Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

Biography

Auciello graduated with M.S. (1973) and Ph.D (1976) degrees in Physics from the Physics Institute “Dr. Balseiro” (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina). Electronic Engineering at the University of Córdoba-Argentina (1964-1970). Auciello was Potdoc at MacMaster University-Canada (1976-1979), Researcher at the University of Toronto-Canada (1979-1984), Associate Professor at North Carolina State University (1985-1988), Senior Research Scientist at the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (1988-1996), Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (1996-2005), and Distinguished Argonne Fellow (2005-2012). He is an Adjunct Professor at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Michigan State University.Auciello is directing basic and applied research programs on different fields, involving multi-component/multifunctional oxide thin films and application to systems and devices (ferroelectric memories, resistive change memories, nanoscale CMOS devices, photovoltaic energy generation / storage devices, high-frequency devices, piezoelectric thin films for MEMS/NEMS sensors and actuators); and nanocarbon thin films (ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) and graphene films) and applications to industrial, electronics, MEMS/NEMS, and implantable medical devices). The UNCD film technology is now commercialized for industrial components and systems by Advanced Diamond Technologies (ADT), a Company founded by Auciello and Carlisle, spun-off from Argonne in 2003 (Profitable in 2014), and by Original Biomedical Implants (OBI-USA), a Company founded by Auciello and Gurman (MD) in 2013, for and OBI-Mexico (company co-founded by O. Auciello and J.L. Rubio (Mexico), January 2016) commercializing a new generation of UNCD-coated implantable medical devices and medical treatments based on nanotechnology.Auciello has edited 20 books on various topics, published about 500 articles in the fields described above, holds 20 patents, and organized, chaired, and lectured at numerous national and international conferences. He is associate editor of Appl. Phys. Lett., Integrated Ferroelectrics, and editor of two book series on thin films and applications to devices (Academic Press). He was member the Materials Research Society (MRS) Board of Directors (2000-2003), Co-Chair MRS International Relations Committee, Vice President of the MRS in 2012, President in 2013, and Past President in 2014. He has numerous Awards, including seven R&D 100 Awards, 2003 Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Award, 2006 Federation of National Laboratories Award, 2008 University of Chicago Distinguished Performance Award, Dr. “Honoris Causa”-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-Argentina, and Fellow of the AAAS and MRS.

Research Interest

Science and technology of complex oxide thin films and application to key technologies: • Novel TiO2/Al2O3 superlattices, exhibiting giant dielectric constant (up to k=1000), low leakage current (10-7-10-9 A/cm2) and low losses (≤ tangδ = 0.04), based on new physics underlined by the Maxwell-Wagner relaxation mechanism, which enables a new generation of microchip embedded capacitors for microchips implantable in the human body, the next generation of gates for nanoscale CMOS devices, and super-capacitors for energy storage systems. • Novel BiFeO3/SrTiO3/ BiFeO3 nanolaminates (BSB-NL) have recently been shown to exhibit two orders of magnitude lower leakage current than stochiometric BFO layers, i.e., from 10-5 A/cm2 to 10-7 A/cm2. The BSB-NL also shows very high piezoelectric response, which is ~ 5 times higher than that of the pure BFO with the same thickness. The strained state of the BFO layers concurrently with the chemical and crystallographic state of the interfaces between the BFO and STO layers contribute to the very high values of piezoresponse and very low leakage current observed in the BSB-NLs. BSB-NL are being integrated with the ultrananoacrystalline diamond (UNCD) films described below to develop a new generation of implantable biosensors and piezo-actuated MEMS drug delivery devices.