Michael Nolan

Dr Michael Nolan is Head of Group – Materials Modelling for Devices at Tyndall. He received his PhD in 2004 on first principles simulation of molecular nanowires and was appointed as staff researcher at Tyndall in 2009, transitioning to Principal Scientist in 2015 and Head of Group in 2022. Michael is the Science Council chair of the Irish Centre for High End Computing and Associate Editor of the journals Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology and Ceramics International. He is a program committee member of the annual AVS ALD/ALE conference.

He currently leads a group of 5 PhDs, 7 postdocs and 1 Research Fellow, with active funding of €2.5 million from national agencies, Semi Conductor Corporation, European Commission and Industry. He is a lead PI on the new EU co-funded Chips Act Pilot Line NanoIC, targeting 2-nm beyond CMOS, where atomic level processing and materials discovery are critical elements and the Chips JU GENESIS project on sustainable semiconductor processing.

His areas of research leadership are focussed on multiscale simulation of atomic level processing – encompassing multiscale simulation of atomic layer deposition, thermal self-limiting atomic layer etch, molecular layer deposition and vapour phase infiltration. This uses a combination of first principles density functional theory, molecular dynamics, kinetic Monte Carlo and machine learning, providing a world leading platform for simulation-enabled discovery of new materials processing chemistries for next generation technology nodes. In addition, he leads Tyndall’s work in simulation-lead development of novel piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, low friction materials and materials for environmental applications.

Click here to view Michael’s Google Scholar profile.