What do we do?

The Materials Synthesis Laboratory develops modern material technologies in the form of layers based on Plasma Surface Engineering. The aim of the Laboratory is not only to learn about and understand the processes occurring on a nano- and micrometre scale, but above all to create innovative materials that will find application in the most demanding fields of science, technology and medicine.

The Laboratory uses advanced deposition techniques such as pulsed magnetron sputtering (PMS), gas injection magnetron sputtering (GIMS) and arc deposition (Arc-PVD). It has several research stations for each of these methods, which enables parallel and complementary technological research.

An important part of the infrastructure are two RPI-IBIS plasma rod accelerators. These devices are used to generate high-energy plasma pulses, which are used both in research on the interaction of plasma with materials and in the synthesis and modification of layers with unique properties.

This allows for comprehensive synthesis and characterisation of materials, including:

• development of technologies enabling the production of metallic layers,
• synthesis of high entropy materials (HEA)
• synthesis of nitrides (Cu–N, Sn–N, Ni–N), oxides (e.g. Ti–O, Al–O, Zn–O) and metastable alloys (Cu-Fe, , Ge–Sn,
• analysis of the structure, chemical composition and physical properties of the coatings produced as a function of the synthesis parameters.

The solutions used in the Laboratory enable the deposition of layers on various types and shapes of substrates:

• metallic,
• ceramic,
• polymeric (also with a low melting point ~ 50 °C).

Modern materials developed in the Laboratory are used in:

• electronics and optoelectronics (e.g. Ge-Sn, Cu-N, oxides, nitrides ),
• acceleration structures,
• energy and biomedicine (HEA coatings resistant to corrosion and wear, with osteointegrative and antibacterial properties),
• space and nuclear technologies (materials resistant to radiation and extreme conditions).

 The Materials Synthesis Laboratory cooperates with research centres in Poland and abroad, including:

• Warsaw University of Technology and Silesian University of Technology, Bydgoszcz University of Technology, IFPAN,
• HZDR (Germany),
• Sumy State University (Ukraine),
• the National Scientific Centre ‘Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology’ and the Institute of Plasma Physics (Ukraine).

Thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of its research and international cooperation, the Laboratory Team is able not only to design and manufacture materials and study their structure and chemical composition, but also to conduct detailed analyses of the mechanical, optical, electrical and biomedical properties of the layers obtained.