An important aspect of the management of the NFM unit is the promotion of an active policy of collaboration with other laboratories and researchers, both in Spain and in Europe in general. The Scientific director of the unit is the main responsible in promoting this collaborative work with other laboratories and researchers. We present here some specific data in terms of publications co-authored with researchers from other institutions, visits from other laboratories, etc., which clearly prove the importance of the collaborations in the general strategy of the unit. In this point, it is pertinent to comment that the selection of these external collaborations is usually guided by the principle of getting the maximum synergies towards new achievements and to maximize the research outputs. In some cases this external collaborations adopt the form of common projects with personnel from the two institutions, while in others simply implies the realization of a specific research works. These collaborations complete the own expertise and have given excellent results in various themes. The chart below summarizes some of the International and EU laboratories with which the unit has maintained collaborations during the last five years (no collaboration within EU projects or in the frame of the use of large facilities are included in this chart), as well as the specific topics of these collaborations. In Spain, there are more than twenty groups with which the NFM unit has maintained collaborations during the period. In most cases these collaborations have given rise to outstanding publications and other initiatives.
SELECTION OF COLLABORATING LABORATORIES
INTERNATIONAL:
Prof. K. Ostrikov (CSIRO and Queensland Univ. of Techn., Australia). Since 2010. Plasma nanotechnology; Organization of i-PlasmaNano Conference.
Prof. L. Martinu (Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada). Since 2015. Project Phobic2Ice
Prof. A. Dolatabadi (Concordia University, Canada). Since 2015. Project Phobic2Ice.
Dr. J. C. González (Universidad Técnica de Lima, Perú). Since 2014. Project i-Coop Light
Dr. W. de la Cruz-Hernández (Uni. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico). Since 2006. Optical Characterization. Visiting profesor.
Prof. Jung Ho Je (Pohang Univ. Sci. and Techn.). Since 2011. Partnership in projects ( i-Link 2013).
EUROPEAN:
Dr. S. Chromik (Inst. Elect. Engin. Slovak Academy of Sciences). Since 2016. Surface characterization of electronic films.
Dr. S. Riedel (University of Konstanz, Germany). Since 2016. Characterization of Ag nanoparticles.
Dr. F. Vaz and P. Carvalho (Univ. Minho, Portugal). Since 2005. Surface characterization of thin films.
Dr. S. Schaefer (Bosh gmbH, Germany). Period 2007-2013. Nanostructured Coatings for Tribology.
Dr. A. Patelli (VENETO NANOTECH, Italy). Since 2012. Tribology of PVD coatings
Dr. S. Konstantinidis (Univ. of Mons, Belgium). 2014-2015. Electron microcopy of coatings
Dr. C. Donnet (Univ. Jean Monnet, France). Since 2009. Microstructural and chemical characterisation of PLD coatings.
Prof. P. A. Midgely (University of Cambridge). Since 2010. TEM characterization. Partnership for EU calls.
Dr. Z. Saghi (CEA-Leti, France). Since 2010. TEM characterization.
Prof. L. De Cola (University of Grenoble, France). Since 2017. Mechanochromic nanowires.
Dr. S. lucas (Namur University). Since 2011. Partnership in ALNANOFUNC, co-supervision of students and postdocs.
Prof. A. Zuettel (EMPA-ETH and EPFL, Switzerland). Since 2000. Cosupervision of students and common projects (RTN-MSCA) in H2 technology.
Dr. S. Carvalho (Univ. Minho, Portugal). 2008-2015. Load-bearing biomedical coatings .
Dr. P. Groening (EMPA-ETH, Switzerland). Since 2007. Nanostructured thin films and nanostructures.
Prof. Sven Tougaard. Univ. South Denmark. Since 2000. Photoelectron and REELS analysis methods.
Dr. M Loeffel. TU Dresden. 2014-2016. FIB-SEM analysis of thin films.
