ESONN · European School on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies

Final Activity Report Summary - ESONN (European School on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies)

The European School on Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies (ESONN) was organised by the Grenoble Joseph Fourier University (U.J.F.) and the Grenoble Polytechnic National Institute (Grenoble I.N.P.), in collaboration with the French research organisations C.N.R.S. and C.E.A. The ESONN program offered young European researchers (PhD students, post-doctoral scientists) a structured view of the principles at work in the elaboration and in the functioning of nano-structures, nano-components and nano-machines. This program was endowed with two key points. The first is interdisciplinary, since research in Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies demands a combination of various skills in physics, in chemistry and in biology. The second point emphasises the role of the laboratories courses. This is a determining factor both for basic science and for applications. This implied that we treated the corresponding specific elaboration techniques, the physical and molecular mechanisms of elaboration and the instrumental skills necessary for research in the nano-world. Two options ran in parallel. The first concentrated on electronic nanostructures as building blocks of solid state or molecular electronics devices (Mesoscopic physics, spintronics, molecular electronics, single electron effects, nano-devices and nano-mechanics). The second focused on recent advances in nanobiotechnologies (biochemistry, surface physico-chemistry, single molecule spectroscopy, mechanics of molecules, microfluidics and bio-sensors and high flux analysis data treatment). Both sessions shared common lectures (nano-chemistry, nano-fabrication and near-field microscopies). The participants spent seven working days in clean room facilities and in research laboratories. During the four years of the project, four ESONN three-weeks sessions were organised and trained 220 full time participants and 5 part time participants. They involved 66 lecturers and several hundred practical/tutorial teachers.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union