The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded a £1.7 million grant to the Department of Physics at University of Warwick to develop silicon-based platforms using novel technologies.
The five-year grant will be used to develop advanced technologies ranging from cooltronics to energy harvesting to zero-power electronics. These new technologies may help address global climate change issues. Nano-Silicon Group in the Department of Physics will utilize the grant to develop more silicon-based technologies at its sophisticated facilities.
Silicon is recognized for its application in microelectronics. The EPSRC grant, which will begin in October 2011, will be utilized in the development of silicon-based epitaxy methods, which enable the production of unique materials using processes that allow the deposition of one atomic layer at one time. Such novel materials are the basis of new age technologies.
Utilizing these processes, scientists at the University of Warwick have already coupled silicon with layers of germanium, which paves way to new potentialities in thermoelectric, photovoltaics, energy harvesting, spintronics, photonics, and in cooltronics or electronic fridge.
The University of Warwick’s professor David Leadley stated that he is happy to earn this grant, which demonstrates the potential of the university’s Nano-Silicon group and the importance of silicon epitaxy. The grant will enable the researchers to develop materials that enhance next-generation nanoelectronics, he added.