NT 2nd edition web version

Nano-Tera.chSWISS SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVE FOR ENGINEERING COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN HEALTH, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT

2nd edition, April 2010

Foreword

Prof. Giovanni De Micheli Program Leader,Executive Committee Chair

SWISS SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVE FOR ENGINEERING COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN HEALTH, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 01RT

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The Nano-Tera.ch program supports research in the engineering of complex (tera-level) systems for HSE

(Health, Security and the Environment) using micro- and nanotechnologies. We believe the convergence of

technologies in these areas represents fertile ground for innovation, and that it will be instrumental in the

development of new markets and the improvement of living standards.

The Swiss Federal government is backing this initiative with funds of CHF 60 million from 2008 to 2011.

The research is also backed by an equal amount of matching contributions from participating and third-

party institutions, including CHF 1.8 million which OPET (Federal Office for Professional Education and

Technology) has made available to universities of applied sciences. With this funding, nineteen RTD

(Research, Technology and Development) and two NTF (Nano-Tera Focused) projects have started.

The RTD projects aim to leverage collaborative, interdisciplinary research in order to tackle complex

problems. Each project is carried out by a team of scientists belonging to different Swiss institutions, thus

forming the best possible research groups in the country. The current projects focus on enabling nanosystem

technologies, as well as their application to systems engineering. The NTF projects focus on specific

technologies, such as low-power electronics and microfluidics.

Nano Tera.ch has also launched ED (Education and Dissemination) activities in both micro- and

nanotechnology and tera-level complexity. These activities take the form of short courses given by experts.

Altogether, a total of 105 research groups are involved in the current projects.

The route to success of the Nano-Tera.ch program is guided by the relevance of the topics, the convergence

of technologies and the quality of the researchers. We expect the scientific impact to be strong in

Switzerland and abroad.

The Nano-Tera program aims at bringing Switzerland to the forefront of a new technological revolution driving engineering and information technology for health and security of humans and the environment in the 21st century.

The goals are, for example, to detect in real time different health risks and conditions through body-integrated bio probing, to reveal security risks through smart buildings and environments, to save energy through ambient sensing, and to detect and monitor environmental hazards such as floods and avalanches from inaccessible positions on earth.

The underlying enabling technology is provided by micro/nanotechnologies and their applications to distributed, networked embedded-system design. The keyword is integration of various nano-scale technologies in tera-scale (complex) systems.

Nano-Tera’s challenge is to steer the convergence of people and teams from very different technological and cultural domains. While the existence of such synergy opportunities between nano-devices and tera-scale applications are widely recognized, an ambitious large-scale holistic integration approach such as the one proposed by the Nano-Tera.ch program is still unheard of.

The Swiss National Science Foundation supervises and safeguards the quality of the Research, Technology and Development projects.

Research, Design and Engineering of complex systems

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Tera Communication Challenges

Nano Manufacturing Challenges

Devices Structure

Components Materials

Distributed Intelligent Agents

Remote Networking

Security Personalized Health Care

Circuit Design Environmental Monitoring

Market Pull

Technology Push

Energy Scavenging

Physical Level ‘Nano’

System Level ‘Tera’

Application systemsWearable embedded systems The technology pursued by Nano-Tera will miniaturize electronics and sensors on flexible bases to integrate them into “smart textiles” or within the body. Applications are very promising in medical monitoring and health assistance, sports, or personal communication and entertainment.

Ambient systemsLarge-scale distribution of auto-configurable networks of miniature sensor nodes will provide intelligence for environmental monitoring, building intelligence and beyond. Such augmented reality will change our perception of the world.

Remote systemsAmbient and micro systems will also communicate on large distances, taking lightweight intelligence from cities and environment into longer distance remote challenges.

Enabling technologiesMicro / Nano electronicsMicro-electronics’ progresses, guided by Moore’s law, have to make a leap forward with new concepts to reach the nano-scale world of Nano-Tera’s applications. Emerging technologies using nanowires, nanotubes and polymers, will push devices towards ultra-low consumption and ultra-thin layers.

SensorsNano-Tera type of demands in biology, environment and medical applications need new sensors. Ultra-low powered cantilever or nanotubes arrays, single photon optics, cell- and microfluidics-based chips, bio-compatible coatings, are important challenges for sensor research.

MEMS / NEMSAs the interface between the human and nano-systems, they are a cornerstone in Nano-Tera’s ambitions. These nano-systems holding together sensors and actuators will have to be integrated in or around the human body, harvest their energy, use novel materials.

Systems & softwareOn a larger scale (Tera), nano-systems will interact in a social and autonomous way. This implies new strategies for wireless networks and systems: self-organization, dependability, resource awareness with safe and secure real-time operation.

Information & communicationOn the application level, unprecedented amounts of data will have to be gathered and processed. Distributed design, signal processing, data management and web connectivity will be addressed by Nano-Tera, as well as the design tools to reach their goals.

for Health, Security and Environment


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The ProjectsResearch, Technology, Development projects (RTD)

CabTuRes Enabling autonomous sensor nodes: low-power nano-sensor/electronics build-ing blocks based on tunable carbon nanotube electro-mechanical resonators

Prof. Christofer Hierold, ETHZ ▶ p. 06

CMOSAIC 3D stacked architectures with interlayer cooling Prof. John Thome, EPFL ▶ p. 08

GreenPower Connecting renewable energy to green mobility using hydrogen as energy carrier

Prof. Jan-Anders Månson, EPFL ▶ p. 10

i-IronIC Implantable/wearable system for on-line monitoring of human metabolic conditions

Prof. Giovanni De Micheli, EPFL ▶ p. 12

IrSens Integrated sensing platform for gases and liquids in the near and mid-infrared range

Prof. Jérôme Faist, ETHZ ▶ p. 14

ISyPeM Intelligent integrated systems for personalized medicine Prof. Carlotta Guiducci, EPFL ▶ p. 16

LiveSense Cell-based sensing microsystem Prof. Philippe Renaud, EPFL ▶ p. 18

MIXSEL Vertical integration of ultrafast semiconductor lasers for wafer-scale mass production

Prof. Ursula Keller, ETHZ ▶ p. 20

NanowireSensor Integrateable silicon nanowire sensor platform Prof. Christian Schönenberger,UniBas

▶ p. 22

Nexray Network of integrated miniaturized X-ray systems operating in complex environments

Dr. Alex Dommann, CSEM ▶ p. 24

NutriChip A technological platform for nutrition analysis to promote healthy food Prof. Martin Gijs, EPFL ▶ p. 26

OpenSense Open sensor networks for air quality monitoring Prof. Karl Aberer, EPFL ▶ p. 28

PATLiSci Probe array technology for life science applications Dr. Harry Heinzelmann, CSEM ▶ p. 30

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Research, Technology, Development projects (RTD)

PlaCiTUS Platform circuit technology underlying heterogeneous nano and tera systems Prof. Qiuting Huang, ETHZ ▶ p. 32

QCrypt Secure high-speed communication based on quantum key distribution Prof. Nicolas Gisin, UniGE ▶ p. 34

SelfSys Fluidic-mediated self-assembly for hybrid functional micro/nanosystems Prof. Jürgen Brugger, EPFL ▶ p. 36

SImOS Smart implants for orthopaedics surgery Prof. Peter Ryser, EPFL ▶ p. 38

TecInTex Technology integration into textiles: empowering health Prof. Gerhard Tröster, ETHZ ▶ p. 40

X-Sense Monitoring alpine mass movements at multiple scales Prof. Lothar Thiele, ETHZ ▶ p. 42

Nano-Tera Focused projects (NTF)

PMD-Program A programmable, universally applicable, microfluidic device platform Prof. Sebastian Maerkl, EPFL ▶ p. 44

ULP-Logic Sub-threshold source-coupled logic (ST-SCL) circuits for ultra-low power applications

Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFL ▶ p. 45

Education & Dissemination projects (ED)

COMES Complexity management in embedded systems Prof. Mariagiovanna Sami, USI ▶ p. 46

EducationalKit Education kit for wearable computing Dr. Daniel Roggen, ETHZ ▶ p. 47

TED-Activities Training, education and dissemination activities M.Sc. Philippe Fischer, FSRM ▶ p. 48

D43D Manufacturing, design and thermal issues in 3D integrated systems Prof. David Atienza, EPFL ▶ p. 49


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Principal InvestigatorProf. Christofer Hierold, ETHZ

Prof. Wanda Andreoni, EPFLProf. Nicolaas de Rooij, EPFLProf. László Forró, EPFLDr. Oliver Gröning, EMPAProf. Adrian Ionescu, EPFLProf. Maher Kayal, EPFLProf. Bradley Nelson, ETHZProf. Dimos Poulikakos, ETHZ

CabTuResEnabling autonomous sensor nodes: low-power nano-sensor/electronics building blocks based on tunable carbon nanotube electro-mechanical resonators

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CabTuResSensors are becoming ubiquitous in our lives and possible applications are countless. Micro and nanotechnologies are the natural choice

for enabling complex sensor nodes, as they are small (thus unobtrusive), cheap and low power. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a perfect

example of how nanosystems offer features unachievable with microsystems: their outstanding structural, mechanical and electronic

properties have immediately resulted in numerous device demonstrators from transistors, to physical and chemical sensors, and actuators.

A key idea of the project is to combine elements from the fundamental knowledge base on the physics of carbon nanotubes, gathered in

the past several years, and the fundamental engineering sciences in the area of micro/nano-electromechanical systems, to develop novel

devices and processes based on CNTs.

Specifically, it seeks to demonstrate concepts and devices for ultra-low power, highly miniaturized functional blocks for sensing and

electronics. Due to their small mass and high stiffness, doubly clamped CNTs can exhibit huge resonant frequencies. These are carbon

nanotube resonators which, as recently demonstrated or predicted theoretically, can reach the multi-GHz range, can be tuned via straining

over a wide range of frequency, offer an unprecedented sensitivity to strain or mass loading, exhibit high quality factors, and all these with a

very low power consumption.

Two specific applications are being targeted. First of all, because of their high quality factors and high frequencies of operation, carbon

nanotube resonators offer a wide range of electronics applications, where they can be used as tunable voltage controlled oscillators, clocks or

nano electro-mechanical filters and detectors. Another application is mass balances for sensing: since mass loading creates a shift in resonant

frequency, with huge sensitivity to tiny mass variations, the resonators can be used to measure gas molecule densities or weigh nano bodies

such as proteins and viruses. And as the resonant frequency is also affected by strain in the CNT, strains and forces could be measured in a

rather straightforward manner.

The outcome may have implications in several domains: it will support health in diagnosis or preemptive detection of air borne pathogens

and advance the basic science of proteomics, genetics and virology. Besides, autonomous, ultra-small and ultra low power sensors could find

their way in many wearable, ambient or remote systems.

“ The project may push electronic systems and nano sensors to new levels of presence in our daily lives, for the benefit of elderly people, for disabled persons, and for everybody’s security by environmental monitoring. ”

Prof. Christofer Hierold, ETHZ


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Principal InvestigatorProf. John Thome, EPFL

Prof. David Atienza, EPFLProf. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFLDr. Bruno Michel, IBM ZRLProf. Dimos Poulikakos, ETHZProf. Wendelin Stark, ETHZ

CMOSAIC3D stacked architectures with interlayer cooling

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Indicators show that the speed of transistor density and microprocessor performance improvements that drove the IT industry for the last

50 years are now limited by connectability issues between multiple cores and air-cooling rates. With its CMOS scaling engine slowing, the

industry is striving to find new packaging alternatives to maintain the overall pace according to Moore’s law. While 2D scaling has been used

in high performance processors for several decades, the third dimension has not yet been tackled. Recent progress in the fabrication of

through silicon vias has opened new avenues for high density area array interconnects between stacked processor and memory chips. Such

three-dimensional integrated circuits are attractive solutions for overcoming the present barriers encountered in interconnect scaling, thus

offering an opportunity to continue the CMOS performance trends over the next few decades.

The CMOSAIC project is a genuine opportunity to contribute to the realization of arguably the most complicated system that mankind has

ever assembled: a 3D stack of computer chips with a functionality per unit volume that nearly parallels the functional density of a human

brain. The aggressive goal is to provide the necessarily 3D integrated cooling system that is the key to compressing almost 1012 nanometer

sized functional units into a 1 cm3 volume with a 10 to 100 fold higher connectivity than otherwise possible. Even the most advanced air-

cooling methods are inadequate for such high performance systems where the main challenge is to remove the heat produced by multiple

stacked dies with each layer dissipating 100-150 W/cm2. Therefore, state-of-the-art microscale single-phase liquid and two-phase cooling

systems are being developed, using specifically designed microchannel arrangements with channel sizes as small as 50 microns. The employed

coolants range from liquid water and two-phase environmentally friendly refrigerants to novel nano-coated, nonwetting surfaces. To this

aim, CMOSAIC has brought together a multi-disciplinary team of internationally recognized experts who are jointly conducting research

to explore the underlying physics of the proposed cooling mechanisms through experiments and theoretical modelling. The team will also

develop all the necessary modelling and design tools needed to simulate 3D integrated circuits stacks during their operation in order to

mitigate hot spots, and test various prototype stacks with the goal of identifying and bringing into reality novel methods for heat removal in

these high performance systems.

CMOSAIC


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“ An important contribution to the development of the first 3D computer chip with a functionality per unit volume that nearly parallels the functional density of a human brain is the integration of highly effective microscale cooling channels directly within the chip itself. ” Prof. John Thome, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Jan-Anders Månson, EPFL

Prof. Leszek Lisowski, CSEMDr. Günther Scherer, PSI

GreenPowerConnecting renewable energy to green mobility using hydrogen as energy carrier under the Belenos Clean Power initiative

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An environmentally friendly transportation system is of paramount importance for the decrease of emission of greenhouse gases to the

environment. Belenos Clean Power (BCP) has been created as a Holding company whose aim is to accelerate the necessary revolution in

clean energy production and consumption using solar energy, converting and storing it in the form of hydrogen and oxygen for mobility and

other purposes. For the first time at national level, this initiative is considering green mobility as a part of the entire energy chain: it will give

the impetus to accelerate and accumulate the know-how in R&D and production by associating creativity in new and existing resources in

the several areas concerning clean energy.

The principle is to use solar energy, collected on home roofs, which is then used to electrolyze water in order to produce hydrogen and

oxygen. These gases are compressed and stored locally to match the gap between supply and demand. Hydrogen and oxygen are filled in

adhoc car reservoirs, and subsequently transposed to electricity for fuel cell driven cars. Such a demonstrator system can already be built

today; however the economic viability of the project depends on disruptive innovation based upon our capacity to face and resolve very

demanding scientific and technical challenges in the years to follow. One of the main issues in this coherent effort is the optimization of

the hydrogen production and usage chain. Several major steps, both in science and engineering, are needed to achieve the commercial

exploitation of the overall concept:

As part of the developments on-going within Belenos, an issue is the development of adequate membranes for the fuel cells. In this

project, the membrane will be based on new materials to enable a cost effective application in an H2-O2 fuel cell. These new membranes

will be optimized for cost as well as for mechanical and chemical stability. Another issue addressed in this project is the safety related to

hydrogen and oxygen storage in a car or at home: new appropriate materials will be developed to guarantee the gas storage system. The

project will also seek to design, simulate and set up a unit managing gas flows, throughout the system components as well as the required

communication system.

GreenPower


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“ One of the most credible initiatives for moving from a fossil fuel based mobility towards a green, solar based mobility. ” Prof. Jan-Anders Månson, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Giovanni De Micheli, EPFL

Dr. Sandro Carrara, EPFLDr. Catherine Dehollain, EPFLDr. Fabio Grassi, IRBProf. Qiuting Huang, ETHZProf. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFLDr. Linda Thoeny-Meyer, EMPA

i-IronICImplantable/wearable system for on-line monitoring of human metabolic conditions

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Personalized therapies require accurate and frequent monitoring of the metabolic response of living tissues to treatments. On-line monitoring

of patients with specific physiological conditions (e.g., heart, cardiovascular, cancer diseases) is a key factor to provide better, more rationale,

effective and ultimately low-cost health care. This is also required in professionals and recreational sportsmen training, as well as in elderly or

disabled citizen care.

Metabolism monitoring is a complex, slow and expensive process, mainly because of the unavailability of accurate, fast and affordable sensing

devices that can detect and quantify multiple active compounds in parallel and several times a day. Indeed, systems available on the market use

wearable devices (accelerometers, heartbeat monitoring system, etc) but do not measure metabolites. The only available real-time, implantable/

wearable systems for metabolic control are limited to glucose monitoring and used by diabetic patients. However, many different molecules

present crucial relevance in human metabolism. They are monitored daily in general hospital practice by automatic blood sampling, but the

analysis involves using off-line, large and expensive laboratory equipments.

This project seeks to develop research in the field of integrated smart biosensors for online metabolism analysis that significantly improves the

quality and reliability of human measurements, while at the same time reducing analysis time and cost. The new system will investigate many

different metabolic compounds of interest in cardiovascular diseases as well as inflammatory diseases and personalized nutrition, such as lactate,

cholesterol, ATP, and others.

To pursue this aim, an innovative technology will be developed by integrating software/hardware/ RF/micro/nano/bio systems in three devices: a

fully implantable sensors array for data acquisition, a wearable station for remote powering and signal processing and a remote station for data

collection and storage. Apart from multi-panel sensors capable of sensing several metabolites in parallel and in real-time, the expected major

breakthroughs include new software algorithms for decoupling different contributions from different metabolites on the same sensor spot as

well as a new CMOS design for the fully-implanted, complex and low consumption electronics for sensing and remote powering.

i-IronIC


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“ The development of a better and more reliable diagnostics implantable system will be useful for the individualization of therapies, disease prevention and nutrition in patients, athletes and the elderly. ”

Prof. Giovanni De Micheli, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Jérôme Faist, ETHZ

Prof. Edoardo Charbon, EPFLDr. Lukas Emmenegger, EMPAProf. Hans Peter Herzig, EPFLDr. Daniel Hofstetter, UniNEDr. Alexandra Homsy, EPFLProf. Eli Kapon, EPFLProf. Herbert Looser, FHNWProf. Markus Sigrist, ETHZ

IrSensIntegrated sensing platform for gases and liquids in the near and mid-infrared range

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IrSensThere is an increasing demand for sensitive, selective, fast and portable detectors for trace components in gases and liquids, e.g. due to

increasing concerns about atmospheric pollutants, and a need for improved medical screening capabilities for early detection of diseases

and drug abuse. In that context, the project IrSens aims at building a versatile platform based on optical spectroscopy in the near and mid-

infrared range. Indeed, techniques based on optical absorption offer the possibility to realize a non-invasive and highly sensitive detection

platform. It allows to probe the vibrational frequencies of the targeted molecules – most of which are located in the near and mid-infrared

range, and to obtain an unambiguous signature of the investigated gas or liquid.

The idea is to create a photonic sensor platform with high performance and reliability which will leverage on the new source, detector and

interaction cell technologies to create a new sensor element with vastly improved performance and lowered cost. These improvements will

be demonstrated further by the incorporation into two pilot applications, the first one aiming at the demonstration of sensing in the gas

phase, the second one in the liquid phase.

The compact sensing platform for gases under development is based on multipath absorption cells with various compact semiconductor

light source and detector types. Infrared absorption spectroscopy can be used to detect a wide variety of gases. To demonstrate its suitability

for breath analysis, the first part of this project is focused on the detection of helicobacter pylori – a bacteria responsible for gastric ulcers –

by means of isotopic ratio measurements in exhaled CO2.

The integrated sensing platform for liquids is based on waveguiding and surface measurement technologies and the same sources and

detectors as for the gas sensing. The idea is to couple the sources to a silicon-based optical module where the liquid analyte will flow

through a built-in microfluidic channel. This is intended to be used mainly in bio-medical applications with an emphasis on drugs and doping

agents detection in human fluids: specifically, a first targeted demonstrative application for this sensor would be the cocaine detection in

human saliva.


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“ Although the general principles of chemical sensing deploying optical methods are well-known, recent developments, particularly in the field of infrared photonics, will lead to a real breakthrough in this technology. ”

Prof. Jérôme Faist, ETHZ

Principal InvestigatorProf. Carlotta Guiducci, EPFL

Dr. Thierry Buclin, CHUVProf. Giovanni De Micheli, EPFLProf. Christian Enz, CSEMProf. Carlos-Andrés Pena-Reyes, HES-SO

ISyPeMIntelligent integrated systems for personalized medicine

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Medical progress is increasingly improving the survival rate and life quality of patients affected by serious, life-threatening conditions, such as HIV

infection, disseminated cancers or vital organ failure. These achievements rely significantly on new radical improvements of drug regimens and

therapeutic protocols. Newly adopted treatments for such diseases require the daily administration of highly active therapies in the long-term.

The huge variability range in drugs response poses strong limits and severe problems in drug treatment definition. The largest part of

variability in drug response (roughly 80%) resides in the pharmacokinetic phase, i.e. in dose-concentration relationships. This project aims

at providing advanced technologies for assessing drug response by measuring drug concentrations and relevant biomarkers. In particular,

it aims at providing drug treatment optimization based on processing of statistical and personal data and to enable seamless monitoring

and delivery by an ultra-low power integrated system. Thus it is the purpose of the project to advance the state-of-the-art in personalized

medicine by creating new enabling technologies for drug monitoring and delivery control rooted in the combination of sensing, in situ

data processing, short-range wireless communication and drug release control mechanisms. These new technologies, in combination with

currently available medical devices (e.g., micropumps, micro-needles, etc.) can significantly improve medical care and reduce the related costs.

The research goes beyond the state-of-the-art because of the introduction of new sensing and delivering technologies, ultra-low power

sensor interface and wireless communication integrated in a miniaturized remote-powered hardware platform with energy-efficient data

processing and robust control software. Targeted application domains will be HIV infection, cancer diseases and post-transplant therapies,

which are currently addressed by the research in pharmacokinetics carried out by our medical partner at CHUV.

The overall benefit of this research is bettering medical practice by enabling personalized medicine while reducing health care costs. This goal

is achieved by a concerted effort in various disciplines that will be embodied in demonstrators and validated in the field in the framework of

the project. The state-of-the-art will be advanced by providing an electronic-control dimension to drug treatment, based on real-time sensing

and on safe and optimal dosing policies. Expected scientific breakthroughs include new integrated sensors for specific drugs and biomarkers,

new drug delivery mechanisms via electronically-controlled silicon membranes and a formal design methodology for provably correct and

safe electronic drug delivery.

ISyPeM


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“ Our project will have a strong positive impact on the health care sector, by improving medical practice in highly critical drug treatments of severe diseases in Switzerland and abroad. ” Prof. Carlotta Guiducci, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Philippe Renaud, EPFL

Prof. Nicolaas de Rooij, EPFLProf. Martial Geiser, HES-SOProf. Hubert Girault, EPFLDr. Martha Liley, CSEMDr. Michael Riediker, ISTProf. Jan van der Meer, UNILProf. Viola Vogel, ETHZ

LiveSenseCell-based sensing microsystem

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A big challenge in environmental monitoring is to dispose of a base of autonomous remote nodes that are capable of locally collecting

samples and sending biologically and chemically relevant information through a communication network. Analytical chemical methods

commonly used are mostly based on sophisticated instrumentation which does not scale to miniature systems for deployment as field

sensors. The use of biological entities such as cell lines or micro-organisms as the basis for assay methodologies has been well developed,

and research has demonstrated their applicability for monitoring the environment for bioactive or toxic compounds. The response of cell-

based sensors is related to a metabolic pathway and thus relevant to effects expected for human beings. In many cases, the response of

cells and cell-based sensors is extremely sensitive. While the concept of cell-based biosensors has been researched for several years, their

implementation is restricted to a few commercial applications that are not deployable as autonomous sensors.

This project addresses the need to improve the environmental monitoring of the many chemical and biological compounds that are affecting

our biosphere and eventually human health. The idea is to use living cells as biosensors and to monitor them in a microfluidic bioreactor

equipped with microsensors. Living cells are the most natural biosensors, since they integrate the biological effects of the compound

mixtures and respond by metabolic or phenotypic changes that are relevant to potential effects in the human body. The projects aims at

the realization of a complete autonomous microsystem that would include a cell culture microbioreactor, secondary sensors to measure

cell response and monitor the microbioreactor process, a signal processing control unit and a wireless communication unit to link the

microsystem to a sensor network.

The research is based on known cell models selected in two cell types: bacteria – used because there is already a wide experience on

bacterial bioreporters and they are rather easy to culture – and eukaryotic cells – because their metabolic response to toxicants is more

similar to reaction pathways in the human body. The microbioreactor will be integrated into a functional demonstrator for the deployment

of a cell-based sensor network monitoring water quality in a Swiss river.

LiveSense


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“ We are building the bio cell phone. ” Prof. Philippe Renaud, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Ursula Keller, ETHZ

Prof. Eli Kapon, EPFLProf. Pierre Thomann, UniNEProf. Bernd Witzigmann, Uni Kassel

MIXSELVertical integration of ultrafast semiconductor lasers for wafer-scale mass production

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MIXSELShort pulse laser sources have enabled many applications in science and technology. Numerous laboratory experiments have confirmed

that they can significantly increase telecommunication data rates, improve computer interconnects, and optically clock in the future multi-

core microprocessors. New applications in metrology, supercontinuum generation and life sciences with two-photon microscopy and optical

coherence tomography only work with ultrashort pulses, but have relied on bulky and complex ultrafast solid-state lasers. However, users in

health care and life sciences generally would rather get the short pulses without any further overhead and with a simple turn-on-off switch.

It is therefore essential for them to have access to compact, easy-to-use and inexpensive ultrafast lasers. Recent developments in novel

semiconductor lasers have the potential to reduce the complexity of ultrafast lasers.

Semiconductor lasers are ideally suited for mass production and widespread applications, because they are based on a wafer-scale

technology with a high level of integration. Not surprisingly, the first lasers entering virtually every household were semiconductor lasers

in compact disk players. A new ultrafast semiconductor laser concept has been introduced by Prof. Keller, which is power scalable, suitable

for pulse repetition rate scaling in the 10 to 100 GHz regime, supports both optical and electrical pumping and allows for wafer-scale

fabrication. This class of devices is referred to as the modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL). The next step

towards even lower-cost and more compact ultrafast lasers will be electrical pumping with both pico- and femtosecond pulses. This would

result in devices ideally suited for many applications such as telecommunications, optical clocking, frequency metrology, high resolution

nonlinear multiphoton microscopy, optical coherence tomography, laser display – anywhere where the current ultrafast laser technology is

considered to be too bulky or expensive.

The project aims to demonstrate optically and electrically pumped MIXSELs in both the pico- and femtosecond regime. Picosecond

MIXSELs are ideally suited for clocking applications whereas femtosecond MIXSELs are required for continuum generation and many

biomedical applications. For both cases, average powers above 100 mW with electrical pumping and above 500 mW with optical pumping

should be reached, which represent significant advances of ultrafast MIXSELs.


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“ Our research on the development of novel ultrafast semiconductor lasers will support and strengthen a field that is significant in value creation. ”

Prof. Ursula Keller, ETHZ

Principal InvestigatorProf. Christian Schönenberger, UniBas

Dr. Michel Calame, UniBasProf. Beat Ernst, UniBasProf. Jens Gobrecht, PSIProf. Andreas Hierlemann, ETHZProf. Adrian Ionescu, EPFLProf. Uwe Pieles, FHNWProf. Janos Vörös, ETHZ

NanowireSensorIntegrateable silicon nanowire sensor platform

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NanowireSensorThere is nowadays a growing need for sensing devices offering rapid and portable analytical functionality in real-time as well as massively

parallel capabilities with very high sensitivity at the molecular level. Such devices are essential to facilitate research and foster advances in

fields such as drug discovery, proteomics, medical diagnostics, systems biology or environmental monitoring.

In this context, an ideal solution is an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor sensor platform based on silicon nanowires to be integrated in a CMOS

architecture. Indeed, in addition to the expected high sensitivity and superior signal quality, such nanowire sensors could be mass manufactured

at reasonable costs, and readily integrated into electronic diagnostic devices to facilitate bed-site diagnostics and personalized medicine.

Moreover, their small size makes them ideal candidates for future implanted sensing devices. While promising biosensing experiments based

on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors have been reported, real-life applications still require improved control, together with a detailed

understanding of the basic sensing mechanisms. For instance, it is crucial to optimize the geometry of the wire, a still rather unexplored aspect

up to now, as well as its surface functionalization or its selectivity to the targeted analytes.

This project seeks to develop a modular, scalable and integrateable sensor platform for the electronic detection of analytes in solution.

The idea is to integrate silicon nanowire field-effect transistors as a sensor array and combine them with state-of-the-art microfabricated

interface electronics as well as with microfluidic channels for liquid handling. Such sensors have the potential to be mass manufactured at

reasonable costs, allowing their integration as the active sensor part in electronic point-of-care diagnostic devices to facilitate, for instance,

bed-side diagnostics and personalized medicine. Another important field is systems biology, where many substances need to be quantitatively

detected in parallel at very low concentrations: in these situations, the platform being developed fulfills the requirements ideally and will have

a strong impact and provide new insights, e.g. into the metabolic processes of cells, organisms or organs.


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“ In a long-term vision, we can expect the development of embedded systems allowing the constant monitoring of health parameters for chronicle diseases like diabetes. ” Prof. Christian Schönenberger, UniBas

Principal InvestigatorDr. Alex Dommann, CSEM

Dr. Pierangelo Gröning, EMPA Prof. Hans von Känel, ETHZ

NexrayNetwork of integrated miniaturized X-ray systems operating in complex environments

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NexrayThis project targets the development of novel pocket X-ray sources and X-ray direct detectors that will be combined in a distributed

network to solve important tasks, for example in the field of security, by ensuring reliable and real-time monitoring of failure sensitive parts

in large manufacturing plants or in public transportation.

The miniaturized X-ray sources are based on multi-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) cold electron emitters and advanced microsystems

technology. The electron field emission properties of CNTs, with their high current densities, make them prime candidates for cold emitter

cathodes. Using CNT cold electron emitters will make it possible to miniaturize the whole X-ray source. Additionally, as opposed to classical

thermionic emission, field electron emission of the CNT is voltage-controlled which allows for high modulation frequencies up to GHz

level. The X-ray direct detectors in turn are based on crystalline germanium absorption layers grown directly on a CMOS sensor chip

yielding high resolution and high sensitivity X-ray detectors. Single photon detection will allow for a significant improvement of contrast for

applications in security, health care and nondestructive testing.

A first landmark application is for example the extraction of depth information from an X-ray image without the need to do tomography.

With X-ray time-of-flight measurements based on Compton backscattering, the depth inside objects where scattering occurs can be precisely

measured. This calls for an intensity-modulated X-ray signal in the MHz range which can be achieved with CNT based cold emitters. An

obvious application would be the detection of buried landmines: the Compton backscattering signal can indeed indicate the landmine

position with much better accuracy than metal detectors.

Another key application is in the area of tomographic imaging, making use of the fact that both the X-ray source and the X-ray detector

are pixelated. Since the X-ray source is built as a matrix of micro X-ray sources that can also be addressed and controlled individually, the

combination of pixelated X-ray sources and detectors brings up completely new imaging capabilities, in particular the possibility to do static

tomographic imaging and therefore reduce costs or increase throughput.


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“ The results will lead to radically new approaches in the use and exploitation of X-rays, and completely novel X-ray systems which are not possible today. ” Dr. Alex Dommann, CSEM

Principal InvestigatorProf. Martin Gijs, EPFL

Dr. Sandro Carrara, EPFLProf. Richard F. Hurrell, ETHZProf. Jeremy Ramsden, UniBasDr. Guy Vergères, ALP

NutriChipA technological platform for nutrition analysis to promote healthy food

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The gastrointestinal tract plays a key role in the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of nutrients, xenobiotics (drugs, toxins)

as well as other molecules originating from commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. The intestinal epithelium is a tight gatekeeper

controlling the uptake of nutrients and potentially harmful substances and the immune cell layer underlying the epithelial barrier is devoted

to avoiding undesired reactivity to dietary proteins and enteric flora, while responding rapidly to pathogens threats. In light of the importance

of gastrointestinal immuno-modulation, laboratory models have been developed, in particular, cell culture in vitro models involving a

confluent layer of epithelial cells and a co-culture of immune cells separated by a permeable synthetic membrane. These models allow the

activation of immune cells in response to the transfer and processing of molecules across the epithelial cell layer, and can potentially be used

to screen food for specific physiological properties of nutrients. The classical cell culture design suffers, however, from a lack of efficiency

when it comes to using such systems in a high throughput modus. It is therefore highly desirable to downscale such cell cultures and to make

them more amenable to automation in order to promote efficient in vitro screening of the physiological properties of selected foods.

This is the major motivation of this project, focused on the development of an integrated lab-on-a-chip platform to investigate the effects

of food ingestion by humans. The core of the system is an integrated chip, the NutriChip, which, as a demonstrator of an artificial and

miniaturized gastrointestinal tract, will be able to probe the health potential of dairy food samples, using a minimal biomarker set identified

through in vivo and in vitro studies. The project will develop innovative CMOS circuits at the nano-scale for high signal-to-noise ratio optical

detection and propose a special microfluidic system closely integrating cell-based materials within the chip.

The NutriChip will be tested for screening and selection of dairy products with specific health-promoting properties, in particular immuno-

modulatory properties. The CMOS detection chip will be used to image down to single immune cells. For the biochemical validation of the

NutriChip platform, the response of the immune cells upon the application of food will be examined by monitoring the Toll-like receptors 2

and 4, key molecules bridging metabolism and immuno-regulation in nutrition.

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“ The project builds on modern analytical strategies of biology, engineering and classical human nutrition research to evaluate in vitro the influence of food quality on health. ” Prof. Martin Gijs, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Karl Aberer, EPFL

Prof. Boi Faltings, EPFLProf. Alcherio Martinoli, EPFLProf. Lothar Thiele, ETHZProf. Martin Vetterli, EPFL

OpenSense Open sensor networks for air quality monitoring

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Wireless sensor networks and publishing of sensor data on the internet bear the potential to substantially increase public awareness and

involvement in environmental sustainability. These technologies enable capturing sensor data by involving public authorities and the general

public and making real-time information on environmental conditions available to a wide public. Air pollution monitoring in urban areas is a

prime example of such an application as common air pollutants have direct effects on human health, thus becoming an extremely important

environmental issue in large areas of the world due to increasing urbanization. However, bringing the vision of public involvement in

environmental monitoring to a reality poses substantial technical challenges, to scale up from isolated well controlled systems to an open and

scalable infrastructure where many nano-scale sensors generate terabytes of data.

Challenges that are not well addressed today are dealing with the heterogeneity and widely varying characteristics of the sensor equipment,

measurements and data analysis, supporting and exploiting mobility of sensors and involving the community in a trusted, fair and transparent

manner into the monitoring activity. Air pollution monitoring is particularly suited to study these challenges as they are particularly pronounced

in this scenario. A wide variety of sensors (meteorological data, air pollutants and fine particles) is used, normally not integrated with one

another, with measurements sharing complex atmospheric chemistry and transport processes. These monitors could be stationary or mobile

(public and private vehicles, personal devices, airborne vehicles) providing real-time information and warnings on air pollution that is of great

public health importance.

OpenSense will address key research challenges in the domain of information and communication systems related to community-based

sensing using wireless sensor network technology in the context of air pollution monitoring. Solutions to these problems affect typically all

layers of an information and communication system architecture, with interdependencies and synergies among the different layers. For that

reason the research team consists of experts in signal processing, networking, robotics, data management and qualitative reasoning.

The project will result in open technology that allows integrating diverse sensors, including mobile sensors, into a single environmental

model. The information processing techniques we develop will provide important insights to enable other Nano-Tera application domains

dealing with monitoring complex events.

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“ Our goal is to provide an open and extensible platform for monitoring air quality in real-time, for better understanding environmental phenomena and their effects and involving people into this task. ” Prof. Karl Aberer, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorDr. Harry Heinzelmann, CSEM

Dr. Friedrich Beermann, EPFLProf. Jürgen Brugger, EPFLProf. Nicolaas de Rooij, EPFLProf. Hans Peter Herzig, EPFLDr. Agnese Mariotti, CePOProf. Ernst Meyer, UniBasProf. Pedro Romero, LICRProf. Horst Vogel, EPFL

PATLiSciProbe array technology for life science applications

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The development of techniques based on micromechanical force sensors (micro-cantilevers) is of increasing importance for applications in

biological sciences. Scanning force microscopy and related techniques allow for high resolution imaging e.g. of membrane proteins, offering

unprecedented insights into their structure and their functioning. Furthermore, related non-imaging methods such as force spectroscopy allow

studying the mechanics and the adhesion forces between materials ranging from proteins to entire cells. An impressive body of literature on

mechanical properties of molecules and their interaction forces has been generated in the recent past. However, little has been done so far on

a cell level, due to the complexity and the number of the experiments to be conducted.

Interestingly, it has been shown recently that the stiffness of cancer cells affects the way they spread in the body. Equally important are the

adhesion forces of cancer cells to other cells. The measurement of nanomechanical properties of cells as well as cell-cell interactions as a

function of milieu parameters is thus of particular interest in cancer research.

The nanomechanical properties of microcantilevers allow to use them as highly sensitive probes for the detection of molecular species

adsorbed to them. The additional mass and/or the surface stress exerted by the adsorbents changes the mechanical properties, such as their

bending or their resonance frequency, and can be readily detected. This method has been developed into a technology that is often described

as mechanical nose, since many of these cantilevers in parallel, each responsible for the detection of a specific target substance, detect an

ensemble of substances. The nanomechanical nose mirrors the design of the human olfactory system, where mechano-transduction in olfactory

cells is coupled to the biological neural network, i.e. the brain. The old medical art of diagnosing disease by its odor, limited by observer

dependence and lack of quantitative analysis and the limited sensitivity of the human nose, thus finds its correlation in nanomedicine, where

nanomechanical olfactory sensors allow quantitative and objective analysis of carcinogenic diseases in point-of-care early diagnostics.

This project is about further developing probe array techniques for life science applications, notably in the context of cancer research. The

consortium shows the balance between experts in sensing technology as well as oncology.

PATLiSci


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“ We expect our research to advance personalized medical diagnostics and to develop new tools for research in cell-based drug screening. ”

Dr. Harry Heinzelmann, CSEM

Principal InvestigatorProf. Qiuting Huang, ETHZ

Dr. Catherine Dehollain, EPFLProf. Christian Enz, CSEM

PlaCiTUSPlatform circuit technology underlying heterogeneous nano and tera systems

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The revolution in information and communication technology that is taking information flow into the era of tera-bits and the biomedical

advances down to molecular scale would not have taken place without the accompanying downscaling of CMOS technology to the nano

scale device size and tera system complexity. This aggressive downscaling has allowed the number of transistors per chip to be increased,

thus extending their functionality and pushing up speed performance. However, this is obtained at the cost of severe degradation in certain

quality metrics, such as increase of parameter variability, strong degradation of device matching, and increase in leakage currents including

gate leakage, stronger short-channel effects (weak-inversion slope reduction, drain-induced barrier lowering, etc), ever lower supply voltage,

novel degradation mechanisms and increasing reliability constraints. The profound changes in the device structure that are required to

mitigate or eventually circumvent all these degradations will obviously have a significant impact on the way circuits, and particularly analog

and RF circuits, have to be designed.

It is therefore crucial to fully understand the operation and limitations of these devices in order to design robust digital, analog and RF

circuits. In the next decade, the challenges to the semiconductor industry and the applications it supports will lie not so much in realizing

smaller and faster transistors as in how to make the best out of the billions of transistors per chip we already have. Understanding how to

handle complexity in mixed signal embedded systems is therefore crucial for the next generation of applications that deal with health, micro-

systems and communications. How to partition system functionality into digital, analog and RF or sensor realizations on a system on chip

optimally is one of the key topics that will impact the era of nano CMOS technologies.

This project investigates the challenges in mixed signal platforms, such as those embedded in biomedical electronics, micro-systems, sensor

networks and wireless communications, from both device and systems perspective. Demonstrators will be developed that cover generic

sensor interface/data acquisition, passive telemetry, wireless body area network, wireless sensor networking and wireless wide area networks.

The achievements will benefit other proNano-Tera projects focusing on the sensor/actuator side of microsystems, as well as wireless

communications SoCs that will challenge the state-of-the-art in integration level, versatility and sophistication of nano CMOS systems.

PlaCiTUS


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“ The nano-CMOS design platform will allow the different devices required for health, security and environment applications to be much smaller and have a much longer autonomy, thus offering more comfort and enabling new applications. ” Prof. Qiuting Huang, ETHZ

Principal InvestigatorProf. Nicolas Gisin, UniGE

Prof. Norbert Felber, ETHZProf. Etienne Messerli, HES-SODr. Grégoire Ribordy, IDQ

QCryptSecure high-speed communication based on quantum key distribution

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Today’s information society relies heavily on storing and transferring data in digital form. Cryptography provides the means that is necessary

to exchange data securely. It relies on two fundamental parts: first, one needs a secret key, which is subsequently used to encrypt the data

with a mathematical algorithm. Secret keys can be transmitted using a trusted messenger, or in a more convenient way, using public key

infrastructure, the security of which is based on computational complexity and suffers from the lack of a mathematical proof for the class of

complexity. Modern encryption, using algorithms like the Advanced Encryption Standard, is generally considered unbreakable, provided the

keys are sufficiently long. However, absolute security can only be guaranteed by the so-called one-time-pad (OTP), where secret keys as long

as the message, have to be used.

This project aims to considerably improve cryptography on both the key distribution level and the encryption level. Quantum Key

Distribution (QKD) is a secure way to generate and distribute keys, which is based on the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics.

However, existing systems are too slow. The new QKD system will be capable of producing keys at 1 Mbps rate, which means it will allow

1 MHz OTP encryption for high-level applications.

In standard applications the data exchange rates continue to increase. Today’s commercial encryptors are already approaching 10 Gbps.

Consequently the project seeks to develop a future proof encryption engine for up to 100 Gbps and looks to combine this high-speed

encryption with high rate QKD, to allow the rapid changing of keys, thus considerably improving the security and simplifying the key

management.

The project will develop advanced prototypes for very-high-speed QKD and encryption. Both of these systems will greatly surpass any

technology currently available. This is only possible by combining the outstanding competencies of the partners in such diverse fields as

quantum optics, high-speed electronics and integrated circuit programming as well as cryptographic and network security. The modular

approach will provide flexible solutions for diverse communication scenarios by operating the devices in unison or stand-alone. Finally,

in contrast to current quantum key distribution systems, they will be compatible with standard optical networks and capable of using

wavelength multiplexing.

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“ We seek to take the emerging quantum technology associated with QKD to the level of future secure and high-speed communication networks. ”

Prof. Nicolas Gisin, UniGE

Principal InvestigatorProf. Jürgen Brugger, EPFL

Dr. Helmut Knapp, CSEMProf. Alcherio Martinoli, EPFLProf. Bradley Nelson, ETHZM.Sc. Laurent Sciboz, IcareProf. Nicholas Spencer, ETHZDr. Heiko Wolf, IBM ZRL

SelfSysFluidic-mediated self-assembly for hybrid functional micro/nanosystems

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SelfSysPackaging and assembly of micro/nanosystems (M/NEMS) is a key factor in their commercial success, but is often neglected in academic and

pre-competitive industrial research and development. A lack of innovative solutions for the manufacturing of next-generation smart systems

with hybrid, multi-functional devices would hamper the advances that are needed in health care, information technology and environmental

engineering. For instance, a typical situation today is that the individual components of the hybrid system can be readily fabricated separately

by well-known state-of-the-art methods, but they are either too small or too numerous to be assembled using conventional assembly

techniques. The solution studied in this project is based on interaction forces in liquids and goes well beyond what is known today as fluidic

self-assembly on surfaces using wetting properties to fine-position MEMS parts.

The ultimate goal is to self-assemble free-floating N/MEMS building blocks in a liquid, and then deploy the assembled parts onto surfaces,

the environment or the human body, where they fulfill an application-specific functionality. This fluidic-based self-assembly forms the basis for

future intelligent systems manufacturing beyond robotic assembly, flip-chip, etc. The expected outcomes are cost-efficient, yet flexible and

form an exemplary combination of high numbers (tera) of ultra-small components (nano/micro) to be assembled into complex systems.

The project involves an intimate interaction between advanced micro/nanoengineering, surface functionalization, microfluidics, sensor/

actuator and micro/nanorobotic concepts, as well as modeling and computer-aided design.

The first phase of the research focuses on the setting-up of the free-floating and guided fluidic assembly technology. The work will then be

devoted to the implementation of the enabling technology for two applications that have been identified, one targeting the assembly of RFID

micro-tags with other M/NEMS in a massive parallel way, the other aiming at the assembly of liquid-containing micro-capsules that can be

triggered for liquid release. In general, such integrated systems can enable non-invasive smart drug delivery devices, self-assembling implants,

surgical microrobots, smart clothing, ultra-small wireless sensor nodes for environmental monitoring and proactive maintenance of complex

civil and mechanical structures.


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“ We strive to find a remedy for the upcoming assembly challenge for ultra-miniature functional systems, and to contribute to novel manufacturing schemes for high added value products that represent one of Switzerland’s key economic factors. ” Prof. Jürgen Brugger, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Peter Ryser, EPFL

Prof. Kamiar Aminian, EPFLDr. Catherine Dehollain, EPFLProf. Pierre-André Farine, EPFLProf. Brigitte Jolles-Haeberli, CHUVM.Sc. Vincent Leclercq, SymbiosProf. Philippe Renaud, EPFL

SImOSSmart implants for orthopaedics surgery

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SImOSOver one million hip and knee prostheses are implanted each year in the EU and the US. The expected lifetime for these prostheses is

between 10 and 20 years, but premature failure is quite common (about 20% for people less than 50 years old). Prosthesis failures require

revision surgeries that are generally complex and traumatic. None of these prostheses contain microchips and few are analyzed based on

motion analysis devices.

This project seeks to design innovative tools to measure in vivo biomechanical parameters of joint prostheses, orthopaedic implants, bones

and ligaments. These tools, partly implanted, partly external, will record and analyze relevant information in order to improve medical

treatments. An implant module includes sensors in order to measure the forces, temperature sensors to measure the interface frictions,

magneto-resistance sensors to measure the 3D orientation of the knee joint as well as accelerometers to measure stem micro-motion and

impacts. An external module, fixed on the patient’s body segments, includes electronic components to power and to communicate with the

implant, as well as a set of sensors for measurements that can be realized externally.

This equipment is designed to help the surgeon with the alignment or positioning phase during surgery. After surgery, by providing excessive

wear and micro-motion information about the prosthesis, it will allow to detect any early migration and potentially avoid later failure. During

rehabilitation, it will provide useful outcomes to evaluate in vivo joint function. The tools provided can also be implanted during any joint

surgery in order to give the physician the information needed to diagnose future disease such as ligament insufficiency, osteoarthritis or

prevent further accident. The proposed nanosystems are set to improve the efficiency of healthcare, which is both a benefit to the patient

and to society. Although the scientific and technical developments proposed in this project can be applied to all orthopaedic implants, the

technological platform which is being built as a demonstrator is limited to the case of knee prosthesis. In addition, by reaching the minimum

size achievable thanks to clever packaging techniques and also by reducing, or even removing, the cumbersome battery, it paves the way for

a new generation of autonomous implantable medical devices.


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“ This much more effective monitoring of the patient’s function will contribute to valuable improvements of their quality of life and of future treatments. ” Prof. Peter Ryser, EPFL

Principal InvestigatorProf. Gerhard Tröster, ETHZ

Dr. Michael Baumberger, SPZDr. Kunigunde Cherenack, ETHZDr. Manfred Heuberger, EMPAM.Sc. Jean Luprano, CSEMDr. Stéphanie Pasche, CSEMDr. René Rossi, EMPAProf. Martin Wolf, USZ

TecInTexTechnology integration into textiles: empowering health

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TecInTexFuture personal mobile systems consist of a communication and computing hub – e.g. a Smart Phone – which ensures the continuous and

online connectivity. The personalization of this communication node requires the connection to sensing capabilities close to the human

body, which detect the user’s context, be it the activity, motion, health or the mental and social behavior. In that spirit, an increasing variety

of wearable functionality is being developed and demonstrated worldwide. However, in the textile sector, the actual breakthrough of these

novel technologies is absent due to a general lack of compatibility of conventional electric, electronic and sensory devices with textile

processing procedures and textile wearability. Indeed, existing e-textiles usually integrate state-of-the-art electronic devices into clothing,

inducing many limitations like restricted flexibility, washability and comfort.

TecInTex addresses these issues by developing the necessary basic fiber and textile technology, at the nanometer and micrometer scale, that

will provide the highly needed full integration of novel functionalities into truly wearable clothes without compromise on textile properties.

The key elements include electronic and optical fibers, sensor yarns, transducers between electrical and optical signals, sensor stripes and

functionalized fabrics.

The expected results cover a family of new sensorized and functional fibers, which will allow in situ measurements of body functions

and biological species in body proximity, approved fabrication processes and working prototypes dedicated to health care, rehabilitation

and prevention. One tremendous and growing market for these textiles is health care. Two demonstrators for wearable biosensing will

be developed under the leadership of the Swiss Paraplegic Center and the University Hospital of Zurich. The TecInTex mission will be

concentrate specifically on two demonstrators in the health care domain. The active NIRS sock is a wearable near infrared spectroscopy

device which allows to monitor tissue oxygenation in the muscle continuously and non-invasively for the early detection of peripheral

vascular disease. Another application is the intelligent underwear for paraplegic people, which allows the detection of pressure ulcers, an open

skin lesion affecting bed-ridden patients.


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“ Our mission is to provide the crucial core modules to design and to manufacture truly wearable functional clothes. ” Prof. Gerhard Tröster, ETHZ

QuickTime™ et undécompresseur

sont requis pour visionner cette image.

Principal InvestigatorProf. Lothar Thiele, ETHZ

Dr. Jan Beutel, ETHZProf. Alain Geiger, ETHZDr. Stephan Gruber, UZHDr. Hugo Raetzo, FOENDr. Tazio Strozzi, GAMMADr. Urs Wegmüller, GAMMA

X-SenseMonitoring alpine mass movements at multiple scales

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Recent observed environmental changes as well as projections in the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shed light on likely dramatic consequences of a changing mountain cryosphere following climate change. Some very destructive geological processes are triggered or intensified, influencing the stability of slopes and possibly inducing landslides. Unfortunately, the interaction between these complex processes is poorly understood. This project addresses the key issues in response to such changing conditons: monitoring and warning systems for the spatial and temporal detection of newly forming hazards, as well as extending the quantitative understanding of these chagning natural systems and our predictive capabilities.

It will develop dependable wireless sensing technology as a new scientific instrument for environmental sensing under extreme conditions in terms of temperature variations, humidity, mechanical forces, snow coverage as well as unattended operation that are needed for long-term deployment. This technology should integrate various sensing dimensions (such as pressure, humidity, crevice movements, high precision deformation and movements) in terms of sensing and processing and the idea is to extend the spatial scope from local (microscopic) measurements to large scale information derived from satellite radar remote sensing and fuse the resulting information to achieve an unparalleled degree of precision in space, time and accuracy. The new measurement technology developed can be used to advance applications in science and society: geophysical and climate-impact research as well as early warning against landslides and rock-fall.

Research and development of several advanced sensing technologies and their system-level integration via systems and software engineering lie at the core of the project. They include model-based design to ensure dependable operation in a highly resource-constraint setting, optimized use of harvested solar energy through energy-efficient algorithms and long-term reward maximization as well as multi-objective optimization of the multi-processor hardware platforms. Also crucial is research on advanced differential GPS sensing for high-precision movement detection and the development of sensor fusion algorithms combining different classes of sensors with high spatial granularity and satellite-scale X-ray images.

All these activities are guided by thorough geophysical modeling and simulation as well as by demands from early warning scenarios. The project has the clear objective to develop a technology demonstrator that integrates the new technologies into the application field.

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“ Anticipation of future environmental states and risk is improved by a systematic combination of environmental sensing and process modeling. ”

Prof. Lothar Thiele, ETHZ

PMD-ProgramThe development of microfluidic technology has revolutionized biological research thanks

to the fluid handling capabilities, integration and economies of scale it offers. Currently,

microfluidic devices are highly specialized components that require expert knowledge for

their design and fabrication. The application specificity of designs significantly increases the

cost of microfluidic technology and reduces its applicability.

This project develops a new class of generally applicable microfluidic devices that can be

reconfigured for different applications by means of software. These software-reconfigurable

devices would not require application-specific designs leading to a subsequent reduction in

cost. Conversely, the necessary programs and methods required for each application could

be easily distributed along with the devices or even developed by the end-user.

The devices build on the development of multilayer soft-lithography and microfluidic large-

scale integration that enable the fabrication of devices featuring a high-density of active

components at very low cost.

“ This next evolutionary step of microfluidic complexity will broaden the impact of microfluidics in a number of fields. ” Prof. Sebastian Maerkl, EPFL

PMD-ProgramA programmable, universally applicable, microfluidic device platform

Principal Investigator

Prof. Sebastian Maerkl, EPFL

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ULP-Logic

“ We are inventing computing with leakage currents. ” Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFL

The demand for implementing ultra-low power digital systems in many modern applications

such as mobile systems, sensor networks or implanted biomedical systems has made the

design of logic circuits in sub-threshold regime a very important challenge. The goal of this

project is the exploration of new methodologies for implementing ultra-low power digital

integrated systems. One of the main issues in design of ultra-low power CMOS digital

circuits is the leakage current due to sub-threshold conduction and gate-oxide tunneling.

The tight tradeoff among different device parameters makes the design of such systems in

advanced CMOS technologies a very difficult task.

To overcome these issues, a new circuit family is proposed, based on the source-coupled

differential topology. Using sub-threshold source-coupled logic (ST-SCL) circuits, it is possible

to reduce the stand-by current of each logic cell down to a few pico-amperes – equivalent

to about one single electron charge every 20 nanoseconds – resulting in extremely low

power dissipation levels that cannot be reached using conventional circuit topologies.

Experimental ST-SCL circuits have been shown to operate with an equivalent energy of

600 eV per operation. The ultimate objective of this work has been to develop a library

of digital and mixed-signal functional cells that can be used in various ultra-low power

applications.

ULP-LogicSub-threshold source-coupled logic (ST-SCL) circuits for ultra-low power applications


Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFL


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COMESDesigning advanced (most often, distributed) embedded systems interacting with the

physical world, such as the ones envisioned in the Nano-Tera.ch initiative, implies dealing

with extreme complexity – from modeling and simulation of the physical systems to

identification of optimal information collection and processing, from design and validation

of hardware to design and testing of software, etc. In general, such complexity would make

a real-world design and implementation actually unfeasible; identifying the approaches that

lead to feasibility while at the same time granting accuracy and robustness becomes the

main challenge.

The overall problem of complexity management for embedded systems is addressed in

this project, which consists of a sequence of coordinated actions of different types. The

educational program is composed of two 1-2 day workshops (respectively at the beginning

and at the end) and a school, lasting five days and revolving around a few key topics. This

aims at preparing a strong basis, considering different viewpoints and presenting challenges

and solutions of specific relevance to Nano-Tera.

“ Simple problems are not amusing: making complex problems simple is the best challenge! ”

Prof. Mariagiovanna Sami, USI


Prof. Mariagiovanna Sami, USI

Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, EPFL

COMESComplexity management in embedded systems

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“ Wearable computing: it’s about experiencing it!” Dr. Daniel Roggen, ETHZ

EducationalKitFrom a technical and scientific viewpoint, wearable computing is approaching a maturity

level where it can leave universities and enter the realm of industrial and consumer

applications. In order to keep a competitive advantage, it is important to educate future

engineers in this new technology. In the same way, university students choosing an academic

career need to think about the science behind next generation wearable systems. In a

broader sense, there is a need to make wearable computing more mainstream, outside of

academic and engineering circles, in order to enable deployment of wearable computing

driven by application scenarios.

In this project we develop an educational kit to support hands-on teaching of wearable

computing and the rapid prototyping and demonstration of simple context aware wearable

computing systems. This kit is composed of hardware, software and algorithmic bricks that

can be interfaced in a simple way using “plug-and-play” principles at the hardware and

software level. Applications and demonstrations can be programmed using a dedicated

development environment tailored for context-aware wearable computing applications.


Dr. Daniel Roggen, ETHZ

Dr. Dennis Majoe, ETHZ

EducationalKitEducation kit for wearable computing

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SWISS SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVE FOR ENGINEERING COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN HEALTH, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 47

TED-ActivitiesThe Nano-Tera program gathers scientists from different backgrounds – physics, chemistry,

biology, microtechnology, optics, etc – working on common projects in different fields:

sensors and actuators, signal processing, software, system architecture, application fields and

more. This leads to a large demand for cross-disciplinary education among the scientists,

which is being addressed by an internal workshops program. These events allow the

community to gain insight about the work of others and encourage interactions.

In order to ensure the success of the industrialization stage, there will be a need for transfer

of knowledge from the research institution to the industry: this is addressed by a large

continuous education program for engineers active in research and development or other

professionals.

Nano-Tera is pursuing scientific excellence in many technologies and in their integration into

systems. For students and researchers at Swiss and foreign universities and especially for

young researchers from the Nano-Tera community, condensed summer schools on specific

topics are planned.

“ Courses on advanced scientific topics must be considered as pioneer work with the objective to raise early adopters for a new technology. ” Philippe Fischer, FSRM


M.Sc. Philippe Fischer, FSRM

Prof. Nicolaas de Rooij, EPFL

TED-ActivitiesTraining, education and dissemination activities

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D43DThree-dimensional integration or vertical integration is a revolutionary paradigm that trades

off the increasingly difficult horizontal expansion with the vertical growth of integrated systems,

surpassing many of the limitations of the planar semiconductor substrate. These systems are

forecasted to provide unprecedented computational capabilities by enabling the symbiosis of

heterogeneous technologies within a single multi-plane system. Consequently, 3D integration

can host a multitude of products, ranging from traditional microprocessors to sophisticated

systems-on-chip and the evolving labs-on-chip. To efficiently and profitably realize these types

of systems, a plethora of interdisciplinary challenges need to be addressed at the technology,

system architectures and software application development levels.

This activity consists in the organization of a tutorial course on 3D integration designed to

highlight the important strides that have recently been achieved in this emerging research

field and introduce this potential technology to young researchers and students. It focuses

on specific issues related to vertical integration and includes world-wide renowned speakers

from both academia and industry in an effort to demonstrate the different approaches

and objectives of each community has in 3D systems. It is also a unique opportunity to

disseminate the research results and share the gained experience within the Nano-Tera.ch

CMOSAIC project.

“ The development of 3D integrated systems is a clear example of a system-level interdisciplinary effort that can have a profound impact in our society. ” Prof. David Atienza, EPFL


Prof. David Atienza, EPFL

Dr. Vasileios Pavlidis, EPFL

D43DManufacturing, design and thermal issues in 3D integrated systems

May 26 - 28, 2010

www.d43d.com


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Nano-Tera.ch events

PI meetingPrincipal investigators from the first wave of RTD projects as well as some invited Excom

members, and NTF and ED leaders gathered in October 2009 for their first meeting.

Annual meetingThe first Nano-Tera.ch annual meeting, assembling over 200 researchers involved in the

projects or from outside the community, is held on April 29th 2010.

CMOSAIC with a head start on public visibilityDespite the recent beginning of most research activities, Prof. John Thome’s CMOSAIC

project (▶ p. 08) is certainly the one which has been featured the most prominently in

the news so far. The development of 3D stacked architectures with interlayer cooling

and the partnership established between EPFL, ETHZ and IBM has allowed to generate

interest by the media, both in Switzerland and abroad. In the same context, Prof. David

Atienza of EPFL, also involved in CMOSAIC has won the best paper award at the 17th

annual IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Very Large Scale Integration.

Back row: Peter Ryser, Patrick Mayor, Yusuf Leblebici, Gerhard Tröster, Alex Dommann, Daniel Roggen, Sebastian Maerkl, Middle: Christian Schönenberger, Boi Faltings, Front row: Peter Bradley, Giovanni De Micheli, John Thome, Philippe Renaud, Ursula Keller, Christofer Hierold, Jérôme Faist, Jürgen Brugger.


The Interactive Community Portal of Nano-Tera.ch

An online community of knowledge platform revolving around the Nano-Tera area of

research has been developed on the initiative of Dr. Bradley, Executive Director. The

objective is to offer an open web-based sharing platform with complementary inside-out

and outside-in knowledge management perspectives as well as top-down and bottom-up

exchanges. This dynamic will steer general interest from various level of sources, from

internal and external players to the overall core research carried out within the program,

to its cutting edge expertise and to promising potential applications.

– Inside-out perspective: Each Nano-Tera.ch project has its own WikiPage. Every

collaborator involved in these projects can participate and share information such as

abstracts, news, didactic videos, and interesting results published. This is an opportunity

to gain larger exposure and trigger interest from peers and other parties.

– Outside-in perspective: General themes related to Nano-Tera have been identified to

expand the vision of the application potentials for each research field. A selection of

general information and news for each theme is being gathered and organized, and the

corresponding pages will grow accordingly. Through this approach, a different image of

the conducted research can be created and outlined for the benefit of the Nano-Tera

community and interested parties that may want to join.

Innovation and value for society often result from creating a bottom-up path which takes

advantage of the Nano-Tera.ch infrastructure and dynamic interaction in the melting pot

of ideas. The exchange of information between researchers at all levels as well as with

the outside world is paramount to catalyze output and visibility in the value chain from

research to product development. This interactive website is therefore made for the

community and by the community.

http://www.nano-tera.ch/topdownbottomup

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The ExecutiveCommittee.

The Management Office.

Prof. Giovanni De MicheliChair, EPFL

Dr. Peter BradleyExecutive Director

John MaxwellWebmaster

Léonore Golay-MiautonKnowledge Community Developer

Dr. Patrick MayorScientific Coordinatorand Reporter

Michèle TomsaAdministrative Assistantand Project Controller

Dr. Alex DommannCSEM

Prof. Nicolaas de RooijEPFL

Prof. Mehdi JazayeriUSI

Prof. Lothar ThieleETHZ

Prof. Boi Faltings EPFL

Prof. Christofer HieroldETHZ

Governing bodies

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Andrea CuomoSTMicro

Prof. Satoshi GotoWaseda University

Prof. Nick JenningsUniversity of Southampton

Prof. Teresa MengStanford University

Prof. Heinrich MeyrUniversity of Aachen

Prof. Khalil NajafiUniversity of Michigan

Prof. Calton PuGeorgia Tech

Prof. Lina SarroTU Delft

Prof. Göran StemmeRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

SNF evaluation panel for RTD Call ’08

Prof. Paul LeidererChairmanUniversity of Konstanz

Prof. Manfred BayerTU-Dortmund

Dr. David BishopBell Labs

Dr. Frederica DaremaNSF (USA)

Dr. Al DunlopIndustrial Consultant

Prof. Klaus EnsslinETHZ

Prof. George GielenLeuven University

Prof. Chih-Ming HoUCLA

Dr. Patrick HunzikerUni. Hospital Basel

Dr. Karl KnopSATW

Prof. Jeff MageeImperial College

Prof. Moira NorrieETHZ

Prof. Jürg OsterwalderUniversity of Zurich

Prof. Christopher RoseRutgers University

Prof. Rodney RuoffUniversity of Texas

Prof. Hubert van den BerghEPFL

Dr. Marco WielandInst. Straumann AG

Prof. Hiroto YasuuraKyushu University

SNF evaluation panel for RTD Call ’09

Prof. Paul LeidererChairmanUniversity of Konstanz

Dr. Amara AmaraInstitut Supérieur d’Electronique de Paris

Dr. Frederica DaremaNSF (USA)

Prof. Patrick DewildeTechnische Universität München

Dr. Urs DürigIBM Zürich

Prof. Klaus EnsslinETHZ

Prof. Rolf ErnstTechnische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig

Prof. George GielenLeuven University

Prof. Chih-Ming HoUCLA

Dr. Patrick HunzikerUni. Hospital Basel

Prof. Moira NorrieETHZ

Prof. Jan RabaeyUniversity of California Berkeley

Prof. Albert van den BergUniversity of Twente

Prof. Hubert van den BerghEPFL

Dr. Marco WielandNanopowers SA

Prof. Hiroto YasuuraKyushu University

The Steering Committee.

Prof. Patrick AebischerChairman and President of EPFL

Prof. Martine RahierPresident UniNE

Prof. Jean-Dominique VassalliRectorUniversity of Geneva

Dr. Mario El-KhouryCEOCSEM

Prof. Ralph EichlerPresidentETHZ

Prof. Antonio Loprieno PresidentUniBas

Prof. Piero MartinoliPresident USI


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Distribution of all 105 research groups comprising

54 NANO-TERA.CH

28 institutions in 35 locationsDistribution of all 105 research groups comprising

Leading house

EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne

Consortium institutions

CSEM Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology

EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne

ETHZ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

UniBas University of Basel

UniGE University of Geneva

UniNE University of Neuchâtel

USI University of Lugano

Other partners

ALP Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux

CePO Pluridisciplinary Oncology Center

CHUV University Hospital of Vaud

EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research

FHNW University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

FOEN Federal Office for the Environment

FSRM Swiss Foundation for Research in Microtechnology

GAMMA Gamma Remote Sensing

HES-SO University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland

IBM ZRL IBM Zurich Research Laboratory

Icare Icare Institute

IDQ id Quantique

IRB Institute for Research in Biomedicine

IST Institute for Work and Health

LICR Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

PSI Paul Scherrer Institute

SPZ Swiss Paraplegic Center

Symbios

UNIL University of Lausanne

USZ University Hospital of Zurich

UZH University of Zurich


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Consortium institutions Other partners

56 NANO-TERA.CH

Edition:Dr. Patrick MayorScientific Coordinator and Reporter+41 21 693 81 [email protected]

Graphic design:Wauner Smith

Portrait photographer:Alain Herzog

Contacts:Prof. Giovanni De MicheliProgram Leader+41 21 693 09 [email protected]

Dr. Peter BradleyExecutive Director+41 21 693 81 [email protected]

Visit our website: www.nano-tera.ch

Documents

NT 2nd edition web version