The research lines of María J. Hernández throughout her research career mainly belong to the synthesis of new materials with electronic applications. He completed his doctoral thesis on the growth at low temperatures and using CVD plasma, of dielectric films for electronic devices. During the completion of his doctoral work, he moved three months to the Universita degli Studi di Bologna (Italy) to train in the characterization of nanometer thickness oxide films of last generation industrial devices through load injection stress.

After obtaining his doctorate and with funding from the Conseil Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and then with a scholarship granted by the Ministry of Education and Science, he made a fifteen-month postdoctoral stay in Lyon, France, in the Laboratory of Multimatériaux et Interfaces of the CNRS (UMR 5615), during which he studied and optimized the heteroepitaxial growth of silicon carbide on silicon at atmospheric pressure.

After completing his postdoctoral stay in Lyon, he became involved in the study of new broadband semiconductors at the Laboratory of Electronics and Semiconductors (ELySE) of the UAM, where he has been a permanent professor in the Department of Applied Physics since June 2003. His activity focused in the synthesis of boron and silicon carbonitrides, obtained both by CVD plasma and by modification of substrates by means of high dose ionic implantation, subsequently subjected to heat treatments.

In the last five years it has included among its lines of research the VLS growth with silicon nanowires catalytic metals assisted by high ion density plasmas, although it has also continued the study of new broadband semiconductors, such as films deposited by CVD of oxide and zinc nitride. His most recent works link with the field of plasmonics and its application to chemical sensors, and more specifically the behavior of plasmons in nanometer drops of gallium.

Throughout his research career, and for the study of the aforementioned materials, he has specialized in numerous techniques of optical, electrical and structural characterization, among which we can mention spectroscopic ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, cathodoluminescence, measurements of capacity and current in voltage and frequency, X-ray diffraction ... among others.