Lyon Institute of Nanotechnology (INL)

Research topics

The INL works on multidisciplinary technological research in micro and nanotechnologies from materials to systems, to find applications in several areas of business: information and communication technologies, energy, health and the environment.

The laboratory is spread over several sites with locations on the campus of Lyon-Ouest Ecully and Lyon-Tech La Doua. It employs 245 people of whom 130 are permanent. INL is heavily involved in the Pôle de Recherche et d'Enseignement Supérieur [Higher education and research centre - PRES] at the University of Lyon, and is a member of the Fédération de Physique André-Marie Ampère [André-Marie Ampère Federation of Physics - FRAMA] and the Carnot Institut "Ingénierie@Lyon".
The purpose of the INL is to develop multidisciplinary technological research in the field of micro and nanotechnologies and their applications. The research ranges from materials to systems, enabling entire technological sector to emerge.
As part of this mission, the INL is developing research in key priority fields, aiming to remove scientific and technological obstacles: adding new functions to silicon, electronics/photonics convergence, energy management and recovery (3rd generation photovoltaic cells), nano-bio devices and networks of sensors for healthcare and the environment.

This research is broken down into four major areas:
• FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
• ELECTRONICS
• PHOTONICS and PHOTOVOLTAICS
• BIOTECHNOLOGIES and HEALTH

The laboratory relies on a technological platform in Lyon called NANOLYON, which aims to develop the research activities carried out at the INL, and provides support for "exogenic" projects put forward by other partners from Lyon, the region and the rest of France. NANOLYON is now recognised as a local platform by the ministry.
The platform has the competences and know-how to carry out standard technological operations and to implement specific technological processes and systems. The technological resources are spread over a surface area of 1,200m² (clean rooms/epitaxy centre/photovoltaic centre/chemistry and nanobiotechnology centre) and cover the areas of materials/components (discrete): crystalline oxides, III-V semi-conductors, Si, SiC, polymer and organic materials, and biochips. The projects are related to the ultimate micro-nanotechnologies, micro-nano systems M(N)EMS and M(N)OEMS, micro-nanophotonics, photovoltaics, nanoelectronics, biotechnologies and the biomedical field. This platform is currently host to over one hundred users (lecturers/researchers and researchers, post-doc students, PhD students and work-placement students) from the INS and Lyon-based laboratories.
The INL is developing a strategy of innovation and monetisation of its research activities by registered patents (around 5-6 per year), patent licences, the creation of joint laboratories (Riber-INL) and (Annealsys-INL) and start-ups (Aremac-Polymer). This deliberate policy won INL innovation trophies from the INPI in 2012 at national level, in the research units category.

Subjects

Functional materials:

Monolithic integration of functional oxides on silicon, crystalline semiconductor/oxide heterostructures, III-V nanowires, nanostructuration using electrochemical anodization, III-IV heterostructures for photonics, nanoemitters and nanoprobes, nanocharacterisation, physical studies.

Electronics:

Mono-electronics, nanodevices in silicon, computing architecture based on emerging technologies, distributed sensor systems, heterogeneous design methods, multi-scale electrical characterisation, MEMS, heterogeneous integration.

Photonics and photovoltaics:

Heterogeneous integrated photonics on silicon, photonic crystals, III-V MOEMS, photovoltaics on silicon (cell processes, thin layers, nanostructures).

Biotechnologies and healthcare:

Fields of application