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Our research on semiconductor materials and devices has led to the establishment by e2v Technologies of a combined manufacturing, research and development facility within the School of Physics and Astronomy. We have adapted and transferred device simulation software to e2v, and have provided epitaxially-grown semiconductors and access to fabrication facilities which have been used in their manufacturing processes. Devices fabricated within the facility, which was opened in 2011, have generated sales of £7M for e2v. This initiative has also led to shifts in the investment priorities of e2v, and mitigated risks to the company arising from import restrictions associated with the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
The development by Cambridge University staff of compact semiconductor sources and detectors of Terahertz radiation has opened up this part of the electromagnetic spectrum to commercial use for the first time, enabling many applications. In medicine these applications include the analysis of drugs and the detection and imaging of cancer; in security applications the detection and imaging of explosives; and in the semiconductor industry the detection and imaging of buried defects in semiconductor wafers. High power Terahertz lasers are used in gas sensors, for imaging and as local oscillators. This technology has been exploited by a spin-off company TeraView which has 25 employees, has raised £16M in funding, £3.5M since 2008, and has sold 70 imaging systems, half since 2008 at an average cost of $300K each.
Metamaterials deliver electromagnetic properties not available in natural materials. Transformation optics replaces the ray picture of Snell's law with the field lines of Maxwell's equations and is an exact description of classical optics. These powerful concepts, originally developed by Prof John Pendry, have engendered massive interest in the electromagnetic community encompassing radio frequency (RF) through to optical applications. His advice is sought by numerous companies and these concepts are now filtering through into products. In the last 5 years there has been great involvement of industry and particularly of the defence establishment in the USA who run several multi mullion dollar programs on metamaterials based at DARPA, WPAFB and Sandia. A company, KYMETA, was formed in 2012 to market this technology with $12M of investment funding, and is developing a laptop-sized antenna that gives instant Internet hotspot access anywhere in the world, with an ultimate application allowing cheap and fast Internet connections for the everyday consumer. In the UK, BAE Systems is using metamaterials for several applications including compact, directional antennas.
The "Inerter" is a completely new mechanical device and suspension component that was conceived by Professor Malcolm Smith at University of Cambridge Department of Engineering (DoEng), as a result of his fundamental study of the possible behaviour of passive mechanical systems. Penske Racing Shocks purchased a license to produce versions of the Inerter for sale to Formula 1 (F1) teams and in IndyCar racing in 2008, once the Inerter's use in the McLaren cars that won 10 out of 15 races in the 2005 F1 season was widely known and McLaren's exclusive licence had lapsed. The use of the Inerter is now endemic in F1 and IndyCar racing.
The company Ossila Ltd has developed a range of products targeted at developers of organic electronic devices, with products based on know-how derived from research within the Soft Matter Physics (SMP) group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The company also supplies research-based services to technical markets around the world. Since its establishment in 2010, the company has grown organically, and now has a growing revenue stream that makes it a sustainable profit-making entity, with 85% of its products sold to overseas markets. The company enjoys rapid growth and currently employs 10 people (~7 FTE equivalent). Ossila's financial turn-over has increased by between 50-100% annually, [text removed for publication].
Research in the Microelectronics Group of the Cavendish Laboratory in the area of single-electron nanoelectronics, quantum computing and spintronics has been exploited by Hitachi, one of world's leading microelectronics companies. Research breakthroughs made in the Cavendish have defined Hitachi's R&D directions in quantum computing and spintronics, led to several Hitachi product developments and influenced senior Hitachi strategic decision makers regarding the future of computing.
Impact: Economic gains
PHYESTA research has led to the setting up of a company now known as ForthDD. Since 2008 it has increased its annual revenue by more than 25% to around US $5M, and its global workforce from 25 to 35. It has released new products directly underpinned by PHYESTA research as recently as October 2012.
Significance:
A consortium involving PHYESTA staff in collaboration with Edinburgh's School of Engineering and five industrial partners realised the world's first high-resolution ferroelectric liquid crystal over silicon (FLCOS) microdisplay. This digital display attracted investment from the UK, Taiwan, and USA of over $40m, and was taken forward to production by MicroPix, MicroVue, and Forth Dimension Displays.
Reach:
ForthDD now has offices in Valencia, USA, and Berlin, Germany. The company designs, develops and manufactures single chip microdisplays used in the demanding near to eye (NTE) training and simulation systems, HD video camera viewfinders, medical imaging systems and virtual reality and head-mounted displays.
Beneficiaries:
ForthDD, its customers and business partners (e.g. in the medical imaging sector).
Attribution: This work was led within PHYESTA by Professor David Vass involving PHYESTA and done in collaboration with Edinburgh's School of Engineering.
Research on high-voltage power devices by the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering (DoEng) was commercialised by its spin-off company, Cambridge Semiconductor Limited (CamSemi), which, in the REF period, has:
CamSemi chips are more efficient than traditional linear power supplies. The CamSemi chips that were produced before the end of the REF period are estimated to save of the order of 100GWh of electricity and 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year in total.
Interdisciplinary work by microbiologist Smith TJ and materials science collaborators has led to (i) the development of novel environmentally friendly coatings for anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling applications that have attracted attention across diverse industries; (ii) the development of a platform technology that includes an antimicrobial coating currently under investigation for use on orthopaedic prostheses and (iii) associated work quantifying elution of antibiotics from orthopaedic cement in clinical use. The research has been disseminated via journal publications and patents have been obtained. Impact is evidenced by commercial interest, which has led to collaborative field trials under an EPSRC follow-on fund grant and contract research and consultancy funded by industry and the NHS.
The isolation and characterisation of graphene by Geim and Novoselov demonstrated its potential to underpin disruptive technological change across an incredibly broad range of industries. This resulted in rapid global uptake of new technologies in the REF period, with at least $200m recent commercial investment in graphene production. Blue-chip companies have also made significant investments leading to the generation of 7740 industrial patents. The first set of graphene-based products has reached the market with revenues already exceeding $10m per month. This commercial activity has been matched by global shifts in public research and innovation funding of at least $2.4bn, as governments have moved to facilitate graphene research and commercialisation.