Scientists at the MPIE

High-performance nanostructured thin films – their fabrication, characterization and engineering are the object of the new research group of Dr. Matteo Ghidelli. He is head of the group “Thin Films & Nanostructured Materials” in the department “Structure and Nano-/Micromechanics of Materials”. Ghidelli joined the MPIE in November 2018, after being postdoctoral researcher at the University of Roma Tre and the Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

“Working at the MPIE gives me the chance to collaborate easily with the in-house groups specialized on characterization and mechanical testing of sub-micrometer scale materials. Thus, it is possible to develop nanoarchitectured materials with advanced mechanical properties, which for example combine a high yield strength and high elasto-plastic deformations.”, explains Ghidelli. His group mainly exploits physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques including DC/RF magnetron sputtering, electron beam evaporation and molecular beam epitaxy to synthetize novel nanostructured thin films, while post-thermal annealing treatments are carried out to further tune film microstructure.  . Currently, four main projects are being followed:

A project on the synthesis of novel thin film metallic glasses Zr-TL (late transition metal TL=Ni, Cu, Co) with controlled thickness, composition and morphology, while investigating the main mechanical properties and focusing on the nanometer scale deformation mechanisms.

A project focused on dewetting of noble metal alloy and thin films aimed to investigate the nanoscale dewetting mechanisms as well as to reduce the amount of noble metal  elements,. This is especially interesting for catalytic processes.

A project dealing with the measurement of electrical proprieties of grain boundaries in metallic alloys and thin films. The impact of this project relies on an in-depth understanding of the grain boundaries structure with several applications in the field of metallurgy and novel engineered metallic materials and films.

And a project on thin films high entropy alloy with the aim to synthetize nanostructured thin films with enhanced mechanical and thermal properties benefiting of the atomic complexity and engineered microstructure.

Possible applications of Ghidelli’s research are mainly in the aerospace and energy industry, in microelectronics (i.e. micro-electro-mechanical systems, MEMS), as well as in the field of catalysis.

Selected Publications:

1. J. Ast, M. Ghidelli, K. Durst, M. Goeken, M. Sebastiani, A.M. Korsunsky: A review of experimental approaches to fracture toughness evaluation at the micro-scale. Materials & Design 173, (2019) 107762.
2. M. Ghidelli, M. Sebastiani, K. E. Johanns, G. M. Pharr: Effects of indenter geometry on micro-scale fracture toughness measurement by pillar splitting: Journal of the American Ceramic Society 100 (2017) 5731.
3. M. Ghidelli, H. Idrissi, S. Gravier, J.-J. Blandin, D. Schryvers, J.-P. Raskin, T. Pardoen: Homogeneous flow and size dependent mechanical behaviour in highly ductile Zr₆₅Ni₃₅ metallic glass films. Acta Mater131 (2017) 246.