doraiswamy et al., Appl.Surf. Sci.(2006)
Liposomes, A. Palla-Papavlu et al, Appl. Phys. A (2011)
18

Furthermore: Polymer micropatterning for cellular behavior studies
KEY PATTERNING PARAMETERS
Laser fluence – 350 – 550 mJ/cm 2
Thickness ratio PEI to TP – 150 nm TP/100 nm PEI
(PEI thickness > TP thickness)
Transfer distance – contact
Minimum thickness of the TP layer – 100 nm
Laser fluence mJ/cm 2
550 500 450 400 350
MATERIALS
Polyethilene glycol (PEG)-Repellent for cells
Polyethileneimine (PEI)-attachment vector
Growth medium: 10 % FCS and 0.1 %
penicilin/steptomicin
Trypsyn-EDTA solution 0.25 and 0.02 in PBS
DMEM with phenol red
SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells cultured in
FCS-DMEM
DONOR
RECEIVER
20 µm 20 µm
Polymer spatially controlled micro patterning for cellular behavior study, V.
Dinca et al, APA, 2011

Microfabrication of polystyrene microbead arrays by laser induced forward transfer, A. Palla-Papavlu et al, JAP, 2010
Other polymers: Polystyrene microbeads
(PS-µbead) microarrays
Applications:
Biosensing
Bioseparation
Biomolecule screening
Experimental:
Donor: PS-microbeads (size: 8 µm)
Receiver: Thermanox coverslips
Patterning system: XeCl, 308 nm,
30ns, 1Hz
Fluence: 80 mJ/cm 2 – 3.5 J/cm 2
100 nm thick TP film as DRL
Scale bar is 100 µm.

Polymer micropatterning for cellular behavior studies: Parameters optimization
a) PEI array in cell medium
b) SH-SY5Y distribution on patterned surfaces after one hour
c) After one day in vitro. A clear clustering of neurons into aggregates is visible on the PEI pixel
Average number of observed
interconnecting neurite fascicles vs.
the separation distance between the
transferred PEI-pixels.
a) PEI array in cell culture medium
b) Neural cells attached on the substrate
after 3 days in vitro. (scale bar is 200 µm)
Polymer spatially controlled micro patterning for cellular behavior study, V. Dinca et al., submitted 2010

Liquid printing
Liquid printing

1. Influence of DRL thickness – 60 nm, 150 nm and 350 nm
2. Laser fluence
3. Different glycerol concentrations (10 – 70 %)
4. Time resolved imaging for 308 nm and 193 nm
– laser fluences and glycerol concentration
water + glycerol (50:50)
scale bar is 40 µm.

International Cooperations
• PSI Villigen –Thomas Lippert (ETH
Zurich)
• “OMCorbino” Institute for Acoustics and
Sensors-CNR, Italy
• Naval Research Laboratory, USA
• FORTH-IESL Crete

http:ppam.inflpr.ro