Nanotechnology research receives £4m boost
CUTTING edge equipment to be installed at a Yorkshire university will put the region at the forefront of nanotechnology research.
A state-of-the art electron-beam lithography system, which will help researchers understand how materials work on a very small scale, will be installed at the University of Leeds following a £2.7m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in partnership with the Universities of Sheffield and York.
Its purchase is supported by additional investment from the University of Leeds and industrial funding for PhD studentships, bringing the total investment in the facility to close to £4m.
Electron-beam lithography systems are used by researchers to pattern wires, dots, rings and sophisticated integrated structures on a submicron length scale.
The system, supplied by electron microscope manufacturer JEOL, will be able to define features that are less than 10 nanometres in size – more than 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
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Professor Edmund Linfield, from the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds said: “This instrument will take us to the next level of sophistication in terms of nano-engineering.
“It will allow us to undertake the fundamental scientific work that will underpin the next generation of materials that will emerge over the coming decades, and allow us to design devices that will find industrial applications from the electronic to the medical sectors.”
Funding from JEOL will help young scientists at the beginning of their research careers take advantage of the new facility. Up to 10 new PhD studentships specifically linked to electron-beam lithography will be created over the next five years at the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.
It is expected that up to half of these will involve collaborative research with an industrial partner.
Professor Kevin O’Grady, director of the York Institute for Materials Research at the University of York, said: “This project was specifically designed to train a large group of PhD students to improve the skills base in Yorkshire. The three students based in York will work on projects in collaboration with Seagate, Toshiba and Hitachi.”
