BESLAND Marie-Paule

Categories: RESEARCHER, TEAM PCM

CNRS Research Director

Functions :

CNRS Research Director in section 08 (former section)
Oct. 2019 – Assistant to the Scientific Director (ADSR), Limousin-Poitou and La Rochelle sites
Oct. 1988 Recruited as CR2 CNRS Ecole Centrale de Lyon

Qualifications :

2008 Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches – University of Nantes (January 20, 2008): “Thin Film Materials by Plasma Processes”.
1989 Doctorate Montpellier University – Materials Science (April 13, 1989)
1985 ENSCM Engineer (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier) (June 1985) – Materials Chemistry option and DEA in Materials Science
1983 Master’s degree in Chemistry – Nantes University

Expertises :

Plasma-assisted thin-film materials (PEPVD, PECVD),
Process-material correlations,
Dielectric materials, binary, ternary and quaternary oxides, chalcogenides, nitrides, oxynitrides,
Interfaces, Devices for Microelectronics, Energy, Photocatalysis,
Structural and physico-chemical characterization (XPS, AFM)

Main research themes:

When I joined the CNRS (1988), my project was to optimize the SiO2/InP interface, so I developed (1988-1996) the Passivation of III-V materials: surface treatments, oxidation and nitridation by plasma, then deposition of dielectrics (SiO2 and SiNx) by cold plasma PECVD-ECR processes (1988-2000). In parallel (2000-2003), I set up an ICP etching reactor to etch element III nitrides (III-N) using chlorine chemistry.

AlN for thermal management: initiated in 2005 with M.A. Djouadi (IMN) as part of a CIFRE thesis with Thales III-V Lab (S. Delage, C. Brylinski), the aim was to produce thin layers of AlN, a good thermal conductor for microwave power transistors, GaN-based piezoelectric HEMTs (GaN HEMTs), to ensure thermal management and primary passivation (diffusion barrier and evacuation of heat generated during operation). In the course of two theses (C. Duquenne-2008 (CIFRE Thales); B. Abdallah-2009 (Syrian government)), AlN deposition and thermal properties were optimized. In collaboration with CRHEA (Sophia Antipolis), AlN epitaxy on AlGaN and AlN has been demonstrated (MBE-CRHEA substrates). (2005-2012)

Complex oxides by Magnetron spraying. This theme was initiated before my arrival by P.Y. Tessier and L. Brohan during M-W CHU’s PhD thesis (2002). As soon as I moved to Nantes (2003-2008), I set up a dedicated reactor (2003) and pursued the project until 2008. The results obtained confirmed the relevance of magnetron sputtering for the deposition of ternary and quaternary materials, particularly compared with laser ablation (PLD), which limits deposition surfaces to cm2. This formed the basis for subsequent studies on other materials, within the framework of two application- and industry-oriented theses (Emeline Souchier (BDI CNRS-ST Microelectronics, 2006-2010): study of the deposition of GaV4S8 material in collaboration with PCM/PMN and Fatiha Challali, (2007-2010) (CIFRE MHS Thesis): study of the deposition of high dielectric constant (BST, TiTaO) and high resistance (TiON) oxides. These studies were the first to focus on Mott insulators. (2003-2011)

Mott insulators are materials with exceptional properties, and their thin-film production has opened the way to numerous applications. A new type of electronics, called “Mottronics”, enables the production of integrated Mott memories in the form of thin films for information storage (IPCEI project), or the manufacture of energy-saving neural networks and synapses for artificial intelligence (Mott-IA regional project). (2005-2025)

Materials for energy is a new focus for the PCM (Plasma Couches Minces) team in collaboration with ST2E (Stockage et Transformation Electrochimique de l’Energie) in the field of energy micro-storage. In particular, the aim is to bring the versatility of plasma-assisted processes to the development of materials for micro-supercapacitors and micro-batteries. (2021 -2027)

Current research projects

2023-2027 ANR NACELL: IMN Scientific Resp., Post-doc 12 months, € 118 K
2023-2027 European IPCEI contract with ST-Microelectronics (PMN sponsor)
2022-2027 Mott-IA regional project (€2.5 M) Porteut L. Cario (PMN)
2024-2028 ANR ADN, Porteur C. Villeneuve (LAPLACE)

Activities in the research community :

2024-2025 Co-leader of “Materials” WG, 2nd Microelectronics Survey for DRE CNRS
2018-2019 Co-leader of the “Materials” WG, Microelectronics Initiative for INSIS-CNRS
2016-2023 Member appointed to the CNRS National Committee, section 08: 2016-2021 and 2021-June 2023
2016-2022 Director of GDR 3660 OXYFUN, Board member (January 2014-July 2016)
2015-2019 CNRS representative on the INSA Centre Val de Loire Board of Directors
2005- 2013 Board member of C’Nano Nord-Ouest, correspondent for the Pays de la Loire region
2005- 2013 IMN Valorisation Correspondent at DR17-CNRS
2016-2025 Member of 23 Selection Committees (COS)
2008-2025 Participation in 100 thesis (86) and HDR (14) juries, including 60 reports

Expertise :

2017 – 2024 : Member of HCERES Evaluation Committees : LPICM (Palaiseau) ; XLIM (Limoges) ;
GREMAN (Tours); CRHEA, Nice; UDSMM (UCLO), GEMaC (UVSQ), GeePs (Paris Saclay)
2018 – 2025: ANR projects for CES 08, CES 09, CE24, ANR ASTRID, CE05 (13 Projects)
2015 – 2017: Pre-project evaluation (78 projects) and ANR CEP member (CES 09) Challenge 3 (30 projects)
2009 -2014: Member of the ANR P3N then P2N Evaluation Committee: 2009, 2010, 2011,
ANR Blanc SIMI 4 Evaluation Committee (2013), 2 AERES committees (section 08 CNRS, 2014)
2010 – 2014, 2018: Mid-term reviews of ANR projects (30 projects) and Expertise on 18 ANR projects
Other expertise: DFG Elan (Germany); Fonds Collège-Industrie Québec (Canada); 2015: Nano IDF and IDEX project for Université Strasbourg; 2016: INSA Lyon BQR project; 2019 : Univ. Lyon and Marseille; 2018-2019 : CEFIPRA projects (France-India collaboration);

Biography:

In all my activities, I’m concerned with teamwork, interdisciplinarity and a certain taste for risk. Materials physical chemist and CNRS Research Director at the Jean Rouxel Nantes Institute of Materials (IMN): after a master’s degree in chemistry in Nantes, an engineering diploma from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM) and a doctorate in Materials Science in Montpellier, I joined the CNRS in 1988 at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in the LPCI then LEAME (now LEOM, then INL) laboratory. In charge of a PECVD-ECR deposition reactor, I developed passivation processes for III-V semiconductors and thin-film deposition of dielectric materials for microelectronics. I moved to Nantes in 2003, and in 2008 obtained a “Habilitation à diriger des recherches” (“From functional material to device”), and developed reactive magnetron sputtering deposition processes for numerous new materials to produce devices for several fields (Microelectronics, Energy, Photocatalysis). For over 20 years, within the Mott insulator development group, and more broadly within the PCM team, I have been contributing my experience in the field of thin-film materials. The work of the Mottronics group (PMN/PCM) on Mott insulators with exceptional properties was rewarded by the Félix Robin 2023 prize, awarded by the French Physical Society to the group of five permanent staff involved during the JMC 2024 in Marseille.

Teaching :

2008-2018: Co-leader of the “Thin Films: Elaboration, Characterization and Applications” module (20h), Master NanoSciences Nord-Ouest, with M. Guilloux-Viry (ISCR Rennes).
2018-2023: Lecture (2h30/year) in Master 1, ITI MPP, IUT de Nantes
2023, 2024: Intervention ”New materials and applications” Summer School, Beijing Institut of Technology (BIT) Physics Department, Beijing, China (~30h of classes).
2025: lectures in Beijing and Zuhai (new university in southern China) (2 x 25 h of lectures)

Distinction

2023: Félix Robin prize from the French Physical Society

Publications :

May 2025: 94 publications, 5 patents (including 2012, 2014), over 140 oral presentations (52 as speaker); 15 invited lectures (speaker) at international conferences, over 250 conference presentations.

Major illustrative publications:

Michael Rodriguez-Fano, Mohamad Haydoura, Julien Tranchant*, Etienne Janod, Benoît Corraze, Pierre-Yves Jouan, Laurent Cario and Marie-Paule Besland*, Enhancing the resistive memory window through band gap tuning in the solid solution (Cr1-xVx)2O3, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15, 54611-54621 (2023).

M. Mitronika, C. Villeneuve-Faure*, F. Massol, L. Boudou, W. Ravisy, M.P. Besland, A. Goullet, M. Richard-Plouet, TiO2-SiO2 mixed oxide deposited by low pressure PECVD: insights on optical and nanoscale electrical properties, Applied Surface Sciences, 541 (2021) 148510.

F. Challali*, D. Mendil, T. Touam, T. Chauveau, … M.-P. Besland; Effect of RF sputtering power and vacuum annealing on the properties of AZO thin films prepared from ceramic target in confocal configuration, Mat. Sci. Semicond. Proc. 118, 105217, 2020.

E. Janod*, J. Tranchant, B. Corraze, M. Querré, P. Stoliar, M. Rozenberg, T. Cren, D. Roditchev, V. Ta Phuoc, M. P. Besland and L. Cario; Resistive switching in Mott insulators and correlated systems (Invited Review) Advanced Functional Materials, 25 (40) SI, 6287-6305 (2015)
(DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201500823)

Han Jun-Feng*, Liao Cheng, Cha Limei, Jiang Tao, Xie Hua-Mu, Zhao Kui, M.-P. Besland*, TEM and XPS studies of CdS/CIGS interfaces, Journal of Physics & Chemistry of Solids 75 (2014) 1279-1283.

J. Tranchant*, A. Pellaroque, E. Janod, B. Angleraud, B. Corraze, L. Cario, M.-P. Besland*, Deposition of GaV4S8 thin films by H2S/Ar reactive sputtering for RRAM applications, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 47 (6), 065309 (2014).

A. Rouahi*, A. Kahouli, F. Challali, M.-P. Besland, C. Vallée, B. Yangui, S. Salimy, A. Goullet, A Sylvestre*, Impedance and electrical modulus study of amorphous TiTaO thin films: Highlight of the interphase effect, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 46 065308 (2013) (doi:10.1088/0022-3727/46/6/065308)

C. Duquenne, M. P. Besland*, P.Y. Tessier, E. Gautron, D. Averty, Y. Scudeller, Thermal Conductivity of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 45, 015301 (2012).

E. Al Alam, I. Cortes, M.-P. Besland*, A. Goullet, L. Lajaunie, P. Regreny (INL), Y. Cordier, J. Brault (CRHEA), A. Cazarre, K. Isoird, G. Sarrabayrousse, F. Morancho (LAAS), Effect of surface preparation and interfacial layer on the quality of SiO2/GaN interfaces; J. Appl. Phys., 109, 084511 (2011).

M. Lapeyrade, M.P. Besland*, C. Meva’a, A. Sibai (LPM-INSA-Lyon), G. Hollinger (LEOM-ECL), Silicon nitride thin films deposited by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma, J. Vac. Sci. Technol A 17(2), 433-444 (1999).

M.P. Besland*, S. Jourba, M. Lambrinos, P. Louis, P. Viktorovitch, G. Hollinger (LEAME-ECL), Optimized SiO2/InP structures prepared by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma, J. Appl. Phys. 80, 3100, (1996).

G. Hollinger*, D. Gallet, M. Gendry (LEAME-ECL), M.P. Besland, J. Joseph (LPCI), Evidence for a new passivating indium rich phosphate prepared by ultraviolet/ozone oxidation of InP, Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1617, (1991).

M.P. Besland*, C. Guizard, N. Hovnanian, A. Larbot, L. Cot (LPCM-ENSCM-Montpellier), J. Sanz, I. Sobrados, M. Gregorkiewitz, (CSIC-Institute of Materials-Madrid), Silicon and carbon liquid and solid MAS NMR spectroscopies study of the polycondensation of Heteropolysiloxanes, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 113, 1982-1987, (1991)

Brevets

5 unexploited (1990, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014); Two unsuccessful invention declarations (2008, 2010)

Link to publi HAL: https://cnrs.hal.science/search/index/?q=authFullName_t%3Abesland&rows=30&sort=publicationDate_tdate+desc

Link to orcid :ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2680-2402

Link to scholar.google.fr: https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=Ne_tI1wAAAAJ&hl=fr

LinkedIn link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-paule-besland-20b880108/