Scientific inauguration day for the Nanotech facility at ESPCI

Take part in the inauguration day for the Nanotech research hub, supported by the DIM MaTerRE, which will take place on 17 June 2026 from 9am to 4pm between ESPCI and IPGG (registration to follow).

On the programme:

• The opening event will provide an opportunity for speakers – researchers, lecturers and engineers – to showcase their research within the platform.
• It will also encourage colleagues from ESPCI-Paris PSL and other institutions to use the platform, with a view to initiating scientific and industrial collaborations.

About the Nanotech platform

The concept of the Nanotech platform was proposed to ESPCI as early as 2013 as a cross-disciplinary, multi-laboratory service dedicated to the development and, above all, the analysis of the structural and electronic properties of materials at the nanoscale. From the outset, the facility was conceived as a research service, with a focus on nanoscience training for researchers, engineers, students and continuing professional development.

Several funding bodies, such as the City of Paris, PSL, CNRS, the Île-de-France Region and numerous projects (DIM, SESAME, ANR, …) have supported the initiative; the renovation project for the Vauquelin Campus was designed to adapt the architecture and infrastructure to the needs of the new facility. However, it was only at the end of Phase 1 of the works that the Nanotech facility was able to move permanently into the new ESPCI building dedicated to research.

The new facility offers a unique range of equipment for creating nanostructures (several ultra-high vacuum deposition systems using molecular beams, electron beam sputtering or cathodic sputtering), shaping them (electron and UV laser lithography, micro-welders), analysing their structure (AFM, STM, SEM) and to explore their electronic properties (XPS, ARPES, PPMS, STM/STS/AFM under ultra-high vacuum and at low temperatures).

Very recently, thanks to the CPER PSL Résolution project and the support of the DIM Respore, the platform’s key component has been installed – a transmission electron microscope – enabling the study of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ materials. This new instrument offers features such as STEM, EDS and tomography. It is “the final piece of the puzzle” that completes the capabilities of the Nanotech platform.