Jean-Yves Duboz

Jean-Michel Gerard

M Enrique Calleja

M Gilles

Patriarche

M Dimitri Roditchev

M Ferdinand Scholz

Anne Mme

Renault

M Giancarlo Faini

Unité Nom de l'unité : CRHEA

Rapport 1 Introduction

• Organization of the visit :

The evaluation of CRHEA was held from Thursday, February 10, 2010 at 10 am to Friday 11 at 5pm. The beginning of the visit was dedicated to the presentation of CRHEA and its scientific report by its director, M. Jean-Yves DUBOZ, followed by one hour presentations of the five teams. For each team, an overview (report + project) by the team leader was completed by one or two highlights on key achievements, presented by team scientists. These presentations generated extensive discussions with the committee.

On thursday afternoon, the committee met the technical staff, the PhDs and post-docs, the CNRS and university research staff in separate meetings.

On Friday morning, the director presented the SWOT analysis of the lab, its objectives, strategy and main inflexions in the research projects and organisation of CRHEA. After discussion, the committee visited the lab equipments and posters in two sub-groups, and met next the representatives of CNRS and of the Nice University.

Closed-door committee meetings were organized on Thursday evening (one hour) and on Friday afternoon (2,5 hours) for internal discussion and preparation of the evaluation synthesis.

The visit was very well organized. The committee wishes to emphasize the excellent atmosphere throughout the visit, the quality of the oral/poster presentations and the lively, rich and fruitful discussions with the staff.

Finally, the committee also acknowledges the excellent quality of the documents which have been provided by CRHEA prior to the visit. The clear, synthetic and complete information about the staff, production, collaborations, contractual projects, of each team has been very precious to evaluate the overalll activity of the laboratory and its impact within the scientific community.

• Short description of the laboratory : history, geographical localization, scientific domain and main activities

The creation of the laboratory can be traced back to 1982, when CNRS implanted a research unit (LPSES) devoted to the development of semiconductor material for photovoltaics within the new scientific park "Sophia Antipolis" in Valbonne (06). In 1992, the thematics of the lab were fully renewed, with an end for solar cell related activities, and started to put an emphasis on wide bandgap semiconductors. It then adopted a novel name, CRHEA.

Nowadays, CRHEA activities are devoted to the development, study and application of large-bandgap compound semiconductor thin films and heterostructures, made of GaN, ZnO or SiC. The main fields of expertise of CRHEA are epitaxial growth using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD), as well as the structural, optical and electrical characterization of semiconductors. Within the recently developped cleanroom facility CRHEATEC, it is also able to build simple devices for proofs of concepts or advanced characterization. The laboratory has established over the years numerous collaborations within France as a key supplier of large bandgap heterostructures (especially for GaN based ones) both to academic laboratories and to industrial partners (both large companies and SMEs).

• Management, organisation :

Director of the laboratory : M. Jean-Yves DUBOZ (since 2002)

Over the reporting period, CRHEA was divided into a management service, a technical service (SCR for "service commun de recherches"), and four research teams :

Team 1: ELECTRO (head: M. Yvon CORDIER) GaN and SiC for electronics The scientific activity of these four teams and of SCR will be more specifically evaluated in sections 4 to 8 of this report.

• Laboratory Staff : 2 Evaluation of the laboratory

• Overalll evaluation of the lab :

Excellent laboratory having a strategic role on the national level and a very good impact and recognition at the international level.

• Strength and opportunities : -Epitaxy is a costly activity. Although CRHEA has been highly successful in the quest for external funding, the CNRS grant covers a significant part of the running costs. This support is essential for CRHEA to keep the ability to build its own strategy, especially for the most exploratory part of its research, and should therefore be preserved.

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The committee strongly supports the investment priority of the lab, which is the purchase of a newgeneration, high throughput, MOCVD system dedicated to the production of GaN-based epiwafers for the French community. Since the need for such an equipment in France is now well established, and having in mind the key role played by CRHEA over the last twenty years in this matter, CRHEA is the laboratory where this investment should be done. 3  Detailed comments :

• Scientific quality and production :

CRHEA is a high level research lab, specialized in the fabrication and characterization of large bandgap semiconductor material (GaN, ZnO, SiC) and heterostructures, in view of practical applications. Besides its own research activities, CRHEA is the main provider of GaN-based material to the French academic community, in the framework of scientific collaborations.

In France, this positioning is unique, and can only be compared (to some extent) to the one of the CEA-CNRS Nanophysics and Semiconductors team in Grenoble (GaN, II-Se and II-Te compounds).

Research and development on large bandgap heterostructures has been a very hot topic worldwide, due to the large scale applications of GaN (solid-state lighting, power electronics, devices and sensors for harsh environment…).

Research activities are still flourishing in this domain. Indeed, the degree of mastering of these materials is yet lower than for conventional semiconductors (Si, GaAs, InP…), and further improvement of their quality may have a large impact in application fields. Furthermore, advanced fundamental experiments (single quantum dot spectroscopy, quantum transport…) have become feasible only recently, thanks to the progress of material quality. Such studies aim at a better knowledge of the basic physical properties of these materials, and open novel application prospects.

In this context, CRHEA has produced world-class scientific results over the reporting period. Among the most original or remarkable advances, one can highlight:

the spectacular improvement of the quality (structural, optical, electrical) of ZnO heterostructures grown on ZnO substrates (OXTRO) Seen from a more general point of view, CRHEA has been highly productive, since more than 280 articles have been published in peer-review journals, including 167 regular articles. The number of published regular articles per researcher and per year (2.2) is therefore rather high.

Although 70% of the papers result from collaborations with partners, around 50% of the papers have a first author from CRHEA, which reflects the importance of CRHEA contributions to joint papers, and the strong involvement of CRHEA's staff in the publication effort.

27% of all articles are published within high impact reviews (IF>3) such as Appl. Phys. Lett and Phys. Rev. B. CRHEA researchers have also co-authored several papers in very high impact journals, such as Phys. Rev. Lett.

(4), Small (1) and Nano Lett (1). As already mentioned in CRHEA's "project" document, the latter point could still be improved. In particular, basic advances on the controlled epitaxial growth of nanostructures can be published in the best reviews. CRHEA researchers must have the ambition to exploit fully such opportunities.

Although the number of papers varies significantly between researchers, one can note that this production effort involves all researchers and most research engineers as well. No "non producing" researcher (in the AERES sense) can be found at CRHEA. Quite importantly, all PhDs co-sign several publications related to their work at CRHEA.

In terms of communications, the scientific output of CRHEA is also very good. More than 200 communications have been presented by CRHEA's researchers, most of them (80%) at international conferences. However, the participation at conferences could still be optimized, so as to increase CRHEA's visibility. While the participation at conferences within Europe is excellent, the participation at some recent overseas conferences has been too low.

The dynamism of CRHEA is also evidenced by its strong involvement in national collaborative projects ( 16 • Attractivity and recognition :

The recognition of the laboratory is excellent at the French level and very good internationally. This is assessed by:

-The overalll good impact of CRHEAs paper's (citation rates) and researchers (H factors) -The presentation by CRHEA researchers of 22 invited talks at international conferences -The organisation by CRHEA researchers of 2 national and 2 international conferences -

The numerous collaborative research projects of CRHEA with academic as well as industrial partners, the strong increase of its contractual resources (>1.5 M€ in 2010, +100% since 2006) -The active participation of CRHEA at the thematic network OPTITEC/POPSUD (pôle de compétitivité); CRHEA is also an active member of the microscopy network "METPACA". It is also a co-founder of the "C'Nano PACA" nanoscience network, and is heading the CT-PACA nanotechnology network, and the CRHEATEC regional technology facility.

-The award of the prestigious Silver Medal of CNRS to M. Jean MASSIES

• Management and life of the laboratory

The laboratory has been reorganized in depth in 2006. With the very recent suppression of the OXTRO team, the research teams are now organized by application domain (ELECTRO, OPTO, NANO) and completed by two services, for characterization and administrative/logistic support. This organization is well adapted to the size and objectives of CRHEA. For instance, it helps and will help CRHEA in taking full benefit of its broad expertise in epitaxy, through fruitful combinations of materials (ZnO+GaN) or techniques (MBE+CVD).

To manage the laboratory, the director works in strong interaction with the team heads. The annual budget and major topics of general interest are discussed during ad hoc general assemblies of the laboratory. The director also organizes meetings of the statutory laboratory council several times (3-4) per year. These meetings do not appear to be the main communication tool between the staff and the direction; this is likely due to the small size of the lab which favours direct interactions and to the important role of the team heads.

An increase of the number of meetings of the lab council looks desirable. Similarly, the number of general meetings devoted to scientific brainstorming should be increased. Nevertheless, information and consultation in the lab looks overalll very good. Most importantly, discussions of the committee with the staff have highlighted a strong support to the strategic positioning and orientations of the lab, and strong confidence in the head of the lab.

CRHEA is well involved in external communication initiatives toward the general public (conferences and debates, expositions,...).

Concerning teaching, the involvement of the CNRS staff is relatively weak and should be increased. By contrast, the training of PhDs and post-docs to epitaxy should be seen as an important specific contribution of CRHEA.

Finally, CRHEA has played a leading role in several actions aiming at structuring research at the local and regional scales (C'Nano PACA, METPACA, open CRHEATEC technology facility…). It is also presently building the new federative institute Döbling which will gather the physics labs of Nice University.

• Evaluation of the project and strategy :

CRHEA has a very clear strategy for the future. Its ambition is exploiting its expertise and mastering of the epitaxy of large bandgap materials to produce high level basic research and develop novel applications of these strategic materials. Due to its small size, CRHEA specializes in the epitaxy and characterization, and develops its research in the framework of tight collaborations with academic and industrial laboratories bringing complementary skills and expertise. On the national level, CRHEA behaves as an essential facility for the delivery of GaN based material, heterostructures and devices to the scientific community (once again in the framework of collaborations structured by shared goals).

Therefore, the main objectives of CRHEA are :

to produce high level basic and applied scientific results with partners to exploit application opportunities with industrial partners to provide expert training in epitaxy and characterization to PhDs and post-docs, for the benefit of the French and European laboratories and industries.

This strategy has been fruitful over the last years and is still fully relevant. Large bandgap semiconductors are obviously strategic materials. The exploration of their physical properties and novel potential applications and the improvement of existing devices (LEDs, power electronic devices) are hot topics worldwide. CRHEA's specialization strategy in epitaxy and characterization is also well adapted due to the relatively small lab size.

The scientific project presents a good balance between continuity and novelty. Less promising research on GaInAsN has recently been stopped. Recent advances in material mastering will be exploited to address very attractive challenges with potential worldwide impact, such as, to list a few :

--the growth of graphene films on 3C-SiC, --Bose-Einstein condensation of polaritons in ZnO-based hybrid planar microcavities --ferromagnetism mediated by a hole gas in ZnMnO --light sources, including lasers, to bridge the "green" gap --electronic devices based on GaN planar and nanowire heterostructures

As presented in the "Project" document, the research project is very rich, but likely too broad for CRHEA. The committee acknowledges significant efforts to focus CRHEAs objectives (stop of GaInAsN work, research on SiC epitaxy endorsed by NovaSiC researchers…). Nevertheless, an improved focus of the teams' goals is still necessary (see detailed discussions in team sections).

Thanks to the support of CNRS and its ability in raising external support (from ANR, industry…), CRHEA has successfully developed over the years a large set of tools for epitaxy, characterization and micro/nanofabrication. These tools are overalll well adapted to the project. Nevertheless, several needs have been identified by CRHEA:

an additional MBE reactor will be dedicated to ZnO (through the retrofit of the GaInAsN dedicated one);

a new generation high throughput MOCVD reactor is needed to better cover the needs of the national community in GaN based heterostructures, and ramp up (through the reallocation of the existing system) internal activities on GaN nanowires.

• the replacement of the old transmission electron microscope by a new one is also needed

The committee strongly supports the lab priority, which is put on the purchase of this new MOCVD reactor. It also feels that CRHEA must keep in the long term access to standard TEM equipment on site. Possibilities to share a new TEM with neighbour laboratories should be considered. Increased access to new generation TEM/STEM microscopes is recommended, e.g. through the on-going collaborations with CINAM (Marseille) and PFNC (Grenoble) within the METSA network. The ELECTRO group is a rather peculiar one since, for the period under consideration, it brings together 2 CNRS staff (1 DR and 1 IR) and 2 engineers and 2 technicians from NovaSiC, a company specialized in SiC surface polishing. Recently, at the beginning of 2010, the group has been reinforced by a young CNRS researcher. The activity is devoted to the growth and study of wide band gap materials for electronics.

The group has developed high-level skills in the growth of cubic 3C-SiC on silicon substrates as well as a high mastering degree in the growth of thick crack-free nitride layers on various substrates. The resulting 3C-SiC/Si templates have allowed ELECTRO initiating recently a new topic related to the epitaxy of graphene on 3C-SiC, which represents an original approach for the "hot topic" of graphene growth. Nitride layers with corresponding AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have lead to promising perspectives for GaN integration with silicon technology.

• Scientific quality and production

The scientific production is very good, with a marked increase during the past 3 years, reaching about 100 publications in international journals covering both material/physical topics and electronic ones.

The SiC activity has been focused on the CVD epitaxy of 3C-SiC on silicon and thanks to its accumulated experience, the group is now leader in France in this field, allowing to dispose of the interesting mechanical and electrical properties of SiC at low cost. This has led to a major contract with ST Microelectronics with respect to power electronics. More recently ELECTRO has initiated an original activity of graphene growth on 3C-SiC on silicon and reported the first CVD epitaxy of graphene on 3C-SiC. It is worth noting that this approach is probably the main one allowing the integration of a graphene film on silicon without relying on report processing.

The nitride growth has been oriented towards power electronics. Thanks to a high degree of control of the strain during growth and subsequent cooling, thick (up to 4 µm) GaN crack free layers have been grown by MBE on silicon for applications in Schottky rectifiers (once again part of the contract with ST Microelectronics).

Regarding AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices, beside the optimization of the structure on various buffer layers, the focus has been put on the integration with the silicon technology and a state-of-the art result for power HEMTs on Si(001) has been obtained.

A particular strength of ELECTRO is its strong relations with industrial companies, leading to 5 significant partnerships with major companies (ST, Freescale) as well as with SMEs (Riber, Picogoga, NovaSiC). In all cases, these partnerships are mid or long-term ones, demonstrating their quality, further evidenced by 3 patents.

• Recognition and attractivity :

The international visibility is good with 11 Invited conference talks, including one at the International Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy, the major conference in the field. ELECTRO attracts a significant number of post-docs from France and abroad and in 2010 has attracted a young CNRS researcher. 2 PhD theses have been defended during the period and 4 PhDs are currently working in the group, which represents a significant improvement.

The group is strongly implicated in French research projects: 4 projects executed during the period and 5 projects still running. Besides ANR projects, a large project has also been granted to Novasic and CRHEA by OSEO.

Novasic researchers are involved in 3 European projects on SiC, which highlights the importance and visibility of this activity at the European level.

• Evaluation of the project :

ELECTRO has recently benefitted from the arrival of a CNRS engineer. The group includes now four CNRS staff (1 DR, 1 CR and 2 IR) and two engineers and two technicians from NovaSiC. The scientific project covers the various skills of the group. New applications for cubic SiC on silicon are considered, namely for MEMS, electronic devices such as MOS transistors and as pseudosubstrates for non polar nitride growth. The latter should be coordinated with the NANO and OPTO groups.

The recent success demonstrated in CVD graphene growth is pushed forward with the elaboration of graphenebased heterostructures.

In continuity with previous work, nitride growth will be oriented towards high frequency and high power electronics. Although this field is very competitive, ELECTRO has gained an international recognition, especially as regards the growth on Si(001). Future work should aim at consolidating this position and going further in the integration with silicon technology.

Finally, the investigation of the vertical transport in nitride heterostructures is an emerging and very interesting topic. It deserves to be addressed in collaboration with the NANO group, with emphasis on nanowire structures.

The committee recommends looking carefully at the balance between industrial-related activities and those with more scientific added value. More precisely, the CNRS staff is encouraged to focus on the most promising topics of their activity, namely: • Scientific quality and production :

Some of OPTO's research axes address very hot challenges within the scientific community e.g. the development of green lasers, UV light sources, or low-cost white LEDs. The developments that are undertaken on the materials' side are also fully relevant.

Recently, a very clever method has been developed how to realize large area semipolar GaN structures. By etching trenches with c-plane sidewalls into a sapphire wafer, epitaxial GaN growth in c-direction inclined to the top surface can be established leading to excellent semipolar GaN layers after coalescence. This is certainly a very important building block on the way to bridge the "green gap" of light emitters. The first realization of a laser structure containing AlInN as wave-guiding material may help to solve the problem of decreasing refractive index contrast in laser diode structures with emission wavelengths approaching or surpassing 500 nm. Moreover, OPTO has succeeded to develop light detectors for the EUV and x-ray wavelength regime based on AlGaN heterostructures with excellent properties. Similarly, the basic studies on GaN/AlGaN QDs are regarded as very important.

These activities are all nicely embedded into the technological possibilities of CRHEA and also fairly well connected to the on-going activities of the other groups ("ELECTRO" and "NANO"). Work concentrates very strongly on epitaxy where two methods are available: MOVPE and MBE. Within CRHEA, the most important additional semiconductor technology is also available along with the respective characterization methods (photoluminescence, x-ray, electron microscopy including TEM etc.)

The "OPTO" team performs high quality research on these fields, which is documented in their recent publications (about 75 peer-reviewed journal publications in the last 5 years, most of them in the major scientific journals of the field, such as Applied Physics Letters (21), J Applied Physics (15) or Physical Review B ( 11)). One patent on an original approach toward white light LEDs has been filed.

OPTO researchers are also overalll well involved in the presentation of their research at the major international conferences of the field (more than 100 conference contributions overalll, including 10 invited ones).

The scientific results of the group OPTO are in most cases of best international level. Some of them are definitely recognized as major contributions to the respective field and have found world-wide attention, like, e.g., work on "nitrides used as detector material in the EUV region" (5 invited talks) and the studies on "semipolar GaN on structured sapphire wafers". However, others, while being very good research, did not find such international recognition.

• Recognition and attractivity :

Overalll, the OPTO team has an excellent recognition at the national level; some of its activities are highly visible internationally. Invitations at international workshops or major national conferences (J3N, JNCO) have been obtained for the work on UV and EUV detectors (4), monolithic white LEDs (1) and green lasers (1) for instance. The leader of the group, J. Massies, has been awarded the prestigious Silver medal of CNRS.

Although OPTO's scientific production is excellent for a team of that size, its recognition at the international level may have suffered from a relative thematic dispersion. The number of (highly competitive) topics covered by the team is too large, and these topics are not all strongly connected or interrelated. In consequence, OPTO has achieved very good scientific results on these particular fields, but failed to some extend to become THE reference laboratory world-wide for one of these major topics. A better thematic focus is therefore recommended for the future (see below).

The OPTO team is very well integrated within the national community, and has numerous collaborations with high level academic partners. OPTO took part to 4 ANR projects, one ERA-SPOT European project and one ESA project over the period.

OPTO has established mid and long term links with industrial partners such as Saint-Gobain/Lumilog, Thales TRT and TED (EUV detectors) or Telecom Research and Development Malaysia (InGaAsN lasers).

• Evaluation of the project :

The OPTO group is definitely strengthened by the restructuring of CRHEA and the integration of a part of the former OXTRO group. Nearly all research topics in its future focus (non-and semipolar nitrides, light sources for bridging the green-yellow gap including green lasers, quantum dot based UV light emitting diodes, materials for UV and EUV detection) are of major scientific and industrial importance world-wide and should hence be continued with strong engagement. The decision not to continue research on dilute nitrides is fully relevant, and will help to strengthen the other topics substantially. Similarly, OPTO may reduce its efforts towards ZnO which seems not well-suited for solid-state lighting, but fits better into NANO activities. Owing to the excellent scientific and technological basis formed over the recent years, the OPTO team can certainly strongly benefit from many synergetic links between these main topics mentioned above. As an example, the "green gap" topic will gain scientific weight by a closer integration of (up to now more or less stand-alone) pre-studies like white light emitting LEDs requiring optimized "green" quantum wells, semipolar GaN on structured sapphire, and AlInN as cladding layer for green lasers.

• Conclusion :

 Overall evaluation of the team :

Very experienced researchers with excellent international reputation  Strengths and opportunities : Improve the focus of the project, with emphasis on green light emitters and UV light detectors.

Try to integrate and combine your many sub-topics in such main subjects. This will help to increase your visibility on an international level… Increase and optimise your participation at the main international conferences of the field Work on GaN NWs SAG (Selective Area Growth) by MOCVD is excellent. The demonstration of the merging of NWs into a continuous GaN layer (pseudo-substrate) with reduced dislocation density is particularly important and attractive. ZnO based studies on nanophotonics are as well very relevant.

Publication rates are very high, steadily increasing over the past 3 years, with a strong collaborative component with other national and international teams. Excellent publication ratio per permanent researcher (4.9 regular articles per researcher and per year on average, one third being published in reviews with an IF>3).

• Recognition and attractivity :

Overalll, the NANO team has an excellent recognition at the national level; some of its activities are highly visible internationally, with invitations at international workshops or major national conferences. NANO has good collaborations on the national level (3 ANR projects over the period). As mentioned, international visibility is also quite high, with links and scientific collaborations with several Institutions and Research Centers in Europe and participation in three research projects from the EU, including one with a strong industrial partnership. Two out of the three international exchanges from CRHEA in the period were from NANO members.

These activities should enhance attractiveness to new PhD candidates from all over the world, as well as that from the team members.

• Evaluation of the projet :

With the merging of part of OXTRO within NANO, the team will be reinforced by two CNRS researchers. Also, spintronics-related projects on ZnO will be conducted within NANO in the future.

The topics to be addressed by NANO are very hot and relevant; the selected goals take advantage of recent advances of CRHEA (homoepitaxy of weakly doped ZnO or high quality ZnO/ZnMgO heterostructures) or strong opportunities (ability to combine GaN and ZnO, MOCVD and MBE, new substrate patterning capabilities at CRHEATEC, new magneto-optics set-up for ZnO…).

Several projects presented by NANO look particularly attractive:

thanks to recent quality improvements, ZnO and GaN based optical microcavities are now well suited for quantum optics experiments, and noticeably for Bose-Einstein polariton condensation at room temperature novel strategies to build ZnO-heterostructures containing a hole gas are proposed; these structures will very likely permit to know whether a ferromagnetic behaviour mediated by holes can be achieved in ZnMnO, and close a long-lasting controversy on that topic.

the development of novel nanowire heterostructures for photonics and electronics will strongly benefit from the unique panel of growth techniques and expertise present at CRHEA.

In addition to these basic oriented projects, the proposed actions on NanoFETs, and potential expansion toward Nanodevices is also excellent. The strategy of the proposed project is overalll very adequate and feasible.

The second main result concerns the remarkable improvement of the quality of ZnO epilayers grown on ZnO substrates instead of standard sapphire substrates. For such epilayers, OXTRO has demonstrated an improved surface roughness and crystalline quality, a record low photoluminescence linewidth and high emission yield thanks to the reduction of the number of defects, and a drastically reduced residual n-type doping. The latter result is particularly important, as it may enable a sizeable p-type doping of ZnO, which is nowadays the major bottleneck for applications of ZnO in optoelectronics.

The "OXTRO" team performs high quality research on these fields, which is documented in their recent publications (about 22 peer-reviewed journal publications in the last 5 years, most of them in the major scientific journals of the field, such as Physical Review Letters (3), Applied Physics Letters (6) or Physical Review B ( 6)). Importantly, the papers of the team are largely cited, well above the impact factor index of the corresponding journals. The research results of the team were presented as invited talks at 9 international conferences (including ICPS, the largest conference devoted to semiconductor physics) or workshops.

• Recognition and attractivity

Overalll, the OXTRO team has an excellent recognition at the national level; it is partner of 3 ANR projects and of one bi-lateral contract. The team established numerous collaborations with European teams (Poland, Spain, Germany). However, the number of the directed PhD thesis is clearly unsatisfactory; it is consistent neither with the very high quality of the research nor with the presence of one professor and one assistant professor in this team.

• Evaluation of the project

The CRHEA project suggests OXTRO team to split in two parts and to integrate the teams NANO (M. Ch. Morhain, M. Ch. Deparis) and OPTO (M. B. Vinter, M. J.-M. Chauveau). The committee fully supports this decision, mainly motivated by the small team size.

The relevance and interest of ZnO-related projects are discussed in OPTO and NANO parts.

• Conclusion :

Taking into account its small size, the OXTRO team has shown over the report period a very high research performance. The publications of the team are of excellent quality and strongly cited by the international research community.

• Recognition and attractivity :

This item is not relevant for the core activity of SRC, as a characterization service.

The visibility of the SRC's own research activities (structural characterization and study of defects) is already very good. It could nevertheless be further increased through a higher participation in international conferences.

• Evaluation of the project :

SCR will keep the same missions in the future. The main evolutions are related to the recent purchase of new equipment (e-beam writing system Raith on a SEM (2010), reactive ion etching ( 2011)) for the CRHEATEC micro/nanofabrication facility and a cathodoluminescence set-up for optical characterization (2010).

CRHEA considers that CRHEATEC will be fully equipped to satisfy its major needs in the field of micro/nanofabrication. The major investment project of SCR is related to the replacement of its old (16 years) transmission electron microscope (TEM).

The Committee emphasizes the following points:

-Concerning structural characterization, it is clear that CRHEA must keep TEM competences and standard TEM equipment on site. In the mid-term, the replacement of the existing TEM by a new one will be necessary. Possibilities to share this equipment with neighbour laboratories should be considered. A large access to new generation TEM/STEM microscopes, equipped with aberration correctors, is relevant and necessary to continue developing a high level research. The committee strongly encourages the ongoing collaborations with CINAM (Marseille) and PFNC (Grenoble) within the METSA network.

-The acquisition of the new machine ICP/RIE is obviously an important point for the development of the technological activities of the laboratory. With its new equipments, CRHEATEC will be a very interesting resource for CRHEA and its partners in the future.

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The recent development of a cathodoluminescence set-up is an excellent decision; well adapted to the characterization of large bandgap material, this set-up will enable to establish stronger links between structural and optical properties of GaN-based nanostructures.

Intitulé

Team 2 :

 2 OPTO (head : M. Jean MASSIES) GaN heterostructures for optoelectronics Team 3: NANO (head: M. Jesus ZUNIGA-PEREZ) GaN and ZnO based nanostructures Team 4: OXTRO (head M. Christian MORHAIN) ZnO for optoelectronics and spintronics

  Staff size small compared to competitors Several retirements of senior staff in coming years Limited attractivity for students and post-docs Relatively small number of european projects and partnerships Unsufficient participation at overseas conferences Weak thematic overlap with physics laboratories from Nice and Sophia Antipolis of your projects, to compensate for the small lab size (see detailed recommendations in team sections) -Go on developing links with neighbour labs, where possible (structural characterization, CRHEATEC, joint communication oriented toward PhD candidates…) -Develop more international collaborations (european projects, student exchanges, visiting professors…) -Increase your participation at overseas conferences; be present at all major international conferences of the field; optimise the impact of your participation at conferences (several communications per participant; presentation of additional posters prepared by colleagues…) --Increase the involvement of the CNRS staff in teaching (at universities and engineering schools, first of all in Nice, by not only if opportunities exist in Toulon, Marseille…) -Increase the collective prospective effort (e.g. yearly brainstorming day) -Increase the number of meetings between the direction and the staff representatives To CNRS and Nice University : -The level of the technical and administrative support looks fine. By contrast, the research staff should be increased. The recruitement of new researchers is crucial, all the more since key senior scientists of the lab (M. J. Massies DR1 CNRS, M. B. Vinter UNSA) will soon retire.

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  the development of novel semi-polar GaN templates and AlInN cladding layers for lasers (OPTO) -the synthesis of graphene on 3C SiC by CVD (ELECTRO) -the development of high-Q GaN microdisk resonators (NANO) -the observation of huge Rabi splittings in ZnO or GaN based microcavities in the strong light-matter coupling regime (NANO) -key contributions to the study of the magnetic properties of ZnCoO and ZnMnO (OXTRO) -the fabrication of state of the art GaN HEMTs on Si (100) (ELECTRO) -the development and transfer to industry of excellent detectors for the UV and extreme UV (OPTO)



  Overalll evaluation of the team : -Very good quality of the staff and of the scientific production -One of the main national actors in nitride growth for power electronics  Strengths and opportunities : -industrial collaborations, contracts and patents high expertise in GaN and SiC epitaxy on Si for power electronics ability to combine CVD and MBE growth techniques original graphene growth technique  Weaknesses and threats : -only 2 CNRS researchers in the group few collaborations with physicists specialized in electronic transport  Recommendations : -look carefully at the balance between industrial-related activities and those with more scientific added value focus on the most promising topics of the activity, namely graphene epitaxy, GaN and related HEMT structure growth on Si(001), vertical transport in GaN heterostructures reinforce basic-oriented research by increasing external collaborations with high level physics groups (e.g. on quantum electronic transport) 5  TEAM 02 : OPTO • Head of team : M. Jean MASSIES (report period) -M. Fabrice SEMOND (OPTO" currently consists of 4 CNRS researchers, 1 Ass. Pr., 3 CNRS ITAs, 3 PhD students and one post-doc. It has hosted 7 post-docs since 2006. Over the reporting period, the OPTO team has been involved in the following major research topics: 1-Non-and semipolar nitrides 2-Light sources for bridging the green-yellow gap / green lasers 3-Quantum dot based light emitting diodes for the visible and the UV 4-Materials for UV and EUV detection 5-Monolithic white light emitting diodes 6-Dilute nitrides (InGaAsN)

  High quality of the staff Large material expertise, ability to combine MOVPE, HVPE and MBE Societal needs and large markets related to GaN opto devices (solid-state lighting, visible lasers, UV devices)  Weaknesses and threats : Small size compared to competitors Difficulty to find industrial partners for valorization in LED/laser fields Participation at overseas conferences International visibility  Recommendations :

  Excellent competences in epitaxial growth, physics and characterization of semiconductor heterostructures and devices High level fundamental and applied research on material systems with large-scale applications and important potential societal impact; good balance between fundamental and applied oriented projects

Very good scientific production Strong partnerships with first-class French academic laboratories Excellent track record for mid and long term collaborations with industry (both large groups and SMEs) Large and (overalll) well adapted instrumental basis for epitaxial growth, characterization, nanofabrication High level of external funding, especially from ANR Very strong support from CNRS (funding, ITA…) Very good collaboration between teams Very good management

  ANR, 1 DGA, 1 OSEO) and to a lesser extent European projects (4). Strong long-term collaborations have been established with first-class basic research laboratories, both French (GES Montpellier, LASMEA, IEF Orsay, INAC, Institut Néel and Léti in Grenoble, IEMN Lille…) or European (UPM Madrid, Tyndall in Cork, Bochum university, Glasgow university…)

Quite remarkably, CRHEA also nurtures long-term partnerships with industrial partners, such as ST Microelectronics (GaN power devices), Thales (EUV detectors), Saint-Gobain/Lumilog (substrates for epitaxy). Since 2003, CRHEA endorses for RIBER the training of its new customers on epitaxy systems. Finally, CRHEA hosts and collaborates tightly with a team of 4 engineers from the NovaSiC company, which develops a novel reactor for the epitaxial growth of SiC on large substrates.

Ten PhD trainings have been successfully completed over the reporting period. Due to the relatively weak PhD recruitment possibilities in Nice, most students come from other French (60%) or foreign (30%) universities. A master and PhD exchange program has been established with Bochum University. Further efforts at the European (and worldwide) level should be performed in the future to increase the number of PhDs. Two HdRs have also been prepared by researchers since 2006.

UR / équipe C1 C2 C3 C4 Note globale UPR10 -Centre de recherche sur l'hétéroepitaxie et ses applications A+

	Sciences et Technologies
	Note globale	ST1	ST2	ST3	ST4	ST5	ST6	Total
	A+	6	9	12	8	12	11	58
	A	11	17	7	19	11	20	85
	B	5	5	4	10	17	8	49
	C	2	1	2				5
	Total	24	32	25	37	40	39	197
	A+	25,0%	28,1%	48,0%	21,6%	30,0%	28,2%	29,4%
	A	45,8%	53,1%	28,0%	51,4%	27,5%	51,3%	43,1%
	B	20,8%	15,6%	16,0%	27,0%	42,5%	20,5%	24,9%
	C	8,3%	3,1%	8,0%				2,5%
	Total	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%
					A	A+	A	A+
		ELECTRO		A+	A	Non noté	A	A+
		OPTO		A+	A	Non noté	A	A+
		NANO		A+	A+	Non noté	A+	A+
		OXTRO		Non noté Non noté Non noté Non noté Non noté
		C1 Qualité scientifique et production

C2 Rayonnement et attractivité, intégration dans l'environnement C3 Gouvernance et vie du laboratoire C4 Stratégie et projet scientifique Statistiques de notes globales par domaines scientifiques (État au 06/05/2011)

Intitulés des domaines scientifiques Sciences et Technologies ST1 Mathématiques ST2 Physique ST3 Sciences de la terre et de l'univers ST4 Chimie ST5 Sciences pour l'ingénieur ST6 Sciences et technologies de l'information et de la communication

Over the reporting period, the group "NANO" consisted of 4 permanent scientists, 3 engineers and technicians, 2 PhD students and 2 Technicians. One CNRS researcher form LPMC Nice also contributes (part time) to NANO activities. NANO has also hosted 4 post-docs.

The main activity of this group is the fabrication and characterization of epitaxial nanostructures based on GaN and ZnO for nanophotonics and to a smaller extent nanoelectronics. NANO implements the two most common epitaxial systems, namely, MBE (ammonia) and MOVPE. Concerning GaN, the group addressed the growth and study of GaN nanowires, core-shell nanostructures, photonic crystals, micro disks and cavities… ZnO activities are mostly related with the development of planar microcavities in the strong light-matter coupling regime, including noticeably hybrid GaN/ZnO microcavities.

Recently, a major part of the group OXTRO merged within NANO, so that a better coordination on the work based on ZnO has been achieved.

• Scientific quality and production :

This group has developed a very strong effort on hot topics with very high scientific value and relevance. Of particular relevance are activities related to GaN based photonic crystals, micro disks and cavities, and NWs. Very relevant results on the matter-light coupling (strong and weak regimes) have been pursued, with excellent results that are top rated at international level.

• Conclusion :

 Global evaluation : -Reinforce work on Nanowires and their applications, e.g. towards nanodevices and nano-sensors (bio).

-Coordinate efforts and clarify role interactions with ELECTRO and OPTO concerning work on polar and non-polar GaN pseudo-substrates (i.e. NANO is also producing them by NW merging) and nanoFETs, RTDs, nanoneedles (THz).

-Coordinate efforts and clarify role interactions with OPTO concerning work on nanostructures (NW, QD, WLEDs, etc.); on polar and non-polar GaN pseudo-substrates; and on ZnO /GaN.

-Need to hire new staff members in NANO.

-Need for an increased access to epitaxial systems (ZnO MBE, GaN MOCVD).

-

The team could consider working also on InGaN, which would expand capability and attractiveness. During the reporting period the group "OXTRO" consisted of 2 permanent scientists, 2 professors and 1 Postdoctorate student.

• Scientific quality and production :

Over the reporting period the OXTRO team has been involved in the research topics related to the studies of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ZnO-based nano-structures. Specifically, the high-quality epitaxial growth of ZnO had been achieved in CRHEA already in 2004, and thus, the essential efforts were concentrated on revealing the relationship between the structure/organisation of ZnO devices and their electronic (mainly optical) properties. The main topics of this activity were:

1. Diluted ZnO-based magnetic alloys 2. ZnO/ZnMgO quantum wells on polar and non-polar substrates 3. Homoepitaxial growth of ZnO-thin films on crystalline ZnO substrate 4. Doping issues in ZnO All these topics have been advanced significantly, however the most important results concern the topics 1 and 3 which are among the very hot challenges within the scientific community. First, the experimentally proven absence of the theoretically predicted ferromagnetism at room temperature in the diluted (Zn,Co)O alloys is a very important achievement; here, the contribution of the team in the progress of the comprehension of the magnetism was essential for the community.

TEAM "SERVICE COMMUN DE RECHERCHES(SCR)"

• Head of team : M. Philippe VENNEGUES (report period) -M. Philippe VENNEGUES (next period)

• Team composition :

In the report 06/10

In the project The "Service Commun de Recherche" currently consists of 1 researcher, 3 research engineers and 4 technicians, all with permanent positions.

• Scientific quality and production

The joint service research "SCR" seems to play its role perfectly as internal technology and characterization facility, supporting CRHEA's research projects. The large number of samples characterized shows the strong involvement of this service in the laboratory. The own research activity of "SRC" mainly concerns the structural characterization by TEM, and specifically the study of structural defects in AlN/GaN heterostructures and ZnO epitaxial layers grown on sapphire, subjects where these works are recognized as referring. In particular, the quality of work concerning the detection of the phase separation in the AlGaN barriers covering the GaN QDs should be emphasized. This study uses a local and quantitative lattice measurement by HRTEM; a mechanism, based on the elastic energy minimization, is proposed to explain the phase separation observed.

The "SRC" team brings key contributions to the structural and optical characterization of CRHEA's materials and nanostructures, as evidenced by its participation to 57 peer-reviewed journal articles during the last 5 years, most of them in the major scientific journals of the field (material science, physics of crystal growth, physics of extended defects...) such as Applied Physics Letters (19), Journal of Applied Physics (11) or Physical Review B (8). SRC scientists have also signed as first authors 5 peer-reviewed journal articles over the period.


The visit took place on February 1st, 2011. In the morning, a general presentation of the scientific activities at IGS by the head of the unit was followed by presentations of the four main research topics by the responsible senior scientists. In the afternoon, discussions with all laboratory members were organized around posters, illustrating various aspects of research at IGS. Finally, three parallel discussions were organized between visiting committee members and different groups of staff members (scientists with permanent positions, engineers and technicians, postdoctoral and PhD students). The visit ended with a closed-door committee meeting.

 History and geographical localization of the research unit, and brief presentation of its field and scientific activities

The IGS unit is an UPR "unité propre du CNRS" located in Marseille on the Luminy campus of the University of Méditerrannée. The IGS is part of the Institut Fédératif de Recherche Mediterranean Institute of Microbiology (IFR88). The group leader (Professor of Medicine) has led the unit since 2006. The IGS combines expertise in genomics, bioinformatics, structural biology and cellular biology. Research activities focus on studying various aspects of microorganism physiology with genomic and post-genomic tools (including structural biology and metagenomics). The IGS has four main research topics: 1) microbial genomics, 2) structural and cellular biology of mimivirus, 3) biodiversity and ecology of giant viruses, 4) applied bioinformatics. In recent years, more emphasis has been put on the study of the giant mimivirus. The unit has been at the forefront of research in this area. The IGS has several partnerships with industries which benefit from their expertise, provide funding and eventually new research topics.

The IGS also provides user-friendly tools for genomic analyses through a public internet portal.

 Management team

IGS has no fixed internal structure but is organized around projects that are defined according to scientific interest, funding and manpower. Senior scientists are responsible for a particular project but can be involved in several projects at once. The projects are discussed between the head of the unit and scientists with permanent positions on a rather informal basis. The IGS is a very dynamic unit at the forefront of research on the biology of mimivirus. The track record of the head of the unit is outstanding as well as his international visibility. The research performed at IGS has a strong impact in the debate on the origin and evolution of viruses. The projects on mimivirus host interactions and biodiversity of giant viruses in the environment are challenging but could be highly rewarding.

 Strengths and opportunities

IGS is a world leader in the study of mimivirus; these results have had an international impact with publications of the IGS in highly ranked journals (e.g. Nature, Science, Genome Res., J. Virol.); the objectives of the project are clear and the IGS has excellent expertise in bioinformatics, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology. The study of mimivirus and the search for new giant viruses are exciting topics with the potential for dramatic discoveries.

The interest of the scientific community for giant viruses and the expertise in IGS raises many opportunities of collaboration with other laboratories. The projects of IGS on mimivirus host interactions and giant-virus biodiversity are ambitious and very promising. The proposed projects will open many opportunities to recruit additional staff members IGS has thought more deeply about giant viruses, and has more expertise on the subject than any other group in the world. There is undoubtedly a huge wealth of undiscovered giant viruses in the oceans, and by bringing the expertise of the IGS to bear on this system promises to yield many exciting and new findings.

The IGS has several partnerships with industry, which benefit from their expertise and provides funding and new research topics.

Other strengths are the access of the IGS to the IFR88 platforms, the on-going national and international collaborations, and the arrival of new researchers in the laboratory.

 Weaknesses and threats

Some parts of the project such as the mapping of the entire interactome are extremely ambitious, and will probably take more than 4 years to complete. There is a lack of expertise in cell biology, which IGS is aware of and for which recruitment is recommended (via CNRS or University).

There are other groups internationally that have more experience than the IGS at tackling questions of diversity in viruses and other microbes in the oceans. This provides some challenges to ensure that projects do not substantially overlap. The emphasis by the IGS on giant viruses provides an angle that is less explored by other groups, which should minimize this potential threat.

A possible weakness is that much of these analyses are computationally intensive, and many of the advances have been the result of development of new analytical tools. Historically, IGS has had considerable strength in this area, but this expertise has been reduced by the loss of key personnel. This is also an area in which it is also extremely hard to recruit, and often involves moving teams of people. It will be important to develop strong collaborations with groups that are developing analytical methods for working with large environmental metagenomic datasets.

The future of the unit, UPR or UMR, and its location (remaining at Luminy or moving to the CNRS campus at Joseph Aiguier) is unclear. The present situation has some advantages. The IGS is located in a convenient building that was set up according to the wishes of the IGS staff. However, the building is now rather full, limiting the possibility of further expansion.

Although the IGS is located on a campus, there is little contact with the university and the numbers of PhD students and post-doctoral associates needs to be increased.

The team should continue its focus on giant viruses and their biodiversity and evolution; however, the metagenomic data may provide many challenges because of the lack of sequence coverage for each given sample. Consequently, it is also likely a good strategy to take a PCR-based approach to examine diversity by targeting genes that are specifically associated with giant viruses.

Research at the IGS relies on a dynamic approach with flexible project teams. This management has proven to be efficient, but the mimivirus project is extremely diverse and ambitious. It likely requires more defined teams lead by PIs working on specific aspects of the viral cycle.

CNRS and University should rapidly find an agreement for the future of the IGS (i.e. whether they should stay in Luminy or move to Joseph Aiguier)". Any move in terms of statute or location should be made very cautiously in order to maintain the high productivity of IGS. The priority should be to help IGS to conserve its excellence and cutting-edge international reputation.

The international visibility of the Head of unit is very high. The IGS should now strive to increase the visibility of other staff members through promotion, HDR defense and by promoting their participation at meetings (including post-docs and PhD students). At the end of the period it will also be important to carefully consider the future of the unit, knowing that the leader will be approaching retirement age.

The IGS should try to increase the number of post-docs and PhD students. Mimivirus infects amoebae and raises fundamental questions about the role of viruses in evolution. This is the largest virus ever found with a genome of 1.2 Mb and a virion whose size is comparable to those of small bacteria. The discovery of mimivirus has revived the debate about the origin and nature of viruses and the IGS unit has played an important role in this discussion, bringing both new experimental data and new hypotheses. The IGS has revealed remarkable structural and functional characteristics of mimivirus such as the presence of active viral aminoacyl tRNA synthetases.

Recently, the IGS has developed its own expertise in cell biology in order to initiate new projects on the interactions between the mimivirus and its Amoeba host. For that purpose, the IGS has implemented Acanthamoeba room cultures and is now autonomous to study the replication cycle of mimivirus, and other NCLDVs. The IGS team has already managed to characterize the transcriptome of mimivirus at different times post-infection. This new orientation in cell biology is essential to the success of the project that also relies on the use of the platforms of the joined IFR88 IMM Institute (proteomics, cell imaging...).

The committee notes that the study of mimivirus can lead to unexpected results with great scientific impact. The first image with an X-ray laser of a non-crystalline biological system was obtained in collaboration with the IGS from a single mimivirus particle (Nature, 2011). This remarkable result can reveal the structure of the entire virus (exterior and interior) at the nanometer scale and be combined with crystallographic studies of single proteins (current IGS study on capsid proteins for example). The expertise of the IGS in structural biology is further strengthened by its platform of structural genomics. The performance of the platform was (for example) validated by a study performed with Sanofi-Aventis on lysozyme inhibitors and was published in PNAS in 2007.

A major impact of IGS research has been the discovery of environmental sequences related to mimivirus sequences in metagenomic databases. IGS researchers have published a number of papers that clearly show that relatives of mimivirus are not only widespread in the environment, but that they are also diverse. The researchers at the IGS are now making inroads in this area of research. The IGS is certainly the perceived leader in investigations on the molecular diversity of genetic relatives of viruses related to Mimivirus.

Recently, the IGS has also initiated new projects on the genomic and post-genomic of microalgae and their viruses and on Deinococaccaea. These are other promising area of research with potential impact in biofuel technology.

For the reporting period (2006-2010) the unit has been highly productive in term of publications. One of the more remarkable aspects of these communications has been the breadth of topics that have been addressed. They range from reports on specific aspects of the nucleic-acid composition of giant DNA viruses (e.g. BMC Genomics; Genome Res.) to analysis of metagenomic data to infer the genetic diversity of giant viruses in nature (Genome Biology; Virology Journal).

The articles on the structure and cell biology of Mimivirus have fuelled this debate on the origin of life. They were published in high-impact journals (structural and functional study of unique viral proteins, J. Virol. 2006Virol. , 2007Virol. and 2009, unique mechanism polyadenylation of mimivirus transcripts, Genome Res, 2009, transcriptomic analysis of Mimivirus in Acanthamoeba castellani, Genomic Res, 2010). The desire of the laboratory to promote its research at the international level has also resulted in the publication of significant review articles and a book chapter (Encyclopedia of Virology, 2008).

A number of the papers have been quite provocative for the community of virologists. These include arguments that viruses should not be confused with their virions and that focus should be on the viral factory (Genome Biology) and that viruses should be included in the Tree of Life. Although these papers are largely conceptual, and the ideas might be considered on the fringe of current scientific thinking, they have stimulated a vigorous and healthy debate. This is another example of the strength of the group. It is their willingness to challenge dogma. This has greatly helped to increase the visibility, not only of the IGS team, but has also helped to increase the overall profile of research in to the diversity and evolution of giant viruses.

The work on viral biodiversity has resulted in the publication of a dozen papers related to the diversity of mimiviruses and their relatives. In all but one of these manuscripts, researchers 2009, from the IGS were the primary authors on the manuscript. Typically, these papers have been published in excellent journals, and two shorter commentary papers have been published in some of the top journals in terms of impact (i.e. Science and Nature Reviews Microbiology).

 Appreciation on the impact, the attractiveness of the research unit and of the quality of its links with international, national and local partners

The IGS has established several new long-term collaborations with French and foreign laboratories and with industrial partners. Some of these collaborations have already produced remarkable publications. The recent Nature paper in which IGS is involved further shows the ability of this unit to promote its projects at the international level. This asset will certainly contribute to the continuous funding of this project, which is supported by European and ANR grants until 2013 (3 PIs from the IGS are involved in these grants).

The recent involvement of the IGS in the fields of metagenomics has resulted in the initiation of collaborations with top research groups internationally that are studying giant viruses in the sea, including well-known groups in Norway, and in Japan. The result has been access by the IGS team to other samples for analyses, as well as expanding their knowledge of protocols for collecting samples from the field. As a consequence, the IGS team has initiated new and exciting areas of work such as partnering with the TARA global sampling expedition to begin tackling the challenge of exploring the diversity of potential hosts in the ocean, and isolating new uncharacterized giant viruses.

Another promising collaboration has been set up in the fields of genomic and post-genomic of microalgae with several academic and industrial partners, a LABEX project has been proposed. Finally, a partnerships has been set up with the company DEINOVE for the genomic and post-genomic studies of a private collection of Deinococcus related strains.

In contrast to this high scientific productivity, the number of granted PhD between 2006 and 2010 has been quite low considering the number of permanent staff at the IGS. This problem should be addressed and the number of HDRs should increase during this 4-year period.

 Appreciation on the management and life of the research unit

The head of IGS, who also heads the IFR188, is an outstanding scientist with a high publication record.

Although not explicitly addressed in the documentation, members of the IGS have been regular participants at international meetings where they have continued to increase the profile of their work, as well as emphasize the scientific importance of exploring questions on the diversity and evolution of giant viruses.

Several highly productive staff members have left the unit during the last period. This has been compensated for by the recruitment of two young researchers (CR2 CNRS) and the arrival of a senior researcher (CR1 CNRS) with strong expertise in protein and nucleic-acid complexes. The unit has attracted a significant number of grants from ANR and from industrial partners to support their different activities IGS has no fixed internal structure but is organized around projects that are defined according to scientific interest, funding and manpower. Senior scientists are responsible for a particular project, but can be involved in several projects at once. The projects are discussed between the head of the unit and scientists with permanent positions on a rather informal basis. This management has proved to be efficient, but given that the Mimivirus project is extremely diverse and ambitious, more defined teams lead by PIs working on specific aspects of the projects should emerge in the future.

 Appreciation on the scientific strategy and the project A major project of IGS in the next four years will be the study of mimivirus-host relationships. With this ambitious project, IGS aims to extend its international connections to capitalize on the pioneering work that it has undertaken since 2003 on mimivirus. The team is particularly interested in studying mimivirus/mimivirus and mimivirus/amoeba interactomes. Biological complexes will first be identified through a double-hybrid approach. The project on the viral transcription complex is well defined and continues previous studies. The large-scale study of the entire interactome of mimivirus (about 1000 ORFs) seems difficult to achieve in the four-year period. IGS does not have enough staff for this task and knows the risk. Therefore, collaboration has been undertaken with a laboratory at Harvard. The project on the development of a minimum in vitro system for replication and transcription is exciting and reflects the relative autonomy of NCLDVs; it can show that mimivirus depends on its host for translation only. The development of new in cellulo techniques is needed for the entire project (eg. transfection) and will require the recruitment of new staff members with a strong expertise in cell biology.

It can be highlighted that focused projects like those on sumo protease, transcription or nucleotide metabolism are well defined and fit well with the expertise of the team (researchers, engineers, technicians). The study of intrinsically unstructured proteins from mimivirus should also be developed considering the expertise of the IGS in bioinformatics and X-ray crystallography/structural biology.

Another major project is the study of the diversity and evolution of giant viruses and their hosts The oceans are vast and largely unexplored with respect to the genetic diversity of protists and the viruses that infect them. The previous work on the diversity and evolution of giant viruses has been instrumental in steering the IGS group into new and exciting areas of work.

There will be significant challenges as well as opportunities as the group moves to encompass more environmental diversity research, as has been outlined in the documentation provided. For example, they will undoubtedly be able to recover copious amounts of data on the number of different taxonomic groups of protists in different areas of the ocean. However, because of bias in data generated by amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and by next-generation sequencing technologies, it will be very difficult, if not impossible to generate accurate frequency distribution data for the different taxa. Consequently, it may make it impossible to infer any effects of environmental changes on the composition of protistan communities. Similarly, because of the highly dynamic physical nature of marine systems, and the small-scale changes in the temporal and spatial distribution of organisms within them, teasing apart the environmental drivers and interrelationships within and among protists and giant viruses may not be tractable. However, the team will gather vast quantities of new sequence information that can be used to examine relative abundances of different taxonomic groups across regions. This may reveal interesting and unexpected relationships amongst variables.

Another area that will undoubtedly be challenging is the metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses of the samples. The diversity within the viral size fraction is so enormous that even with ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing it is likely that it will be impossible to assemble a significant number of reads. This is compounded by the problem that most virus sequences have no homologues in databases, making it very difficult to assign a functional role. It may very well be that the vast majority of reads will be orphans, because of the lack of coverage, making comparisons among samples of limited value. Finally, because of the overlap in size between cells and viruses, it can be very difficult to determine what is definitely viral and what is definitely cellular. There are a number of well-established and excellent groups, primarily in the United States, that are actively working on these types of questions, in some cases with very similar samples. On the positive side, there are more and more viral metagenomic data bases coming online, which should help greatly to begin closing the sequence space for marine viruses. However, it also means that others will also be addressing questions of sequence diversity in viruses and cells, and what it means. Moreover, any successes by the IGS group in isolating and sequencing new giant viruses will be very helpful for providing template on which to scaffold the sequences. One of the key advantages of the IGS team is that to date the other groups have not focused on giant viruses.

In conclusion, IGS contains a very active and capable group of researchers that has a wealth of expertise that can be used to address questions on the biology and biodiversity of giant viruses and their putative hosts in marine systems.



  Date and execution of the visit



  Production results A1: Number of permanent researchers with teaching duties (recorded in N1) who are active in research 2 A2: Number of permanent researchers without teaching duties (recorded in N2) who are active in research 6 A3: Ratio of members who are active in research among staff members [(A1 + A2)/(N1 + N2)] 1 A4: Number of HDR granted during the past 4 years 0 A5: Number of PhD granted during the past 4 years 1 3  Specific comments  Appreciation on the results The research at the IGS has focused on the exploitation of genomic and post-genomic data to understand the biology of various types of microorganisms (bacteria and viruses). During the period 2006-2010, the unit has progressively shifted its main interest from the study of intracellular bacteria of the order Rickettsiae to the study of Mimivirus and more recently to other giant viruses of the NCLDV superfamily.

Statistiques de notes globales par domaines scientifiques

  (État au 06/05/2011)

	Intitulé UR / équipe	C1	C2	C3	C4	Note globale
	UPR2589 -INFORMATION GÉNOMIQUE ET STRUCTURALE	A+	A+	A+	A+	A+
	C1 Qualité scientifique et production
	C2 Rayonnement et attractivité, intégration dans l'environnement
	C3 Gouvernance et vie du laboratoire
	C4 Stratégie et projet scientifique

Sciences du Vivant et Environnement

	Note globale	SVE1_LS1_LS2	SVE1_LS3	SVE1_LS4	SVE1_LS5	SVE1_LS6	SVE1_LS7	SVE2 _LS3 *	SVE2_LS8 *	SVE2_LS9 *	Total
	A+	7	3	1	4	7	6		2		30
	A	27	1	13	20	21	26	2	12	23	145
	B	6	1	6	2	8	23	3	3	6	58
	C	1					4				5
	Non noté	1									1
	Total	42	5	20	26	36	59	5	17	29	239
	A+	16,7%	60,0%	5,0%	15,4%	19,4%	10,2%		11,8%		12,6%
	A	64,3%	20,0%	65,0%	76,9%	58,3%	44,1%	40,0%	70,6%	79,3%	60,7%
	B	14,3%	20,0%	30,0%	7,7%	22,2%	39,0%	60,0%	17,6%	20,7%	24,3%
	C	2,4%					6,8%				2,1%
	Non noté	2,4%									0,4%
	Total	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%
	*

les résultats SVE2 ne sont pas définitifs au 06/05/2011. Intitulés des domaines scientifiques Sciences du Vivant et Environnement • SVE1 Biologie, santé SVE1_LS1 Biologie moléculaire, Biologie structurale, Biochimie SVE1_LS2 Génétique, Génomique, Bioinformatique, Biologie des systèmes SVE1_LS3 Biologie cellulaire, Biologie du développement animal SVE1_LS4 Physiologie, Physiopathologie, Endocrinologie SVE1_LS5 Neurosciences SVE1_LS6 Immunologie, Infectiologie SVE1_LS7 Recherche clinique, Santé publique • SVE2 Ecologie, environnement SVE2_LS8 Evolution, Ecologie, Biologie de l'environnement SVE2_LS9 Sciences et technologies du vivant, Biotechnologie SVE2_LS3 Biologie cellulaire, Biologie du développement végétal