To fabricate ever smaller electronic components, new materials are in great demand – for example, ultra-thin layers of carbon known as graphene. As part of an international collaboration, Empa re-searchers are developing new methods to “grow” these layers in a tailored way on surfaces. The current issue of EmpaNews covers this topic as well as, of course, much more.

And since it is our goal to provide intelligent reading material, for once we’ve taken that task literally – and thus the current Focus section on “smart” materials. They’re also the topic of the National Research Programme NRP 62, which started early 2010 and in which Empa is quite successfully represented.

And also in this issue: Fire in the building! A visit to the Fire Technology Laboratory. --- “You don’t win a prize everyday”: A young entrepreneur enters the market.