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Enabling Zyvex Labs to develop atomically precise manufacturing processes

Summary of the impact

The underpinning research involved modelling the diffusion of hydrogen on silicon surfaces, and the electronic structure of dopant atoms on silicon surfaces. This data was used to inform, guide and develop the atomically precise manufacturing processes of Zyvex Labs. These processes remove hydrogen atoms from a silicon surface to create patterns with atomic precision for later overgrowth. As a result of the UCL research, Zyvex Labs has already obtained funding of $14 million, several jobs have been created, and at least two products are being brought to market.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural), Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Impact of research into pulse techniques on new generation of Flash memory devices

Summary of the impact

Using high-k dielectric enables the Flash memory industry to develop sub-28-nm products, but the high density of defects in high-k dielectric is a major challenge for product qualification, since the existing characterisation techniques are not suitable. The new pulse techniques, developed by the Microelectronics Research Group (RG1), overcome this challenge and have been extensively used by the Memory Devices Consortium (including Intel, Micron and Samsung) at IMEC (the Inter-University Microelectronics Research Centre in Leuven, Belgium) for the development of new Flash memory products in this REF period. This benefits the global Flash memory industry by providing guidance for material selection, process screening, device structure optimisation, and qualification procedure improvement.

Submitting Institution

Liverpool John Moores University

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics
Chemical Sciences: Inorganic Chemistry
Engineering: Materials Engineering

CPO software package for designing charged-particle optical systems

Summary of the impact

A software package called CPO has been developed that simulates the motion of charged particles in electromagnetic fields. More than 200 benchmark tests have established CPO as the gold standard in low-energy charged-particle optics. A spin-off company was formed to market CPO, [text removed for publication]

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences

Industrial application of computational models and experimental techniques for catalyst development and optimisation

Summary of the impact

The development and application, by a UCL and Royal Institution (UCL/RI) team, of a powerful range of computational and experimental techniques has had a major impact on understanding of catalysis at the molecular level. The translation of these approaches to industry — achieved through fellowships, collaborations and employment of trained UCL/RI scientists — has had substantial impact on the development and optimisation of key catalytic systems used in energy, environmental, bulk and fine chemicals production. Computational modelling software has been commercialised by Accelrys following interaction with the UCL/RI team. Products and processes at Johnson Matthey have been developed and enhanced over a shorter timescale, ultimately leading to good returns and a sustained market position. The approaches also provided evidence that platinum-containing vehicle emission catalysts are not a source of chloroplatinates in the environment and can therefore continue to be used.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Chemistry

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Inorganic Chemistry, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)

Molecular Beam Epitaxy applied to quantum devices for industrial applications

Summary of the impact

This University of Manchester research underpins UK industry's global position in millimetre- wave imaging and ultra-high-precision sensing. These are key technologies in a range of industrial, medical and consumer electronics applications. The devices and methods developed by the research team are now used by a range of companies leading to economic impacts for the UK in strong export markets. In this case study we provide examples of impacts that support commercial sales in excess of £300m by UK SME and FTSE-listed companies in three sectors: automotive radar (e2v), terahertz imaging (TeraView), and linear encoders (Renishaw PLC).

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Optical Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Unique simulation software tools for the global semiconductor industry

Summary of the impact

The development of unique computer simulation tools has profoundly influenced the design and manufacture of silicon chips fuelling the $300 billion per year semiconductor industry. A pioneer of statistical variability research, Professor Asen Asenov developed understanding and awareness of statistical variability in the nanoscale transistors which make up all silicon chips. Gold Standard Simulations (GSS) was created in 2010 and by 2012-13 had grown revenue from services and licensing to $1million. GSS tools are currently used in foundries providing 75% of all semiconductor production for fabless design companies globally. For example, working with GSS and their simulation tools has reduced the development time for IBM's next generation of CMOS technology by 1 year, representing significant savings in the 3-5 year technology development cycle.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Condensed Matter Physics
Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Engineering: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

ELEC05 - Developments toward low and ultra low voltage electron microscopy (CONFIDENTIAL)

Summary of the impact

Since the 1950s, when they were first developed, scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) have revolutionised science. However, the large physical size of these machines and their aggressive treatment of samples has limited their use. Now research carried out by Professor Mohamed El-Gomati has led to the development of products for global companies including Agilent, Carl Zeiss and Shimadzu. These products include the world's first low-voltage desktop SEM, capable of resolving features smaller than 5 nanometres, and handling radiation sensitive samples such as biological and medical materials, novel photoresists, nanotubes and nanorods. The smaller size has also improved accessibility of such instruments leading to significant efficiency gains for companies and academia worldwide.

Submitting Institution

University of York

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering, Interdisciplinary Engineering

Enabling the commercial development of market-leading microcapsule-based products by Procter & Gamble using a novel mechanical analysis technology

Summary of the impact

The impact presented in this case study is the commercialisation of 15 products with perfume microcapsules by Procter and Gamble (P&G), made possible using capsule mechanical strength data provided by Prof Zhibing Zhang's research group at Birmingham. Use of microcapsules gives improved freshness performance, and thus commercial advantage, compared with traditional formulations; they have been incorporated in P&G's four major billion-dollar brands — Downy, Febreze, Lenor and Tide. This has significantly improved their competitiveness enabling P&G to retain their leading position in the USA and Western Europe. A novel micromanipulation technique developed at the University of Birmingham has been used extensively to obtain mechanical properties data for the micro-particles, including microcapsules prepared in Birmingham and provided by companies, which is related to their formulation and processing conditions and end- use performance. In addition, the knowledge generated has helped 15 other companies to commercialise new functional products containing micro-particles.

Submitting Institution

University of Birmingham

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Materials Engineering

High-efficiency low-cost LEDs

Summary of the impact

Research on the growth of gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED) structures has led to the creation of two spin-out businesses (subsequently sold), has assisted Forge Europa Ltd in expanding its sales of LED-lighting products, has helped AIXTRON to achieve sales of related GaN-growth equipment [text removed for publication], & has enabled Plessey Semiconductors Ltd to manufacture the world's first commercially available LEDs on 6-inch Si (& the first LEDs to be manufactured in the UK).

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Hitachi

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering

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