IBM Zurich hosted the PETMEM consortium (left)  on the 8th and 9^th of December 2016. The consortium has achieved all of the intermediate objectives and milestones foreseen in year 1. We discussed the planned month-12 review meeting in Brussels. This was followed by a tour of the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology Center Switzerland.

On the 15th of December 2016, the project review took place in Brussels with representation from all the partners. The overall assessment was positive with specific recommendations for improved future exploitation of the technology. We are excited and filled with great expectations the next 6 months of the project. 

The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meeting of the PETMEM project will be hosted in London by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM³) on the 15^th of May 2017. The IAB include external contributors from industry and universities, who will be advising the "Consortium" in relation to the PETMEM technology and how it aligns with the expectations and needs of the industry. We are looking forward to some exciting and insightful discussions.

Prof. Markys Cain [Electrosciences Ltd, UK] attended the 2016 International Workshop on Acoustic Transducer Materials & Devices, 9-12 May 2016, held at Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA. The EU H2020 Project ‘PETMEM’ was provided with a 3 minute pitch and poster slot under the single crystals materials and devices session. Prof Cain outlined the PETMEM project’s key aims and objectives which culminated in a great deal of interest from the audience and subsequent poster session. The workshop provided a forum for reports on, and discussions of, the state-of-the-art in materials and devices to generate, detect, and suppress sound. Naturally, this then included the concepts behind the Piezoelectric transistor technology central to the PETMEM project. Prof Cain (right) also met and discussed the project with International steering committee member, Prof Susan Trolier-McKinstry of Penn State University, and later contributed to the IEEE standardisation committee on single crystal materials. The drive towards higher quality piezoelectric thin films and further integration into MEMS/NEMS electronic devices was noted as well as the continuing route taken to develop higher temperature single crystal piezoelectric materials.