Kellian Cottart
is a doctoral student at C2N in France under the supervision of Damien Querlioz. His first thesis project is centered around developing new Bayesian algorithms for Deep Learning to mitigate catastophic forgetting with hardware constraints, building on the idea of probabilistic binary metaplastic synapses. With PhD candidate Guillaume Bernard, they are working towards spintronic nanodevices that would integrate said algorithms. Prior to pursuing his PhD, he completed a Master’s Degree in Data Science at Ecole Polytechnique and an Engineer’s Degree in Data Architecture at Ecole Centrale d’Electronique.
Karthik Charan
Raghunathan
is a PhD student at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI), University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, since November 2023. He holds a master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Groningen, which he earned in September 2023. He is interested in investigating the biological underpinnings of learning and memory with the goal of developing efficient bio-inspired continual learning algorithms for neuromorphic hardware.
Akshay Bedhotiya
is a doctoral student at FZJ under the supervision of Emre Neftci . He holds a Master’s Degree in Physics at University of Bonn, Germany and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Engineering Physics at IIT Bombay,India.
His work in this project involves developing the theory of metaplasticity in Binary Bayesian Networks and to use it to further improve existing algorithms of continual learning and their mapping to nano devices.
Alessandro Cataldo
holds a Bachelor’s (2021) and Master’s degree (2023) in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology from Politecnico di Milano (Italy). His Bachelor thesis focused on the formulation of reduced graphene oxide-based inks for sensor applications. For his Master’s thesis, he focused on the synthesis of 2D ultra-thin MoS2 layers using two chemical vapour deposition (CVD) furnaces and their characterization mainly through Raman spectroscopy. This work, complemented with additional data collected after the thesis discussion, has been finalized in a paper published in February 2024 in international scientific journal.
He is currently a PhD candidate in Materials Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems of the Research National Council of Italy, in the framework of the EU-EIC-Pathfinder METASPIN project. In this context, he is carrying out experimental activities focused on the engineering and optimisation of the growth of HfO2 thin films at temperatures < 200 °C via atomic layer deposition. Furthermore, he is conducting the characterization of the grown HfO2 films with several techniques, to retrieve details on thickness, roughness, density, (spectroscopy ellipsometry, X-ray reflectivity) structure (X-ray diffraction), chemistry (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry). He is also involved in the definition of stacks and simple devices for HfO2 electrical characterisation (C-V, I-V, breakdown).
Dr. Yanis Sassi
has been an R&D spintronic engineer at Spin-Ion Technologies since 2023, where he develops advanced ion irradiation processes to enhance the performance of MRAM, magnetic sensors, and neuromorphic computing technologies.
He earned a master’s degree in materials science from Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2019 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Paris Saclay in 2023. His doctoral research at the Laboratoire Albert Fert focused on spintronics, specifically the current-induced manipulation of skyrmions in magnetic multilayers. This work includes the growth of multilayers, the design of micrometer-sized devices, and their comprehensive characterization.
As part of the Metaspin project, Yanis Sassi aims to boost magneto-ionics by ion irradiation in materials with perpendicular anisotropy, including magnetic tunnel junctions, for applications in MRAM and neuromorphic computing.
Eleftherios Niapos
holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Master of Science in Materials Engineering from the University of Ioannina. Before joining the Metaspin project, he was engaged in the BeMAGIC – Magnetoelectrics Beyond 2020 academic-industrial interdisciplinary training program as a doctoral student. He also accumulated three years of experience in research and development, focusing on UV lithography at TTS, s.r.o. Currently, he is pursuing his doctoral studies at CEITEC under the supervision of Dr. Vojtěch Uhlíř.
In the Metaspin project, Eleftherios contributes by utilizing magneto-ionic gating to achieve control over magnetic domains in antiferromagnets and to manipulate the exchange bias effect.
Oleksii Zadorozhnii
is a third year PhD student at CEITEC Nano and is knowledgable in interactions between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials as well as antiferormagnets in general. He also works with ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase transition FeRh thin films. Oleksii has experience with PVD sample deposition techniques (thermal evaporation, magnetron sputtering, as well as chemical analysis techniques (EDX, XPS). He is also capable of preparing patterned samples using electron beam lithography technique.
Diane Gouéré
holds a Master’s degree from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, specialized in materials science and nano-objects (2019); and a PhD from Université Paris Saclay in condensed matter physics (2023). During her PhD thesis at the Albert Fert Laboratory in Saclay, Diane investigated ferrimagnetic materials for applications in spintronics and magnonics. She was particularly interested in ways of controlling magnetic anisotropy in ultrathin films and studying their properties.
Currently part of Spin Ion Technologies as a spintronics R&D engineer, her role in Metaspin is to exploit magneto-ionics and irradiation together to tailor anisotropy in perpendicularly magnetized materials such as magnetic tunnel junctions.