The Thin Films and Interfaces Group

Yi Hu

Thin films are nowadays utilized in many applications, ranging from semiconductor devices to optical coatings and are even present in pharmaceuticals (polymers). This wide-spread application of films with thicknesses from atomic monolayers to microns is due to the developments of thin film deposition techniques. Thin films are also important for studies of materials with new and unique properties due to the possibility of tuning their crystallographic and morphological properties. The thin film approach, i.e. the presence of interfaces (to a substrate or the film surface) adds more degrees of freedom for influencing the properties of materials, e.g. by lattice strain or surface functionalization. For these fundamental studies of material properties large research facilities such as synchrotron radiation or neutron spallation sources are one of the keys that the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) provides.

Interfaces
More about us
CoLab Award

ETH CoLab Award for Mohammadhossein Montazerian

Mohammadhossein Montazerian was part of the winning team to secure an ETH CoLab Award. It is an award to help entrepreneurial research to make a first step towards business.  

Mohammadhossein Montazerian

E-MRS 2025 Spring Meeting Young Researcher Award for Mohammadhossein Montazerian

During its recent spring meeting the European Materials Research Society has awarded the E-MRS Young Researcher Award to Mohammadhossein Montazerian from the LMX laboratory in recognition of his "Outstanding contribution to the Symposium L: Solid state batteries - materials, processing and advanced characterization".

TL_Chichkov

Julius Springer Price 2024

Prof. Thomas Lippert, Editor in Chief at Applied Physics A, awards Prof. Boris Chichkov the 2024 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics. 

See all News
ablation etc

 

TFI Meeting  
Date:  Monday 9 February 2026, 16:00  
Title:   Point Defects in MBE-Grown ABO3 Perovskite Thin Films: Identification and Quantification   
Guest Speakers:  Prof. Dr. Roger De Souza, RWTH Aachen University  
Room:   OFLG/402  
 

LMX Meeting  
Date:  Thursday 12 February 2026, 13:00  
Title: TBA
Speaker:   Stephane Nilsson  
Room:   OSGA/EG6b  
 

 

TFI Literature Meeting  
Date:   Monday 16 February 2026, 16:00  
Speaker:     Alexander Steppke  
Room:    OFLG/401  
 

TFI Meeting  
Date:  Monday 9 March 2026, 16:00  
Title:   TBA  
Speakers:  Kyle Stephens  
Room:   OFLG/402  
 

LMX Meeting  
Date:  Tuesday 10 March 2026, 13:00  
Title: TBA& nbsp;
Speaker:   Mohammad Hossein Montazerian, Public PhD Presentation  
Room:   OFLG/402  
 

TFI Literature Meeting  
Date:   Monday 23 March 2026, 16:00  
Speaker:     Khatereh Roohi  
Room:    OFLG/401  
 

TFI Meeting  
Date:  Monday 30 March 2026, 16:00  
Title:   TBA  
Guest Speaker:  Prof. Dr. Laura Bégon-Lours, ETH Zurich  
Room:   OFLG/402  
 

All Seminars

September 2024

iWOE-30 2024 

International Workshop on Oxide Electronics
September 29.-2.October 2024 , Darmstadt, Germany
More Information

August 2024

International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2024 

Aug. 17-23, 2024
Melbourne, Australia
More Information will be provided here

All Conferences
Highlights_2
Zahra_2026
•Energy and Climate

Characterization of Stable NiOx/ SrTaOxNy Bilayers Boosting the Oxygen Evolution Reaction for Solar Water Splitting

Renewable Energies SINQ

SrTaOxNy (STON) is a well-known visible light-responsive semiconductor with ideally located band edges that allow the operability of overall water splitting. Like many oxynitrides, STON shows evidence of detrimental physicochemical changes under oxygen evolution reaction (OER) conditions involving strong caustic electrolytes. ...

Khasanov et al
•Large research facilities

Oxygen-isotope effect on the density wave transitions in La3⁢Ni2⁢O7

SμS

The isotope effect is a powerful probe of electron-phonon interactions in solid-state systems, offering key insights into how atomic mass influences emergent quantum states. Here, the impact of oxygen-isotope substitution (16O→18O) on charge- and spin-density wave (CDW and SDW) transitions in the double-layer Ruddlesden-Popper nickelate La3⁢Ni2⁢O7 is investigated ...

Khasanov et al
•Large research facilities

Pressure and oxygen-isotope substitution on density-wave transitions in La4⁢Ni3⁢O10

SμS SINQ

Understanding the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in nickelate systems is a key objective in condensed matter physics. Gaining microscopic insights into magnetism—particularly as it emerges near superconductivity—requires a synergistic approach that combines complementary experimental techniques with controlled tuning of external parameters. In this paper, we present ...

See all Scientific Highlights
TL_Ishihara

Special interview with Prof. Thomas Lippert and Prof. Tatsumi Ishihara

Special interview with Prof. Thomas Lippert (PSI and Principle Investigator at I2CNER, Kyushu University) and Prof. Tatsumi Ishihara (Associate Director I2CNER, Kyushu University) on Current and Future Energy Research and Development in Europe: Perspectives from Switzerland, Germany and Japan. The interview is being published in the August 2017 issue of the Energy Outlook of the International Institut for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, I2CNER.

Student projects at the Thin Films and Interfaces Group

Most of the time we have student projects related to the work we do. Just talk to us if you are interested in something we are working on not advertised on our pages.

Currently, we are looking for a Semester or Master Student on the topic of ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs).

If anyone is interested, please contact Prof. Dr. Thomas Lippert (thomas.lippert@psi.ch) or Dr Nikita Shepelin (nikita.shepelin@psi.ch).

PhD projects at the Thin Films and Interfaces Group

At present, we have no open PhD positions available. Other open positions are always published on the PSI Open Positions page.

Think_twice
Zahra STON

Characterization of Stable NiOx/SrTaOxNy Bilayers Boosting the Oxygen Evolution Reaction for Solar Water Splitting

Zahra Pourmand Tehrani, Kyle J. Stephens, Vladimir Roddatis, Jochen Stahn, Aleksandar Staykov, Christof W. Schneider, Daniele Pergolesi, and Thomas Lippert

SrTaOxNy (STON) is a well-known visible light-responsive semiconductor with ideally located band edges that allow the operability of overall water splitting. Like many oxynitrides, STON shows evidence of detrimental physicochemical changes under oxygen evolution reaction (OER) conditions involving strong caustic electrolytes. We investigate the development of STON instability with detailed electron microscopy and neutron reflectometry (NR) techniques using epitaxial thin films. Different crystallographic orientations are compared with ex situ analysis before and after OER in photoelectrochemical testing. A remarkable difference in stability of the STON surface is observed depending on the crystalline facets, with the [011] lattice planes being the more favorable orientation as compared to [001]. In addition, we show that the electrochemical stability of the photoelectrode surface can be dramatically improved by a homogeneous coating of NiOx, which significantly improves OER kinetics and surface stability in the alkaline environment. NR is realized in this work as a novel route to monitor this photoelectrochemical environment, and it lies in agreement with its microscopy counterpart to monitor the physicochemical changes. This demonstrates potential of NR as an alternative and complementary tool that also has the feasibility for future in situ experimental design.

Small Science2026, 6, e202500638

Weiterlesen

Thin Films and Interfaces Group 
Paul Scherrer Institute PSI
5232 Villigen PSI 
Switzerland