Francesco PRIOLO

Curriculum Vitae - Francesco Priolo

Education

• Master degree in Physics, 110/110 cum laude, University of Catania
• PhD in Physics, University of Catania

Employment

• 1988-1989      Bell Labs, Murray Hill (NJ, USA)
• 1990              Consultant STMicroelectronics
• 1991-1997      Researcher (Assistant Professor)
• 1998-2000       Associate Professor
• 2001-present   Full Professor

Selected Service Positions

• Fellow of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (since 2022)
• Fellow of Academia Europaea (since 2025)
• Rector of the University of Catania (2019-2025)
• Vice-President of the Italian Rector's Conference (CRUI) 2024-2025
• President of the Regional Committee for the Sicilian Universities (CRUS) 2023-2025 
• Director of Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Ettore Majorana", University of Catania (2018-2019)
• President of the “Distretto Tecnologico Sicilia Micro e Nanosistemi s.c.a.r.l.” – (2017-2019) (www.distrettomicronano.it)
• President of the Scuola Superiore di Catania – Mediterrean University Centre, the School of excellence of the University of Catania (www.scuolasuperiorecatania.it) – 2013-2018.
• President of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS, Strasbourg - www.european-mrs.com) in the period 2009-2011, and now Member of its Senate and Executive Committee .
• Director (and founder) of the Center of Materials and Technologies for Information, communication & Solar Energy (MATIS), now Research Unit of the CNR Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems – www.matis.imm.cnr.it., from 2004 to 2015.
• Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC)
• Member of the Research & Innovation Strategic Group of the European Universities Association (EUA) - 2025
• Member of the European Research Council Panel for ERC Advanced Grant - 2016 & 2018
• Member of the Materials Science & Engineering Expert Committee (MatSEEC) of the European Science Foundation ( www.esf.org ) – 2010-2014
• Expert of the European Commission for the MicroElectronic Advanced Research Initiative (MEL-ARI) within Esprit and IST (1998-2000)
• Editor of the international journal Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing (Springer-Nature) from 2001 to 2016.
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Applied Physics Reviews, (American Institute of Physics) – since 2011
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal npj 2D Materials and Applications  (Nature Publishing Group)– since 2017
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Nanomaterials (MDPI, Basel) – since 2018
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, Elsevier (2001-2006)
• Member of the “ISOLDE and Neutron Time-of-Flight Experiments Committee” (INTC) at CERN (2003-2006).
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute of Ion Beam and Materials Research (www.fzd.de/fwi) within the  Forschungszentrum Dresden(Germany) (2007-2010).
• Member of the  Scientific Council of the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS – www.lens.unifi.it) in Florence
• Member of the Scientific Council of the Laboratory NEXT in Toulouse, France (Nano, mesures EXtrêmes & Théorie) comprehending 6 Istitutes of CNRS (CEMES, LCAR, LPCNO, LCPQ, LPT, LNCMI-T) – since 2011
• Member  of the Group of Evaluation Experts (GEV) in Physics established by ANVUR to evaluate research performace in Italy (VQR) – 2012
• Coordinator of the PhD course in Materials Science at the University of Catania (2000-2005).
• President of the Research Committee of the University  (University of Catania, 2009-2012) .
• Rector Delegate for International Relationships (University of Catania, 2009-2012)
• Member of the  Academic Senate  (University of Catania, 2010-2012)

Awards

• Graduate Student Award of the Materials Research Society (1988 -Boston)
• Campisano Prize of the National Institute for Matter Physics (INFM) - (2001 – Rome)
• Cavaliere della Repubblica for scientific merits (given by the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on  June 2nd 2001).
• Socio Benemerito - Società Italiana di Fisica 

Teaching Activities

Courses taught over the years: Structure of Matter - Semiconductor Physics - Photonics and Nanotechnologies - Experimental Physics - Electronic Devices. Supervisor of over 25 PhD theses and 100 master theses

6 Selected Project Grants

• PRIN2000 ex 40% (2001-2002) su “Nonequilibrium Diffusion in Si-based Heterostructures”, Role: National Coordinator
• CRS MATIS (INFM): Grant of 500 kEuro/year for 5 years to fund a new research center (role: PI)
• European Project – IST – SINERGIA (2001-2004) – Role: Coordinator Catania Unit & Member Steering Committee
• Project CADRES EU-FP6 su “Defects Relevant to Engineering Silicon Devices” - Role: Coordinator Catania Unit & Member Steering Committee
• European Project NanosciERA+ “Lasing of Erbium in Crystalline Silicon Photonic Nanostructures” (LECSIN) (2009-2011) – Role: Project Coordinator
• Project PON “Ricerca e competitività” (2011-2015) Acronym: BRIT (Bio-nanotechnology Research Innovation Tower) (>22 M€) – Università di Catania – Role: Project Coordinator

Research

Area of expertise: semiconductor physics, nanotechnology, microelectronics, photonics.

The main research areas comprehend nanotechnologies for electronics, photonics, photovoltaics and sensing. In these fields Francesco Priolo is a highly recognised international expert and a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.

Research Summary

The research output can be described synthetically:

• Number of Publications  (ISI Journals):                >500
• Proceedings and Book Chapters:                         >80
• Total Number of Citations:                                    >16000 (WoS);  >22000 (Google Scholar) 
• Number of papers with over 100 citations :          31 (WoS) – 40 (Google Scholar)
• Invited Talks:                                                         >100
• Conference Chairman:                                          26
• Books:                                                                   1
• Editor of Proceedings or books:                            10
• Hirsch h-index:                                                      57 (WoS) – 67 (Google Scholar)

Francesco Priolo is an author of over 400 publications on materials science and nanotechnologies applied to microelectronics, photonics, photovoltaics and sensing. Here it is reported a selection of only 10 relevant publications:

10 Selected Publications

5 selected publications (highly cited – data from WoS):

1. L. Pavesi, L. Dal Negro, C. Mazzoleni, G. Franzò, F. Priolo, Optical Gain in Silicon Nanocrystals; Nature 408, 440 (2000) - Citations: 2050   
2.    G. Franzò, F. Priolo, S. Coffa, A. Polman, A. Carnera; Room Temperature Electroluminescence from Er-doped Crystalline Silicon; Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 2235 (1994) - Citations: 331
3.    F. Priolo, G. Franzò, F. Iacona, D. Pacifici, V. Vinciguerra; Role of Energy Transfer on the Optical Properties of Undoped and Er-Doped Interacting Silicon Nanocrystals; J. Appl. Phys. 89, 264 (2001) - Citations: 300             
4.    C.Spinella, S. Lombardo, F. Priolo; Crystal Grain Nucleation in Amorphous Silicon; J. Appl. Phys. 84, 5383 (1998); (invited review paper – Applied Physics Reviews) -  Citations: 280
5.    F. Priolo, G. Franzò, S. Coffa, A. Carnera; Excitation and Non-Radiative De-Excitation Process of Er³⁺ in Crystalline Silicon; Phys. Rev. B 57, 4443 (1998) - Citations: 273        

5 selected publications (recent – last 10 years):

1.   A. Irrera, P. Artoni, R. Saija, P. Gucciardi, M. Iatì, F. Borghese, P. Denti, F. Iacona, F. Priolo, O. Maragò; Size-Scaling in Optical Trapping of Silicon Nanowires, Nano Letters 11, 4879 (2011) - Impact factor: 13.19
2. A. Shakoor, R. Lo Savio, P. Cardile, S. Portalupi, D. Gerace, K. Welna, S. Boninelli, G. Franzò, F. Priolo, T.F. Krauss, M. Galli, L. O’Faolain, Room-temperature all-silicon photonic crystal nanocavity light emitting diode at sub-bandgap wavelengths,   Laser & Photonics Reviews 7, 114 (2013) - Impact factor: 8.008
3. F. Priolo, T. Gregorkiewicz, M. Galli, T.F. Krauss, Silicon Nanostructures for Photonics  and Photovoltaics, Nature Nanotechnology 9, 19 (2014) - Impact factor: 31.170
4.  A.Irrera, A. Magazzu, P. Artoni, S.Simpson, S. Hanna, P.Jones, F.  Priolo, P. Gucciardi, O. Marago,  Photonic Torque Microscopy of the Nonconservative Force Field for Optically Trapped Silicon Nanowires, Nano Letters 17, 3485 (2017) - IF: 13.198
5.   B.Fazio, A.Irrera, S.Pirotta, C. D’Andrea, S. Del Sorbo, M.J. Lo Faro, P.Gucciardi, M.Iatì, R.Saija, M.Patrini, P.Musumeci , C.Vasi, D.Wiersma, M.Galli, F. Priolo, Coherent Backscattering of Raman Light, Nature Photonics 11, 170 (2017) – IF: 37.85

Research activity concerns materials science and nanotechnologies applied to microelectronics, photonics, photovoltaics and sensing. In this field Francesco Priolo is an internationally recognized expert with over 400 publications.

• President of the “Distretto Tecnologico Sicilia Micro e Nanosistemi s.c.a.r.l.” – (2017-2019) (www.distrettomicronano.it)
• President of the Scuola Superiore di Catania – Mediterrean University Centre, the School of excellence of the University of Catania (www.scuolasuperiorecatania.it) – 2013-2019.
• Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Applied Physics Reviews, (American Institute of Physics) – since 2011
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal npj 2D Materials and Applications  (Nature Publishing Group) – since 2017
• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Nanomaterials (MDPI, Basel) – since 2018