Skip to main content
  • Paul Scherrer Institut PSI
  • PSI Research, Labs & User Services

Digital User Office

  • Digital User Office
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)
Search
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)

Hauptnavigation

  • Our ResearchOpen mainmenu item
    • Current topics from our research
    • Future Technologies
    • Energy and Climate
    • Health Innovation
    • Fundamentals of Nature
    • Large Research Facilities
    • Brochures
    • 5232 — The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute
    • Research Divisions & Labs (only english)
  • IndustryOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Technology Transfer
    • Expertise
    • Spin-off Companies
    • Park Innovaare
  • Proton TherapyOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Physician & Patient Information
  • CareerOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Job Opportunities
    • Working at PSI
    • Personnel Policy
    • Equal Opportunities, Diversity & Inclusion
    • Training and Further Education
    • Vocational Training
    • PSI Education Centre
    • Career Center
    • Support Program "PSI Career Return Program"
    • PSI-FELLOW/COFUND
  • Visit to PSIOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Visitor Centre psi forum
    • Schülerlabor iLab
    • Public Events
    • How to find us
  • About PSIOpen mainmenu item
    • PSI in brief
    • Strategy
    • Guiding principles
    • Facts and figures
    • Organisational structure
    • For the media
    • Suppliers and customers
    • Customers E-Billing
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR

Digital User Office (mobile)

  • Digital User Office

You are here:

  1. PSI Home
  2. Our Research
  3. Current topics from our research
  4. Micro- and Nanotechnology

Secondary navigation

Our Research

  • Current topics from our research Expanded submenu item
    • Future Technologies
    • Energy and Climate
    • Health Innovation
    • Fundamentals of Nature
    • ESI Platform
    • Large research facilities
    • Project SLS 2.0
    • Topic Overview
    • Archive
  • 5232 – The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute
    • Contact
  • Brochures
  • Films
    • Virtual Tour
  • Social Media
    • PSI Community Guidelines
  • Media corner
    • Media Releases

Micro- and Nanotechnology

25 May 2022
Kirsten Moselund

“If you’re in a certain position, you should step forward”

Materials Research Industrial co-operation Micro- and Nanotechnology Quantum Research

Kirsten Moselund heads the new Laboratory for Nano and Quantum Technologies. In this interview she discusses quantum research at PSI and how nanophotonics can assist with this.

Read more
2 July 2020
Solar Orbiter

To the sun and beyond

Micro- and Nanotechnology

PSI takes part in space research projects. This not only expands knowledge about our astronomical home, but also reinforces Switzerland's reputation as a reliable developer of sophisticated space equipment.

Read more
15 February 2019

Watching electrons and switching bits on

Micro- and Nanotechnology Energy and Climate Future Technologies Materials Research Industrial co-operation Research Using Synchrotron Light Research Using Neutrons

Electronics should get smaller, faster, and above all more energy-efficient. These themes are also present in several research groups at PSI. From incremental improvements to complete rethinking – who is currently working on what?

Read more
21 December 2017

Power from nanomagnets

Media Releases Industrial co-operation Future Technologies Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology

Oles Sendetskyi, winner of a Founder Fellowship at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, wants to use polarity reversal in nanomagnets to develop a sustainable power source for small devices.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
16 March 2017

3-D X-ray imaging makes the finest details of a computer chip visible

Media Releases Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology Future Technologies Research Using Synchrotron Light

Researchers at the PSI have made detailed 3-D X-ray images of a commercially available computer chip. In their experiment, they examined a small piece that they had cut out of the chip beforehand. This sample remained undamaged throughout the measurement. It is a major challenge for manufacturers to determine if, in the end, the structure of their chips conforms to the specifications. Thus these results represent one important application of an X-ray tomography method that the PSI researchers have been developing for several years.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
5 January 2017

Nanotechnology enables new insights into chemical reactions

Media Releases Energy and Climate Research Using Synchrotron Light Micro- and Nanotechnology

Eighty percent of all products of the chemical industry are manufactured with catalytic processes. Catalysis is also indispensable in energy conversion and treatment of exhaust gases. Industry is always testing new substances and arrangements that could lead to new and better catalytic processes. Researchers of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI in Villigen and ETH Zurich have now developed a method for improving the precision of such experiments, which may speed up the search for optimal solutions.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
11 February 2016

A micrometer-sized model of the Matterhorn

Media Releases Future Technologies Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have produced large numbers of detailed models of the Matterhorn, each one less than a tenth of a millimetre in size. With this, they demonstrated how 3-D objects so delicate could be mass-produced. Materials whose surface is covered with a pattern of such tiny 3-D structures often have special properties, which could for example help to reduce the wear and tear of machine parts.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
21 September 2015

Tiny magnets mimic steam, water and ice

Media Releases Materials Research Future Technologies Research with muons Micro- and Nanotechnology

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) created a synthetic material out of 1 billion tiny magnets. Astonishingly, it now appears that the magnetic properties of this so-called metamaterial change with the temperature, so that it can take on different states; just like water has a gaseous, liquid and a solid state.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
2 July 2015
teaser picture

Seven nanometres for the electronics of the future

Micro- and Nanotechnology Materials Research Future Technologies Research Using Synchrotron Light

Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute have succeeded in creating regular patterns in a semiconductor material that are sixteen times smaller than in today’s computer chips. As a result, they have taken an important step closer towards even smaller computer components. Industry envisages structures on this scale as the standard for the year 2028.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
13 May 2015
teaserbild.jpg

Research geared towards the future

Research Using Synchrotron Light Large Research Facilities Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology SwissFEL

Interview with Gabriel AeppliGabriel Aeppli has been head of synchrotron radiation and nanotechnology research at PSI since 2014. Previously, the Swiss-born scientist set up a leading research centre for nanotechnology in London. In this interview, Aeppli explains how the research approaches of the future can be implemented at PSI's large research facilities and talks about his view of Switzerland.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
24 March 2015
teaser.jpg

Split x-ray flash shows rapid processes

Large Research Facilities SwissFEL Micro- and Nanotechnology

SwissFEL, PSI’s x-ray laser, is to render the individual steps of very rapid processes visible. A new method will facilitate especially precise experiments: the individual x-ray flashes are split into several parts that arrive at the object under examination one by one. The principle of the method harks back to the ideas of the earliest high-speed photography.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
20 March 2015

Nanometres in 3D

Media Releases Future Technologies Research Using Synchrotron Light Micro- and Nanotechnology

Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich have created 3D images of tiny objects showing details down to 25 nanometres. In addition to the shape, the scientists determined how particular chemical elements were distributed in their sample and whether these elements were in a chemical compound or in their pure state.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
19 January 2015
teaserbild.jpg

New laser for computer chips

Media Releases Future Technologies Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology

Germanium-Zinn-Halbleiterlaser lässt sich direkt auf Siliziumchips aufbringenWinzige Laser, die in Computerchips aus Silizium eingebaut werden, sollen in Zukunft die Kommunikation innerhalb der Chips und zwischen verschiedenen Bauteilen eines Computers beschleunigen. Lange suchten Experten nach einem dafür geeigneten Lasermaterial, das sich mit dem Fertigungsprozess von Siliziumchips vereinbaren lässt. Wissenschaftler des Forschungszentrums Jülich und des Paul Scherrer Instituts PSI haben hier nun einen wichtigen Fortschritt erzielt.This news release is only available in German.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
1 July 2013

The cleanest place at the Paul Scherrer Institute

Future Technologies Micro- and Nanotechnology

Highly sensitive processes take place in the cleanrooms of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) as a single dust particle in the wrong place could have disastrous consequences. Here is a glimpse behind the scenes in rooms that are so clean even pencils are prohibited.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
22 April 2013
teaserbild.jpg

Germanium – zum Leuchten gezogen

Media Releases Future Technologies Micro- and Nanotechnology Materials Research

Forscher des PSI und der ETH Zürich haben mit Kollegen vom Politecnico di Milano in der aktuellen Ausgabe der wissenschaftlichen Fachzeitschrift "Nature Photonics" eine Methode erarbeitet, einen Laser zu entwickeln, der schon bald in den neuesten Computern eingesetzt werden könnte. Damit könnte die Geschwindigkeit, mit der einzelne Prozessorkerne im Chip miteinander kommunizieren, drastisch erhöht werden. So würde die Leistung der Rechner weiter steigen.This news release is only available in German.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
31 January 2013
teaserbild.jpg

Magnetic nano-chessboard puts itself together

Media Releases Micro- and Nanotechnology Materials Research Future Technologies Research Using Synchrotron Light

Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research have been able to intentionally ‘switch off’ the magnetization of every second molecule in an array of magnetized molecules and thereby create a ‘magnetic nano-chessboard’. To achieve this, they manipulated the quantum state of a part of the molecules in a specific way.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
2 October 2012

Silicon – Close to the Breaking Point

Media Releases Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology Future Technologies

Stretching a layer of silicon can lead to internal mechanical strain which can considerably improve the electronic properties of the material. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute and the ETH Zurich have created a new process from a layer of silicon to fabricate extremely highly strained nanowires in a silicon substrate. The researchers report the highest-ever mechanical stress obtained in a material that can serve as the basis for electronic components. The long term goal aim is to produce high-performance and low-power transistors for microprocessors based on such wires.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
10 September 2012

Built-in Germanium Lasers could make Computer Chips faster

Media Releases Materials Research Micro- and Nanotechnology Future Technologies

Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) researchers have investigated the mechanisms necessary for enabling the semiconductor Germanium to emit laser light. As a laser material, Germanium together with Silicon could form the basis for innovative computer chips in which information would be transferred partially in the form of light. This technology would revolutionise data streaming within chips and give a boost to the performance of electronics.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
11 July 2012

Ultra-short X-ray laser pulses precisely surveyed for the first time

Media Releases Large Research Facilities SwissFEL Micro- and Nanotechnology

X-ray lasers are modern light sources from which scientists expect to obtain new knowledge about the structure and function of materials at the atomic level. The scientific value of an X-ray laser stands or falls on the quality of the ultra-short X-ray pulses it produces and which researchers use to illuminate their samples. An international team led by scientists from the Paul Scherer Institute, PSI, has now precisely measured these pulses

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
7 September 2011
teaserbild.jpg

Diamanten sind auch des Forschers bester Freund

Media Releases Large Research Facilities SwissFEL Micro- and Nanotechnology

Einem vom PSI geleiteten Forscherteam ist es gelungen, harte Röntgenlaserstrahlung 100'000-fach zu konzentrieren und so an einem Punkt Röntgenstrahlung zu erzeugen, die so intensiv war wie wohl nirgends zuvor. Als Linsen verwendeten die Forscher winzige Ringstrukturen aus Diamant à dem Material, das am besten dem Röntgenlaserlicht standhält. Diese Entwicklung schafft die Voraussetzung für einen Teil der Experimente am SwissFEL, dem geplanten Röntgenlaser des PSI.This news release is only available in German.

Read more
This is a text from the PSI media archive. The contents may be out-of-date.
  • 1
  • 2
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »
Topic Overview

Sidebar

01/2023

5232 — The magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute

01/2023
View in issuu.com
Download
Subscribe to our magazine

Follow PSI

 Twitter
 LinkedIn
 Youtube
 Facebook
 Instagram

All social media channels


Visitor Centre psi forum

Experience research live


The iLab School Laboratory

Experience Science - Explore Research

top

Footer

Paul Scherrer Institut

Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Telephone: +41 56 310 21 11
Telefax: +41 56 310 21 99

How to find us
Contact

Visitor Centre psi forum
School Lab iLab (in German)
Center for Proton Therapy
PSI Education Centre
PSI Guest House
PSI Gastronomie (in German)
psi forum shop

Service & Support

  • Phone Book
  • User Office
  • Accelerator Status
  • PSI Publications
  • Suppliers
  • E-Billing
  • Computing
  • Safety (in German)

Career

  • Working at PSI
  • Job Opportunities
  • Training and further education
  • Career Center
  • Vocational Training (in German)
  • PSI Education Center

For the media

  • PSI in brief
  • Facts and Figures
  • Media corner
  • Media Releases
  • Social Media

Follow us: Twitter (in English) LinkedIn Youtube Facebook Instagram Issuu RSS

Footer legal

  • Imprint
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Editors' login