Searches for direct pair production 
of third generation squarks 
with the ATLAS detector

Naturalness arguments for weak-scale supersymmetry favour supersymmetric partners of the third generation quarks with masses light enough to be produced at the LHC. The ATLAS experiment has a variety of analyses devoted to stop direct production exploiting advanced analysis techniques. This talk presents recent results of searches for stops and sbottoms, including models with long decay chains involving Higgs and/or Z bosons, and their interpretation in associated-production DM models.