PROFILE

Dr. Francesca Brunetti received her Degree in Engineering "cum laude" from The University of Rome (Italy) Tor Vergata in 2001. In 2004 Dr. Francesca Brunetti obtained her PhD in Microelectronics and Telecommunications at the Electronic Engineering Department, University of Rome - Tor Vergata, Italy discussing a PhD thesis with the title "Design, realization and characterization of organic transistors".
In 2005 she got a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships on the "Realization and characterization of flexible arrays of photodetectors" supervised by Prof P. Lugli Technical University of Munich.
Since 2006 she is researcher in the Optoelectronics Group of Prof. Aldo Di Carlo in the Department of Engineering of Tor Vergata.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Dr. Francesca Brunetti has developed a broad and multidisciplinary experience in analysis, design and manufacture of electronic and optoelectronic devices through the use of nanomaterials and organic semiconductors.
From 2004 she has been working with devices using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for applications in electronics and sensors.
In this context, using CNTs she has designed and realized cold cathodes for electron guns operating at THz frequencies and nano-vacuum triodes operating at GHz.
She studied organic materials such as PEDOT: PSS and polyaniline individually and in combination with CNTs deposited on flexible substrates in order to assess the conduction characteristics and their possibility to be used as piezoresistive sensors.
She also carried out an optimization study of nanofabrication processes based on the use of nanoimprint lithography and on techniques for the patterning and the electrochemical growth the realization of metallic nanowires.
She has studied and realized transistors hybrid / organic and fully organic on flexible substrates that have been used most recently for the realization of tactile sensors. This activity was supported by the project MIUR - PRIN2007 "Fabrication and modeling of an array of tactile sensors".
Within the reality of CHOSE (the Center for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy of Regione Lazio, www.chose.it), Dr. Brunetti is doing a research on the use of nano-structured organic materials for the construction of photovoltaic devices and organic bulk-heterojunction type. In particular, attention is focused on organic photodetectors for applications in low cost optical communications and third-generation organic solar cells on flexible substrates.

TEACHING

Dr. Francesca Brunetti taught laboratory optical communications (2007-2008), starting from 2008-2009 she holds the course of optoelectronics lab and the course of optoelectronics for telecommunications. She has supervised 6 bachelor, 7 master thesis and a PhD thesis.

She taught all'ITSS-International Travelling Summer School on Microwaves and Lightwaves 2008 to 2010 and ISOPHOS-International School on Organic Photovoltaics 2010 and 2012.

PROJECTS

Dr. Francesca Brunetti took part in several national and international projects, she has been responsible for the research unit of Tor Vergata in PRIN-2007 "Fabrication and modeling of an array of tactile sensors" and she was co-responsible with the prof. Aldo Di Carlo of the European project OPTHER "Optically driven THz amplifier" for which Tor Vergata was coordinator.
She is the coordinator of the European project n.309201 Go-NEXTs ("Graphene doping and texturing in efficient electrodes for organic solar cells").

PUBLICATIONS

More than 40 among papers (some with a high citation index) and conference proceedings, 4 patents.
About 20 oral presentations at the conferences.