Directory

Senior Lecturer

Functions :

• 2023-present: Senior lecturer, IMN – Nantes University (PCM group)
• 2022-2023: Temporary Teaching and Research Associate (ATER), GREMI – University of Orléans
• 2022: Postdoctoral researcher, GREMI – Université d’Orléans
• 2019-2022: CIFRE doctoral student / Microsystems engineer, MISTIC SAS – Orléans

Qualifications :

• 2022: PhD in Plasma Physics, Université d’Orléans (GREMI / MISTIC SAS) Title: High aspect ratio titanium etching for biomedical innovations
• 2019: Research Master (Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics), Aix-Marseille University
• 2018 : Engineering degree, Mines Saint-Étienne, specializing in nanoelectronic devices

Expertises :

• Plasma etching (RIE, DRIE, ALE)
• Multi-scale modeling of plasma processes
• Plasma HiPIMS, PECVD, Bosch, cryogenic
• Plasma characterization (Langmuir, RFEA, OES), surface characterization (XPS, DRX, AFM, SEM…)
• Cleanroom microfabrication, titanium structuring

Main research themes:

• Plasma etching of titanium for MEMS (aspect ratio >10)
• Development of innovative plasma processes (fluorinated, chlorinated, mixed)
• Simulation of plasma-surface interactions (Monte Carlo)
• Modeling and AI for plasma process optimization

Current research projects :

• HiPIMS modeling (co-supervised PhD, early 2024)
• FAISTOS 2025 (coll. Valeria Borodin – STMicroelectronics Tours – Bosch engraving)
• PULSAR project (Pays de la Loire region – currently being evaluated)

Activities in the research community :

• GDR EMILI co-cil member
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Société Française de Physique – section Centre
• Member of organizing committees :
• 2025: COFMER
• 2024: RAFALD
• 2023: PlaCEP
• 2022: J²C, PlaCEP, SFµ Junior

Biography

French :

Rim Ettouri is a lecturer at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes (IMN), in the Plasma and Thin Films group (PCM). She also teaches in the Physics Department (“Electronics, Electrical Energy and Automation” – EEA) of the Science and Technology Faculty of Nantes University. Her research focuses on multi-scale modeling of low-pressure plasma processes, in particular for etching and deposition processes used in micro and nanotechnologies. She is developing approaches combining Monte Carlo simulations, plasma modeling and surface modeling, with a progressive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize process prediction and efficiency.

With a PhD in physics from the University of Orléans in 2022, she worked on titanium plasma etching for biomedical MEMS, in partnership with startup MISTIC SAS. She then continued her work at GREMI before joining IMN. In 2024, she will be spending a year in Professor Mark Kushner’s plasma modeling group at the University of Michigan.

She is a member of the GDR EMILI steering committee, active in the cold plasma community, and is also involved in scientific mediation.

English

Rim Ettouri is an Assistant Professor at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes (IMN), within the Plasma and Thin Films (PCM) group. She also teaches in the Department of Physics (Electronics, Electrical Energy and Automation – EEA) at Nantes University, Faculty of Science and Technology. Her research focuses on multi-scale modeling of low-pressure plasma processes for etching and deposition, with a strong interest in coupling simulation tools with experimental validation and artificial intelligence.

She earned her PhD in 2022 from the University of Orléans (GREMI / MISTIC SAS), where she developed deep etching processes for titanium-based biomedical MEMS. Following a postdoctoral fellowship, she joined IMN in 2023. Her current work involves plasma, sheath, and surface modeling, as well as Monte Carlo simulations for complex 3D structures. In 2024, she conducted a scientific stay in the group of Professor Mark Kushner (University of Michigan), a leading expert in plasma modeling.

Rim is a member of the GDR EMILI steering committee, actively participates in the cold plasma network, and is engaged in both teaching and scientific outreach.

CNRS Research Director

Functions:

• Research Director, PMN team co-leader
• CNRS Research Director
• Joint Group head of the PMN Group
• Visiting Professor, Toyo University, Japan
• Editor Journal “Carbon

Qualifications:

• PhD Computational Physics, Exeter University (1997)
• Habilitation to direct research, Nantes University (2011)

Expertise:

Carbon Science, DFT Modelling, Defects, Materials Physics and Chemistry, Science Communication

Major research topics:

• Dislocations and point defects in graphite and 2D carbon materials
• Fullerene Science (formation, functionalisation, supramolecular structure formation)
• Nanodiamond Modelling
• Functionalisation and topology of novel nanomaterials
• Science Communication tools and techniques (virtual, physical)

Biography:

Chris Ewels graduated from Oxford University in 1993 in “Metallurgy and the Science of Materials”. After a Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Exeter UK, for computational studies of oxygen defects in silicon, he moved to Sussex University where he worked on radiation induced defects in graphite and carbon nanosystems. At Sussex he joined the Vega Science Trust with Sir Harry Kroto, where he created an online science TV channel and developed a passion for public communication of science. In Paris he worked at the national aerospace research facilities ONERA, and was then a Marie Curie Individual Research Fellow at the Université Paris Sud within the electron microscopy group of Professor Christian Colliex. In 2006 he received the European Marie Curie Excellence Award and in the same year joined the CNRS at the Institute of Materials in Nantes, becoming Directeur de Recherche in 2015. His work focuses on computer modelling of nanoscale carbons in close collaboration with experimental colleagues. He has authored over 200 journal publications including nine book chapters, and is on the Stanford University list top 2% most cited active scientists. His interest in science communication continues, with Web videos he has commissioned and produced now viewed over 1.5 million times. He is now joint head of the Physics of Materials and Nanostructures group at the IMN, coordinating nanocarbon initiatives at the local, regional, national and European level.

Research projects:

“Current Research Projects (2026)

• Participant ANR CADENA (“Fluorinated nanodiamonds for catalysis”)
• Coordinator ANR DISLOCARBON (“Dislocations in layered carbon nanomaterials”)
• Core-Group Committee, COST Nanospace (“Carbon molecular nanostructures in space”)
• Regional Project LUMOMAT “RunningRings
• Regional Project “Trajectoire Nationale

Teaching:

• M2 E-MAT “Nanocarbon and 2D Materials
• M2 E-MAT “Machine Learning Approaches

Distinction:

• European Carbon Association (ECA) Award (2025)
• British Carbon Group Ubbelohde Award Lecture for Carbon Science (2014)
• European Union Marie Curie Excellence Award (2006)
• Fonds International Wernaers award for knowledge dissemination (2008)
• CineGlobe Public Award for best science documentary (2010)

Publications:

• 1. ‘CO adsorption on pure, defective and mixed composition AlF3 and MgF2 surfaces’
  A. Impellizzeri, J. Dieu, J. Rousseau, S. Brunet, C. P. Ewels*
  Catal. Sci. Technol. 14, 3021-3028 (2024)
• 2 ‘Electronic States of Carbon Materials’
  S. Latil, C. Ewels* (1st Edition: P. Lambin, J. Fink)
  Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics, 2nd Edition, Elsevier, Vol. 5, 702-715 (2024)
• 3. ‘Noncontact Layer Stabilization of Azafullerene Radicals: Route toward High-Spin-Density Surfaces’
  Y. Tanuma, G. Kladnik, L. Schio, M. van Midden Mavrič, B. Anezo, E. Zupanic, G. Bavdek, R. Canton-Vitoria, L. Floreano, N. Tagmatarchis, H. A. Wegner, A. Morgante, C. P. Ewels*, D. Cvetko*, D. Arčon*, ACS Nano 17, 24, 25301-25310 (2023)
• 4. ‘Prismatic Edge Dislocations in Graphite’
  J. G. McHugh*, P. Mouratidis, A. Impellizzeri, K. Jolley, D. Erbahar, C. P. Ewels*
  Carbon, 188, 401-419 (2022)
• 5. Direct Observation and Catalytic Role of Mediator Atom in 2D Materials’
  G.-D. Lee*, A. W. Robertson*, S. Lee, Y.-C. Lin, J.-W. Oh, H. Park, Y.-C. Joo, E. Yoon, K. Suenaga, J. H. Warner, C. P. Ewels*, Science Advances, 6 (24), eaba4942 (2020)

Link HAL

Link orcid: 0000-0001-5530-9601

Link to scholar.google.fr

https://ewels.info/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewels/

Contact us:

Dr Chris Ewels
Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel (IMN)
2 Chemin de la Houssinière
44322 Nantes
FRANCE
+33-240 37 64 07
chris.ewels \ cnrs-imn.fr