Future Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Hub

We will establish the primary global manufacturing research hub for Compound Semiconductors that brings together Academic and Industrial researchers. This will capitalize on existing academic expertise in Cardiff, Manchester, Sheffield and UCL and the UK indigenous corporate strength in the key advanced materials technology of Compound Semiconductors. Cardiff, the Compound Semiconductor Centre and the other spoke universities will provide > £100M of additive capital leverage to the Hub, providing European leading facilities for large scale compound semiconductor epitaxial growth, device fabrication and characterisation enabling the most effective translation of research to manufacturing. The hub will operate at the necessary scale and with the necessary reach to change the approach of the UK compound semiconductor research community to one focused on starting from research solutions that can be manufactured. It will do this by providing the necessary tools and expertise and will become the missing exploitation link for the UK compound semiconductor research community. It will be a magnet and the driver for high technology industry and will act as the focal point for Europe's 5th Semiconductor Cluster and the 1st dedicated to compound semiconductors. Partners will include local and UK companies and global organisations. The importance of compound semiconductor technology cannot be overstated. It has underpinned the internet and enabled megatrends such as Smart Phones and Tablets, satellite communications / GPS, Direct Broadcast TV, energy efficient LED lighting, efficient solar power generation, high capacity communication networks, data storage, ground breaking healthcare and biotechnology. Silicon has supported the information society in the 20th century and dominates memory and processor function, but is reaching fundamental limits. Whilst the combination of Silicon and compound semiconductors will produce a second revolution in the information age, they are very different materials with, for example, different fundamental lattice constants and different thermal properties and have different device fabrication requirements. We propose research into large scale Compound Semiconductor manufacturing and in manufacturing integrated Compound Semiconductors on Silicon. The scale of the hub means we can bring together three world leading researchers in the growth of compound semiconductors on Silicon. Each has individually invented different solutions to tackle the silicon / compound semiconductor interface - together they will invent the universal solution. We will solve the scientific challenges in wafer size scale-up, process statistical control and integrated epitaxial growth and processing to facilitate new devices and integrated systems and open up completely new areas of research, only possible with reliable and reproducible fabrication, such as electronically controlled Qubits. We will facilitate the improved communication infrastructure necessary for the connected world and the integrated systems of the Internet of Things. We will produce large area integrated sensor arrays for, e.g. in-process Non-Destructive Testing, further benefiting manufacturing but also improving our safety and security. The key outcomes will be to 1) To radically boost the uptake and application of Compound Semiconductor technology by applying the manufacturing approaches of Silicon to Compound Semiconductors, 2) To exploit the highly advantageous electronic, magnetic, optical and power handling properties of Compound Semiconductors while utilising the cost and scaling advantage of silicon technology where best suited and 3) To generate novel integrated functionality such as sensing, data processing and communication.