Dr. Matej Fekete at the Department of Plasma Physics and Technology deals with diagnostics of the magnetron sputtering process, preparation and analysis of thin films. He worked as a postdoc researcher at RWTH Aachen University in Germany for approximately two and half years after his PhD studies. There, he began to tackle the topic of oxynitride thin films which may be employed as protective thin films for cutting tools in machining applications. In 2023, he joined the research group Deposition of Thin Films and Nanostructures, section PVDLab at the Department of Physics and Technologyand is now continuing his research on oxynitride thin films with TiAlON.
His new project "Plasma Diagnostics Guided Synthesis of Oxynitride Protective Coating with Enhanced Oxidation Stability" is funded by the Programme Johannes Amos Comenius, MSCAFELLOW7_MUNI, reg. no. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_010/0008854. This project is only accessible to applicants who have submitted a successful project proposal to the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme (MSCA). However, did not receive the funding. Due to a massive interest in EU MSCA projects from young scientists and the limited MSCA budget, only some excellent projects are funded. The Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic decided to support Czech projects that have been awarded the "Seal of Excellence."
As part of the project, Dr. Fekete will do a five-month internship at RWTH Aachen University as well as a six-month internship with industrial partner PLATIT a.s. Improving the properties of the thin films will require fine-tuning of the deposition parameters and detailed deposition process diagnostics for optimal growth and properties of thin films. "Good mechanical properties and thermal stability are essential for industrial applications as such coatings are more durable and can withstand higher loads and higher temperatures. Such oxynitride thin films are not yet highly used on an industrial scale," adds Dr. Fekete.
In the near future, Dr. Matej Fekete will focus on optical emission spectroscopy within the deposition process diagnosis and the first depositions of samples using multi-pulse high power impulse magnetron sputtering and subsequent analysis of the composition, crystal structure, mechanical properties and thermal stability of prepared thin films. Dr. Fekete will deal with the development of TiAlON thin films from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2027.
At the Department of Plasma Physics and Technology, Dr. Pavel Ondračka is also working on a MSCAfellow5_MUNI project. We have written about his project "Material design of moderately ductile hard coatings" in the article here. Dr. Oleksandr Galmiz has successfully received and solved the EU MSCA project "A Step Towards New Plasma Processing Technology for Medical Purposes" and we wrote about his project "A Step Towards New Plasma Processing Technology for Medical Purposes" in the article here.
