Defect‐induced Effects in Nanomaterials
Authors: Sobolev Nikolai , Bernas Harry , Kotomin Eugene , Nordlund Kai 
Published: April 2013

This issue contains the Proceedings of the Symposium L “Defect‐induced Effects in Nanomaterials” held in the framework of the 2012 E‐MRS Fall Meeting in Warsaw. The organization of the symposium has been motivated by the growing interest of materials scientists and engineers in understanding and controlling the role of defects on the properties of low‐dimensional materials.

The science of defects in semiconductors has been maturing in the last decades together with the science and technology of semiconductor materials and devices. Defect and disorder creation, doping and diffusion have been studied in detail mostly in bulk materials.

With quantum‐size semiconductor structures being now omnipresent (everyone has, e.g., a quantum‐well laser in a CD player), the role of defects in nanomaterials has come to the forefront of research. Renewed interest arose from the use of electron and ion beams to synthesize and modify nanoclusters and nanowires, create novel nano‐ and microelectronic devices based on ion tracks and other radiation‐induced effects. Defect behavior in nanomaterials and nanostructures often differs substantially from that observed in bulk materials. As a consequence, exciting potential applications open up. Understanding and controlling defect properties in a wide class of advanced nanomaterials (graphene and CNT, multiferroics, heterostructures, quantum dots and wires, etc.) has been the main focus of this symposium.

The program of the symposium comprised 15 invited and 42 oral talks, as well as 57 poster presentations. The scientists came from 31 countries located on five continents: Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. The following topics have been covered:

– Creation, evolution and properties of radiation defects in nanosize materials and heterostructures; the role of interfaces, nonstoichiometry, strain and adjacent layers;

– Effects of grain boundaries and interfaces on the diffusion and transport processes in nanomaterials;

– Defects in graphene;

– Electronic structure of defects in nanostructures; consequences for carrier transport, magnetism, optical and electronic properties, as well as device parameters;

– Ab initio calculations and computer simulations;

– Novel technological processes of micro‐, nano‐ and optoelectronics using defects and radiation effects in nanostructures;

– Use of ion beams to modify defects and nanostructures.

The latest achievements in theory and experiment as well as technological applications have been presented and discussed by academic and industrial researchers.

We are deeply grateful to all participants who, through their valuable contributions, friendly and open discussions, turned the symposium into an exciting event. We also greatly acknowledge the financial and administrative support of the E‐MRS Headquarters and the Warsaw University of Technology, which allowed the organization of the symposium. Last but not least, our thanks go to Wiley‐VCH that took over the publication of the Symposium Proceedings.

Guest Editors

Nikolai Sobolev, Harry Bernas, Eugene Kotomin, and Kai Nordlund