The theme of this platform grant is electronic-photonic convergence. It underpins expertise in integrated photonics platforms such as silicon photonics, mid-IR photonics, non-linear photonics and high speed electronics, all of which make use of a common fabrication platform. The convergence of electronics and photonics underpins a host of technologies ranging from future internet to consumer products, and from biological and chemical sensing to communications. The integration of electronics and photonics is recognised as the only way to manage the massive data demands of the future, and is consequently crucial to the continuation of the digital age. Silicon Photonics is an example of an emerging technology that will bring photonics to mass markets via integration with electronics. Integrated silicon systems are projected to serve a market in excess of $700M by 2024 (Yole Development, 2014), but is reliant on photonics converging with electronics. Furthermore, some aspects of silicon photonics will encompass non-linear photonics in second generation devices for all optical processing in a fully integrated platform. Similarly, related technologies such as SiGe-on-Insulator and Ge-on-Insulator are poised to revolutionise the next generation of communications and integrated sensor technologies, all on an integrated platform with electronics and non-linear photonics. Underpinning a team in these crucial areas of expertise supported by a flexible funding platform will enable us to pioneer work in these technology areas, and to add value to ideas that emerge. The convergence of electronics and photonics will result in complex integrated systems, linked via fabrication technologies. Electronic-photonic integration has yet to be addressed in a meaningful way in silicon based technologies, and this team collectively have the essential skills to do so, at an institution that possesses the key fabrication equipment to facilitate success. Due to the complex nature of fabrication for research, existing RAs are fully utilised, and have little or no additional scope for strategic research. The platform grant will give us the opportunity to dedicate fabrication resource and RA skills to strategic projects, and specific innovation. We will do this by utilising the RAs within the project to deliver work of significant strategic importance to the portfolio of grants held by the group, whilst also developing the research and managerial skills of the RAs by giving them specific management responsibilities whilst being mentored by one of the investigators.

TOPIC: "Semiconductors" are often synonymous with "Silicon Chips". After all Silicon supported computing technologies in the 20th century. But Silicon is reaching fundamental limits and already many of the technologies we now take for granted are only possible because of Compound Semiconductors (CS). These technologies include The Internet, Smart Phones, GPS and Energy efficient LED lighting! CSs are also at the heart of most of the new technologies expected in the next few years including 5G wireless, ultra-high speed optical fibre connectivity, LIDAR for autonomous vehicles, high voltage switching for electric vehicles, the IoT and high capacity data storage. To date CSs are made in relatively small quantities using fairly bespoke manufacturing and manufacturers have had to put together functions by assembling discrete devices. But this is expensive and for many of the new applications integration is needed along the lines of the Silicon Integrated Chip. CDT research will involve: the science of large scale CS manufacturing (e.g. materials combinations to minimise wafer bow, new fabrication processes for non-flat surfaces); manufacturing integrated CS on Silicon and in applying the manufacturing approaches of Silicon to CS. The latter includes using generic processes and generic building blocks and applying statistical process control. By applying these approaches students will address and invent new ways to exploit the highly advantageous electronic, magnetic, optical and power handling properties of CSs and generate novel integrated functionality for sensing, data processing and communication. NEED: This CDT is a critical part of the strategic development of a CS Cluster supporting activity throughout the UK. It is part of the development of a wider training portfolio including apprenticeships and CPD activities, to train and upskill the CS workforce. Evidence of the critical need for a CDT, has been identified in a survey and analysis conducted by UK Electronics Skills Foundation highlighting the specific skills required in this rapidly growing high technology industrial sector. "We are looking for PhD level skills plus industry experience. We don't have the time to train up new staff." "There are no 'perfect employees' for CS companies, as this is effectively a new area. Staff, including those with PhDs, either have silicon skills and need CS-specific training, or have CS skills and need training in volume tools and processes, either in the cleanroom or in packaging." - quotes from CS Skills Survey - Report UKESF July 2018. We have worked with the CSA Catapult utilising the skills need they have identified as well as companies across the spectrum of CS activities and are confident of the absorptive capacity: the expected PhD level jobs increase for the existing cluster companies alone would employ all the students and the CDT will support many more companies and academic institutions. APPROACH: a 1+3 programme where Year 1 is based in Cardiff, with provision via taught lectures using university approved level 7 modules and transferable skills training, hands on and in-depth practical training and workshop material supplied by University and Industry Partner staff. A dedicated nursery clean room to allow rapid practical progress, learning from peer group activity and then an industry facing environment with co-location with industry staff and manufacturing scale equipment, where they will learn the future CS manufacturing skills. This will maximise cross fertilisation of ideas, techniques and approach and maximise the potential for exploitation. Y2-Y4 consist of an in depth PhD project, co-created with industry and hosted at one of the 4 universities, and specialised whole cohort training and events, including communication, responsible innovation, entrepreneurship, co-innovation techniques and innovative outreach.

Photonics is one of six EU "Key Enabling Technologies. The US recently announced a $200M programme for Integrated Photonics Manufacturing to improve its competiveness. As a UK response, the research proposed here will advance the pervasive technologies for future manufacturing identified in the UK Foresight report on the Future of Manufacturing, improving the manufacturability of optical sensors, functional materials, and energy-efficient growth in the transmission, manipulation and storage of data. Integration is the key to low-cost components and systems. The Hub will address the grand challenge of optimising multiple cross-disciplinary photonic platform technologies to enable integration through developing low-cost fabrication processes. This dominant theme unites the requirements of the UK photonics (and photonics enabled) industry, as confirmed by our consultation with over 40 companies, Catapults, and existing CIMs. Uniquely, following strong UK investment in photonics, we include most of the core photonic platforms available today in our Hub proposal that exploits clean room facilities valued at £200M. Research will focus on both emerging technologies having greatest potential impact on industry, and long-standing challenges in existing photonics technology where current manufacturing processes have hindered industrial uptake. Platforms will include: Metamaterials: One of the challenges in metamaterials is to develop processes for low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing. Advanced metamaterials produced in laboratories depend on slow, expensive production processes such as electron beam writing and are difficult to produce in large sizes or quantities. To secure industrial take up across a wide variety of practical applications, manufacturing methods that allow nanostructure patterning across large areas are required. Southampton hosts a leading metamaterials group led by Prof Zheludev and is well positioned to leverage current/future EPSRC research investments, as well as its leading intellectual property position in metamaterials. High-performance special optical fibres: Although fibres in the UV and mid-IR spectral range have been made, few are currently commercial owing to issues with reliability, performance, integration and manufacturability. This platform will address the manufacturing scalability of special fibres for UV, mid-IR and for ultrahigh power sources, as requested by current industrial partners. Integration with III-V sources and packaging issues will also be addressed, as requested by companies exploiting special fibres in laser-based applications. In the more conventional near-infrared wavelength regime, we will focus on designs and processes to make lasers and systems cheaper, more efficient and more reliable. Integrated Silicon Photonics: has made major advances in the functionality that has been demonstrated at the chip level. Arguably, it is the only platform that potentially offers full integration of all the key components required for optical circuit functionality at low cost, which is no doubt why the manufacturing giant, Intel, has invested so much. The key challenge remains to integrate silicon with optical fibre devices, III-V light sources and the key components of wafer-level manufacture such as on line test and measurement. The Hub includes the leading UK group in silicon photonics led by Prof Graham Reed. III-V devices: Significant advances have been made in extending the range of III-V light sources to the mid-IR wavelength region, but key to maximise their impact is to enable their integration with optical fibres and other photonics platforms, by simultaneous optimisation of the III-V and surrounding technologies. A preliminary mapping of industrial needs has shown that integration with metamaterial components optimised for mid-IR would be highly desirable. Sheffield hosts the EPSRC III-V Centre and adds a powerful light emitting dimension to the Hub.

We are living in an increasingly digitalised world where data has become critical to all aspects of human life. Today's data centres are consuming about 3 percent of the global electricity supply and this number is likely to triple in the next decade. Remarkably, more than 50% of the power consumption in high-performance computing and data centres is associated with moving information around, rather than processing it. The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of healthcare monitoring and remote working using high speed broadband connections. Optical communications is essential to accommodate the need for high speed and bandwidth, while at the same time reducing the power required. In the meantime, 3D imaging and sensing is pushing the next revolution in consumer electronics by facilitating artificial intelligence (AI)-powered devices. LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, is one of the key technologies enabling this market growth with anticipated market share reaching $6 billion by 2024, 70% of which dedicated to automotive applications. From telecommunications to sensing applications, photons have proven to be the most efficient platform. As optical communication is penetrating to shorter and shorter distances and the 3D imaging and sensing expanding across the consumer, automotive, medical and industry/commercial sectors, the photonics manufacturing industry is on the verge of technological advancements. However, high cost, low volume capacity and limited scalability of the photon-based platform has become the bottleneck hindering cutting-edge technologies entering mass production. In this regard, integrating bulky, expensive optical components (the lasers, modulators, amplifiers, detectors and lenses) onto a much affordable and scalable platform like silicon is being much sought after by major industry and academic groups. Over the last six decades, silicon has driven the production of new technologies based on electrons at ever astounding volumes. Looking ahead, the silicon platform can be leveraged as a means to overcome the scalability, manufacturing and system architecture challenges experienced by photonics industry, impacting a range of emerging markets where small form factor, low-cost manufacturing and power efficiency are figures of merit. In this project, we aim to integrate high-performance lasers and amplifiers operating at the strategically important C-band at 1550 nm onto the scalable silicon platform. These devices are one of the most critical components enabling long-haul optical fibre communications, inter-data centre optical interconnect and emerging 3D imaging and sensing technologies including eye-safe LiDAR chips. Leveraging the complementary growth techniques of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), we will incorporate manufacturable nanostructures as the gain medium to realise advanced devices surpassing state-of-the-art. Several routes will be explored to overcome the challenges in growing these materials and devices onto silicon towards fully integrated photonic platforms, opening up the opportunity for low cost and high volume mass production.

The twentieth century has witnessed an exceptional technological progress in consumer electronics that has utterly shaped modern societies and economies. This ICT evolution was mainly driven by the invention of the transistor and integrated circuits, with chemistry and materials science playing a pivotal role in manufacturing active devices with distinct and reliable properties that over the past 70 years have been following Moore's scaling trend. The need for continuing advancing the performance of devices and systems is thus driving research efforts in prototyping and demonstrating novel nano-scale concepts at extreme dimensions - towards the single nanometre scale. This is not only important both for commercially available CMOS technologies as well as "beyond-CMOS" technologies that promise to disrupt the current electronics landscape by delivering unprecedented computational at extreme low-power. At the same time, emerging techniques for deep-subwavelength optical imaging based upon AI-enabled analysis of diffracted/scattered light fields are also constrained by current nanoscale precision and accuracy with which training samples can be fabricated. Electron Beam Lithography has so far supported such developments in the deep-submicron regime by directly patterning resists with a focused beam of electrons. A high acceleration voltage can facilitate the writing of fine and more vertical (better defined) lines, minimise proximity issues, achieve a better pattern fidelity and allow for a wider dose optimisation window. Existing electron beam lithography (EBL) systems in the UK operate at voltages up to 100 kV and can in principle reach writing resolutions down to 5nm. This programme aims at procuring the world's highest acceleration voltage EBL system that can be flexible operated from 25 kV to 150 kV for writing efficiently and fast a wide range of feature sizes (sub-5nm) across large areas, sample substrates (up to 8") and resist thicknesses. This new capability will provide a unique platform (first one in the UK and Europe) for innovation via manufacturing a wide-range of beyond-CMOS devices and nanostructures at unprecedented scales. The knowledge gained with this new instrument will not only contribute to an in-depth understanding of nanodevice physics but also advance developments in disruptive ICT concepts across emerging memory, computing, plasmonics, photonics and sensory architectures. Hosting this unique capability within Southampton's nanofabrication suite brings unique opportunities for usage along other state-of-art tools, including an EPSRC funded DUV Stepper/Scanner, that will support industry compatible wafer scale processing that allows mimicking the manufacturing capability of EUV tools (costing in excess of 100M£) and are used for production at industrial foundries for advanced technological nodes (3, 5 and 7 nm). Finally, the tool will support a diverse, inclusive and collaborative research community, fostering interactions between academia and industry, and enabling innovative research projects and directions.