Develop nanotechnologies

Platform for nanoscopic devices

A research project by Professor Ricardo Izquierdo, from the Department of Computer Science, is one of 34 Quebec research infrastructure projects chosen as part of the 2015 Competition of the Innovation Fund of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Entitled “Platform for the design, characterization and integration of nanoscopic devices in microsystems”, the project obtained an amount of $ 1,586,568.

The total amount of investment in this project, which includes the contribution from the Government of Quebec (usually equivalent to that paid by the CFI) as well as an amount granted by CFI partners, amounts to almost $ 4 million ($ 3,966,421).

New equipments

This amount will be used to provide the laboratories of the NanoQAM Research Center for Nanomaterials and Energy and those of the Research Center for the Design and Manufacture of Microelectronic Devices and Microsystems (CoFaMic-RESMIQ) with equipment dedicated to the deposit and characterization of nanomaterials and their integration into microdevices and other components of microsystems. “It involves bringing together researchers from the fields of chemistry (NanoQam) and computer science (CoFaMic-RESMIQ) in order to develop different applications in the biomedical, environmental, energy and communication technology fields Explains Ricardo Izquierdo.

The infrastructure will allow researchers to study the use of nanometric objects (carbon nanotubes, nanowires, graphene and other nanomaterials) for printing optoelectronic components and to integrate them into the same platform of heterogeneous components, namely optical, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, chemical and even biological. An essential integration with a view to developing innovative and marketable technologies. “Micro-optical components can be interconnected with micromechanical and microelectronic components in a microfluidic platform in order to manufacture biomedical sensors such as glucose sensors for the treatment of diabetes,” explains Ricardo Izquierdo. With these technologies, it is also possible to develop sensors for water pollution in order to detect different pesticides. ” Such integration is of great interest, as it represents one of the critical steps before reaching the combined potential of these technologies and allowing their commercialization, said the professor.

Another professor involved

Two other research projects involving UQAM researchers have received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Professor Don Baker of McGill University’s Exploration and Application of Critical Metals project received $ 2,420,000. Professors Michel Jébrak, Ross Stevenson and Alain Tremblay, from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, are participating in this research.

The “Platform for Advanced Design Leading to Manufacturing in Micro-Nano Technologies” project, whose principal investigator is Ian McWalter, of Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, obtained $ 7,700,873. Professor Frédéric Nabki, from the Department of Computer Science, is part of the team of researchers involved.

This year, the CFI Innovation Fund funded 87 research projects for a total of $ 333 million.