Curriculum Vitae

Personal and contact information
Education
Positions held
Professional service
Awards and honors
Research interests
Research skills
Teaching experience
Foreign languages

Personal and contact information

Name:	Pietro
Surname:	Mandracci
Institution:	Politecnico di Torino - Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT)
Address:	c.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Torino, Italy
Telephone:	+39 011 090 7383
Fax:	+39 011 090 7399
Email:	[email protected]

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Education

PhD in Electronic Devices
February 2001, Trento University
Thesis title: Growth and Characterization of SiC Thin Films by a Plasma Assisted Technique for Electronic Applications
MD in Physics (full honors)
July 1996, Torino University
Thesis title: Physical Properties and Stability of Silicon Based Amorphous Semiconductors

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Positions held

December 2017 - Present
Associate Professor at Politecnico di Torino
Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT)
January 2012 - November 2017
Confirmed Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino
Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT)
November 2008 - December 2011
Confirmed Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino
Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering (DISMIC)
January 2007 - October 2008
Confirmed Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino
Department of Physics
January 2004 - December 2006
Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino
Department of Physics
November 2000 - December 2003
Post-doc Research Assistant at Politecnico di Torino:
Technologies for silicon based micro-electro-mechanics
November 1997 - October 2000
Ph.D. student in Electronic Devices, Universita di Trento, Politecnico di Torino and Universita di Genova (consortium):
Growth and characterization of polycrystalline and epitaxial SiC
April - October 1997
Research collaborator at the Istituto Elettrotecnico Nazionale Galileo Ferraris,Turin:
Project, realization and characterization of a-Si:H and a-SiC:H based UV detectors
Project of multilayer structures for optical filters by numerical optimization techniques
January - March 1997
Research collaborator at INFM (National Institute for the Physics of Matter):
Growth and characterization of silicon based thin films
September - November 1996
Post-graduated grant at INFM (National Institute for the Physics of Matter):
Development of a program for the simulation of carrier photogeneration in solar cells with variable energy gap profile

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Professional service

Editorial service

2023 - present: Member of the Editorial Board (Review Editor) of the Journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
2020 - present: Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Coatings
2016 - 2017: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the InTech publisher for the field of Materials Science
2011 - 2014: Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal ISRN Material Science

Guest editor service

2022: Special Issue "Recent Advances in Silicon-Based Amorphous and Nanostructured Coatings" of the journal Coatings (MDPI)
2019: Special Issue "Non-Releasing Surfaces and Thin-films with Antibacterial Properties" of the journal Coatings (MDPI)
2018: Special Issue "Silicon-based Bioactive Materials and their Applications" of the journal Applied Sciences (MDPI)
2018: Special Issue "Functional Oxide and Oxynitride Coatings" of the journal Coatings (MDPI)

Conference organization

2026 - Member of the Organizing Committee of the 9th Global Webinar on Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology (WEBASET-2026), Online, May 23-24, 2026
2003: Member of the International Advisory Committee of Symposium G at the E-MRS 2003 Spring Meeting

Referee service

(Complete referee record at WebOfScience)

Applied Sciences (MDPI)
Applied Surface Science (Elsevier)
Advanced Electronic Materials (Wiley)
Biomedical Materials (IOP)
Biomedicines (MDPI)
ChemistrySelect (Wiley)
Coatings (MDPI)
Crystal Growth and Design (ACS)
European Journal of Oral Sciences (Wiley)
Journal of Applied Physics (AIP)
Journal of Applied Biomaterials and Functional Materials (Wichtig Publishing)
Journal of the Electrochemical Society (ECS)
Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ASP)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (IOP)
Materials (MDPI)
Materials Research (Scielo)
Metals (MDPI)
Micromachines (MDPI)
Nanotechnology (IOP)
Nanomaterials (MDPI)
Plasma (MDPI)
Plos One (PLOS)
Physica Status Solidi (a) (Wiley)
RSC Advances (RSC)
Solid-State Electronics (Elsevier)
Surface and Coatings Technology (Elsevier)
The European Physical Journal Plus (Springer)
The Journal of Physical Chemistry (ACS)

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Awards and honors

2017: II Level (Associate Professor) National Scientific Qualification in the following fields
- Experimental Physics of Matter
- Applied Physics, Didactics and History of Physics
2006: listed in Who's Who in the World 2006, published by Marquis Who's Who
2003: listed in Who's Who in Science and Engineering 2003-2004, published by Marquis Who's Who
2001: European Material Research Society - Young Scientists Award

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Research interests

Plasma assisted processes

Numerical simulation of plasma processes
- simulation of the first stages of RF-CCP discharges

Plasma assisted surface modification of materials at the nanoscale
- plasma-assisted surface modification of Ti surfaces for biomedical applications
- low temperature, plasma-assisted (low pressure and APP) surface modification of carbon fibers and textiles

Non-thermal plasma assisted abatement processes
- plasma-driven catalysis (PDC) processes for the abatement of atmospheric pollutants

Materials

Amorphous and nanocrystalline materials
- amorphous Si-based materials (a-Si:H, a-SiC_x:H, a-SiN_x:H, a-SiO_x, a-SiO_xN_y, a-SiC_xO_yN_z)
- Si nanocrystals embedded in a-SiC_x, a-SiN_x or a-SiO_x matrix
- amorphous C-based materials (a-C:H, a-CN_x:H)
- a-WO₃ electrochromic thin-films
- ITO thin films on glass and polumeric substrates
- Cr nanolayers on polymeric substrates
Mono/polycrystalline materials
- microcrystalline and polycrystalline Si
- polycrystalline and epitaxial SiC
Multilayer structures
- Si-based multilayer structures for optical filters and resonant cavities
Biomedical applications
- Bioactive coatings for osseointegration acceleration
- Antibacterial coatings
- Coatings for biocompatibility improvement
- Barrier coatings against diffusion of metal ions

Devices

PV and energy saving applications
- thin-film, Si-based transparent solar cells
- electrochromic devices
Sensing applications
- a-Si:H and a-SiC:H based UV detectors
Power electronics applications
- Schottky diodes based on 4H-SiC
Biomedical applications
- cell adhesion sensors
- surface modified dental implants

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Research skills

Plasma-assisted processes for thin-film growth of and surface modification
- radio frequency - capacitively coupled plasma (RF-CCP)
- electron cyclotron resonance (ECR)
- RF/DC magnetron sputtering and reactive sputtering
- plasma etching and reactive ion etching (RIE)
- dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)
Characterization of materials, thin-films and surfaces
- Optical transmittance and reflectance measurements
- Sub-gap optical absorption measurement
- FTIR spectroscopy
- Raman spectroscopy
- optical contact angle analysis (OCA)
- Roughness analysys
- X-ray diffractometry
Numerical computation
- simulation of low-pressure plasma-assited processes
- simulation of the optical absorption in solar cells
- simulation of the optical properties of thin films
- design and optimization of multilayer structures
Computer-related skills
- operative systems: DOS, Windows, Linux
- office applications: MS Office, Open Office, Libre Office
- software for data analysis: Origin, Grace, QtiPlot, SciDavis
- programming languages: Python, Fortran, C

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Teaching experience

Teaching activity at Politecnico di Torino (2003 - present)
- Graduate courses:
  - 2019-present: Nanosurfaces and nanostructures: from synthesis to applications (in English),
    MD in Nanotechnology for ICT, course responsible.
  - 2011-2018: Physical properties at the nanoscale, nanomanipulation and nanoprocessing (in English),
    MD in Nanotechnology for ICT, course responsible.
  - 2010-present: Materials for MEMS and characterization of technological processes (in English),
    MD in Nanotechnology for ICT, teaching assistant.
  - 2004-2010: Laboratory of advanced physical technologies (in Italian),
    MD in Physical Engineering, course responsible (except in 2010 teaching assistant).
  - 2004-2010: Physics of materials and processes (in Italian),
    MD in Physical Engineering, teaching assistant.
  - 2004-2009: Characterization of technological processes (in English),
    MD in Nanotechnology for ICT, teaching assistant.
- Undergraduate courses:
  - 2018-present: Physics I (in Italian),
    shared by various BSc in Engineering, course responsible.
  - 2005-2017: General physics and Laboratory of general physics (in Italian),
    shared by various BSc in Engineering, teaching assistant.
  - 2004-2010: Introduction to experimental techniques (in Italian),
    shared by various BSc in Engineering, teaching assistant.
  - 2004-2009: Surface physics (in Italian),
    BSc in Materials Engineering, teaching assistant
  - 2004: Elements of the structure of matter (in Italian),
    BSc in Information Engineering, teaching assistant.
  - 2004 General physics I (in Italian),
    shared by several BSc in Engineering, course responsible.
  - 2003-2010: Vacuum and cryogenic techniques (in Italian),
    BSc in Physics Engineering: teaching assistant.
Teaching activity at private institutions:
- Agilent Vacuum Technologies
  - 2010 - 2012: Advanced Vacuum Training (in Italian and English)
  - 2010 - 2012: Basic Vacuum Training (in Italian and English)
- Varian Vacuum
  - 2006 - 2009: Advanced Vacuum Training (in Italian and English)
  - 2006 - 2009: Basic Vacuum Training (in Italian and English)

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Foreign languages

English written and spoken (First Certificate in English - A grade)

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