The second workshop „BMBF Junior Research Groups in Nanotechnology“ under the auspices of the Excellence Network NanoBioTechnology Munich (ENNaB) attracted about fifty attendants from industry and academia. Five junior research groups funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the programme “Nachwuchswettbewerb Nanotechnologie” presented recent results and developments in nanoscience. The coverage included newest developments for handling, analysis and fabrication of electronic and photonic nanostructures.

The speakers highlighted different aspects of nanomaterials, nanooptics, nanoelectronics, and nanomanipulation that are relevant for practical applications. In the morning session that was devoted to nanooptics. Dr. Taubner (group Dr. Hillenbrand, MPI Martinsried) introduced the audience to the secrets of optical sub-surface imaging with nanometer scale resolution by scattering-type  near-field optical microscopy. He explained optical nano-microscopy based on the enhancement of the scattered light by collective lattice vibrations (phonons) of the crystal under investigation. This enhancement allows the microscopist to detect nanoscale impurities in polar crystals. A collective electronic excitation, i.e. a plasmon resonance, plays an important role for the understanding of optical properties of bridged gold nanoparticle clusters as was pointed out by Dr. Stemmler (group Dr. Kreiter, Mainz). The afternoon was dedicated to (bio-)nanomanipulation and nanofabrication.  Mr. Rubio-Sierra (group Dr. Stark, LMU München) reported on recent progress in control engineering of a nanomanipulation device. Dr. Nielsch (MPI Halle) reported on the fabrication of large scale nanowire arrays by imprint lithography. Novel strategies for the fabrication of precisely tailored nanogap electrode devices were outlined by Dr. Tornow (TU München). Here, the controlled manipulation of DNA monolayers on surfaces forms the basis of functionalizing such structures into hybrid biomolecular electronic devices.

Programme