The Nanoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Glasgow has been boosted by the IT & CS programme's award of a three-year, £2.1 million (pound) grant: "The new funding will enable us to further develop our unique combination of core nanofabrication capabilities towards the goal of robust 30 nm processing (required for high-speed integrated circuit production 12-15 years from now)", says Professor Chris Wilkinson, Convenor of the Nanoelectronics Research Centre based in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering.
The Centre functions successfully as a tightly coupled unit, as demonstrated by one of the thrusts of the recently announced EPSRC grant for its research programme: "Nanofabrication Technology Driven by High Speed Devices.
Glasgow will investigate issues related to the realisation of optimised GaAs (Gallium Arsenide)-based transistors with critical dimensions in the range 30 - 80 nm, two to five times smaller than the smallest structures in today's integrated circuits.
These devices will be required in future generations of products such as mobile phones, satellite-based atmospheric imaging systems and portable pollution-monitoring units. Due to the underlying physics, transistors and integrated circuits based on III-V semiconductors such as GaAs have higher operating speeds than their silicon counterparts, and so are currently used in a wide range of high frequency communication and imaging applications, including satellite broadcasting and automotive collision avoidance systems.
The range of nanofabriation technologies available in Glasgow puts it in a unique position to undertake work of this nature, requiring as it does the simultaneous study and integration of a number of complex, interrelated technologies. Glasgow's approach is a programme with significant interaction between research groups (molecular beam epitaxy for substrate growth, electrical transport studies for fundamental material characterisation, physics-based modelling for device design and optimisation, transistor realisation with high resolution pattern transfer using electron-beam lithography, and detailed device evaluation to frequencies beyond 100 GHz to assess performance gains and limitations). This will further co-ordinate the Centre in the pursuit of a common goal: the development of transistors with the highest possible levels of performance.
Presently the Nanoelectronics Research Centre collaborate with three UK university high frequency design groups.
We aim to extend the number of users of our high frequency integrated circuit technologies, every six months, and plan to run multi-project wafers using our 120 nm gate length GaAs-based integrated circuit process.
It is proposed that the analytical examination and characterisation of all aspects of the Centre's work, through material and final device fabrication and production, will be kept to the highest standards possible.
To gain access to the Centre's technology, potential collaborators should contact Professor Wilkinson to discuss their requirements and he will then submit a joint proposal to EPSRC.
Collaborative research is the norm in the Nanoelectronics Research Centre. Our nanofabrication technologies are currently being accessed by around 100 institutions globally for applications in many research areas including optoelectronics, bioelectronics, high-resolution magnetics, pharmaceutics, medicine, imaging and sensing.
A vast range of extremely exciting communication, storage and sensing systems will in future be realised by the integration of nanofabricated structures from more than one of these areas.
In addition to identifying key issues leading to the definition of a roadmap for III-V integrated circuit technology, and extending the UK user base, the core technologies which we will continue to develop in Glasgow under the new programme will underpin future generations of nanofabrication research. This will ultimately lead to the demonstration of systems which depend critically on the integration of many nanofabricated structures.
