News : Research

Constrained silicon conducts electricity up to 2.5 times better than unconstrained silicon, earning the material a place in increasing numbers of integrated circuits. However, constrained silicon had never been observed at the nanometric scale in situ. But a team of researchers from INAC, Leti, ESRF, and Grenoble University just changed that! The researchers used X-ray […] >>

The process of synthesizing bimetallic nanoparticles from organometallic precursors no longer requires an organic solvent and stabilizers (which must be treated after processing). A team of researchers at Leti experimented with ionic liquids and obtained stable suspensions that can be applied directly to high-tech substrates. The ionic liquids—salts dissolved at ambient temperature—have some surprising properties. […] >>

The Nanocharacterization Platform (PFNC) has created a state-of-the art microscopy unit combining four surface-microscopy techniques. Samples are shuttled from one piece of equipment to another in a controlled atmosphere or under high vacuum, which means that researchers can conduct various tests—gleaning elementary, chemical, and structural information at scales ranging from the millimeter down to the […] >>

Start-up Fluoptics is working with Leti to develop a dual-mode endoscope camera head that can simultaneously capture images of structures marked with fluorescent contrast medium and surrounding tissue in natural color. This advancement will give surgeons a clear picture of cancerous tissue superimposed on a color image of the surgical site. Currently, for minimally-invasive surgery, […] >>

Magnetic nanoparticles can be used to send vibrations of 10 Hz to 20 Hz directly to cancer cells, triggering apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Researchers at INAC used disk-shaped nanoparticles that exert substantial mechanical force on the cells each time the direction of the magnetic field is inverted. Antibodies grafted onto the nanoparticles enable them […] >>