The Department of Solid State Sciences offers several master thesis subjects every year. An overview of the topics for the academic year 2023-2024 is listed below. Click on a subject to see more details and don't hesitate to contact us if you have further questions. Some of the topics were highlighted by several of our PhD students, and you can watch their pitches (only in Dutch).

CoCooN

(conformal coatings for nanomaterials, surface modification, surface physics, nano-electronics en energy applications)

Gaining fundamental insight in Atomic Layer Deposition

• In situ measurement techniques for atomic layer deposition: a big data approach
• Monte Carlo modelling of gas transport and thin film deposition in complex structures

Materials for nano-electronics and sensors

• Atomic Layer Deposition of Cobalt for applications in the semiconductor industry
• Selector devices: key components in next-gen memory technology
• Atomic Layer Deposition for Tailoring Surface Properties on lab-on-a-chip devices
• Coatings with atomic precision for enabling the observation of Gravitational Waves

Materials for lithium-ion batteries for energy storage

• Investigation of high temperature processes in lithium-ion battery cathode materials using in situ X-ray diffraction
• Atomic Layer Deposition of functional coatings for Lithium-ion batteries
• Protection of lithium anodes by atomic layer deposition of metal oxides
• Thin film technology for on-chip batteries

Materials for electrolysis of hydrogen as sustainable energy carrier

• Atomic layer deposition of metal sulphides for energy applications
• Surface physics of electrodes for green hydrogen production

DiSC

(study of defects in semiconductors and research of paramagnetic defects in solids)

• Active Eu-centers in radiation dosimeter materials
• Defects in SiGe/Si heteroepitaxial layers for advanced nanosheet MOS transistors
• Perovskite wide band gap materials for tandem solar cell application

DRAFT

(surface physics and thin films)

• Data-driven computation and/or measurement to understand double hysteresis during reactive magnetron sputtering

DyNaMat

(dynamics of functional nanomaterials)

• Imaging of domain and domain wall dynamics in antiferromagnets
• A nanomagnetic realisation of a Brownian motor
• Classifying EEG data using a skyrmion reservoir computer
• Coercivity-size relation of magnetic nanoparticles
• Multiscale modelling of thermally active artificial spin ice
• Modeling the anomalous Hall effect in artificial spin ices

LumiLab

(luminescence, optical spectroscopy, photocatalysis and switchable materials)

• Identification of optically active trapping defects in persistent phosphors
• A post-plasma photocatalytic reactor for air purification
• Near-infrared emitting luminescent materials for multimodal medical diagnostics
• Self-sensing materials by luminescence
• Visual detection of internal defects in structures by a thermo-luminescent coating
• Cathodoluminescence in an electron microscope: the perfect research tool for UV emitting phosphors
• Quantifying light pollution in the wider Ghent area
• Small and sensitive: multiple protection strategies for light emitting quantum dots
• The road to glow-in-the-dark road markings
• Quantum mechanical view on ultrafast scintillators