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Advanced plasma source for electron-beam deposition of high performance optical filters.

Summary of the impact

An advanced plasma source based on novel engineering has been developed and proven in conjunction with Thin Film Solutions Ltd (TFSL). This source is retrofittable to existing electron- beam deposition systems and significantly improves the properties of thin films and advanced optical filters. TFSL has produced commercial products based on this source and has achieved sales to date of £2.3 million (letter from CEO of TFSL provided) as the new technology has been widely adopted in the optical filter industry.

Submitting Institution

University of the West of Scotland

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: Other Chemical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (APCVD)

Summary of the impact

Research in atmospheric pressure (thermal) chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) at the University of Salford demonstrates the following impact:

  • Developing new concepts in the field of APCVD for application in the environmental, construction, healthcare and biotechnology sectors, resulting in commercially viable processes and products;
  • Commercialising the technology via a spin out company; CVD Technologies Ltd., offering an innovative, integrated and client focused approach to exploiting the technology for its wide application;
  • Achieving related patents and developing strategic licensing agreements, allowing major international companies to use CVD Technologies Ltd. technology;
  • Generating economic and related social benefits, internationally.

Submitting Institution

University of Salford

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: Analytical Chemistry
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Development of novel low-ohmic thin film resistors for TT Electronics plc.

Summary of the impact

This research within the Unit was in collaboration with TT Electronics plc. to develop a novel low-ohmic thin film resistor for precision current measurement in power management applications. TT Electronics plc. is an international company with 6,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over £500 million to multinational clients such as BMW, Daimler and BAE Systems. Since 2008 the benefits of this research to TT Electronics plc. include:

  • a new product launched with a full scale new production line (4.8 million units per annum);
  • confirmed new orders of £2 million over the next four years with 12 new international clients;
  • 10% reduction in the production cost for existing thin film based resistor products;
  • an increase of employees by two per cent at Welwyn Components Ltd (TT Electronics plc. plant in Bedlington, UK).

Submitting Institution

Northumbria University Newcastle

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Materials Engineering

Development of a functional oxide based deposition technology allowing the introduction of new commercial products

Summary of the impact

Research undertaken by the University of Sheffield between 1999 and 2012 in functional oxide thin films was commercialised through knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP) with Ilika Technology. This directly led to over £1M in contracts and subsequent improvements in the commercial viability of the product base of blue-chip companies such as Toshiba, Toyota and Ceramtec and contributed to the increase in Ilika's turnover to ~£2M per annum and a growth in staff from 5 to 35 in 2012. In 2011, Ilika floated on the stock exchange with a valuation of ~£20M. The CEO has personally recognised the role Sheffield has played in establishing Ilika Technology as a limited company and in growing company revenue through contracts with leading multinationals.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

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

3. Commercialisation of Instrumentation for Testing and Development of Lubricants

Summary of the impact

Research in the Mechanical Engineering Department has led to a series of experimental techniques for measuring the fundamental properties of lubricants in a scientific manner. These include measurement of the thickness, structure and properties of fluid and solid lubricating films, as well as the friction, fatigue and wear behaviour of lubricated surfaces.

Measuring instruments based upon these techniques have been commercialised by a spin-out company, PCS Instruments, which has now become the largest supplier of Tribology test equipment in the world. Over the period 2008-13 it had a turnover of £39.8M (£7.63M in 2012-13). The research has changed the way in which lubricants and lubricant additives are developed, with PCS test rigs in use in all the major lubricant and additive companies, as well as many University tribology research and National Standards laboratories. The techniques have enabled the development by industry of a new generation of high-efficiency lubricants for automotive applications.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Modern global telecom systems powered by technology from the University of Glasgow

Summary of the impact

Today's global telecom systems are powered by technology developed at the University of Glasgow. This technology has been utilised, endorsed and developed by a series of internationally successful companies, facilitating multimillion pound investment from across Europe and the USA for the companies.

Gemfire Europe acquired the University of Glasgow IP and technology and between 2008 and 2012 launched a range of `green' products with reduced power consumption. The company's revenues reached $12m annually and in 2013, Gemfire was one of the world's top five planar lightwave circuit companies. Gemfire was bought by Kaiam, one of the world's market-leading optical networking companies in April 2013, stimulating further innovation and investment in the production of high-speed components for the global data networking market.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Optical Physics
Engineering: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Technology: Communications Technologies

Bringing nanomaterials research to industrial production

Summary of the impact

Nanomaterials research at Ulster into materials including diamond-like carbon (DLC) ultra-thin films, carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene, silicon and metal oxide nanoparticles has resulted in direct uptake by major industrial manufacturers and led to a directly quantifiable socio-economic impact via added value, improved efficiencies and cost-savings and has secured or increased the employment of skilled engineering staff. Examples of this impact since 2008 include ceramic nanoparticles research in partnership with AVX Ltd that resulted in improved production efficiency processes (up 20%) and higher quality devices (up 10%). [text removed for publication] Research into ultra-thin DLC films, funded by Seagate, has led to their incorporation into magnetic media. [text removed for publication] Our nanoparticle research has attracted a new spin-in company SiSaf Ltd. (2009) and by incorporating NIBEC's expertise in nanomaterials into its business plan, the company was able to grow to a valuation of £3.5m and employ 7 people in skilled technical positions.

Submitting Institution

University of Ulster

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Analytical Chemistry, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Multiple industrial applications of a precision diamond machining facility developed for Astronomical Instrumentation (Precision Optics)

Summary of the impact

A facility for precision diamond machining of optical components arose from research at Durham University to produce instruments for large telescopes, including NASA's James Webb Space telescope. This now provides a specialist service to industry, with contracts worth over £2.0M from >20 companies over the past 5 years. The users span applications including ophthalmics, automotive optics, microstructures for backlit displays and IR optics. An emerging application is the use of high precision machine metal moulds to reproduce ophthalmic lenses for spectacles. Examples include PixelOptics (USA) who make high-end electronically corrective eyewear, which has won several ophthalmic industry R&D awards, and Eyejusters (UK), which employs complex surface slide lens technology to provide low cost spectacles aimed at improving the lives of people in the developing world.

Submitting Institution

University of Durham

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Technology: Communications Technologies

Failure in Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) for AVX Ltd

Summary of the impact

The provision of professional analysis and advice has created an economic impact of $0.6M with AVX Ltd, a leading supplier of electronic components within the Kyocera Group. This information was pivotal to AVX Ltd retaining a major contract, for multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC's) supply through to the automotive manufacturer Volkswagen Group. Our intervention addressed a reliability issue in the MLCCs and allowed them to improve processes and revise manufacture protocols. The impact drew on previous collaborative research with AVX Ltd and innovative methodologies for preparation of micro and nanoscale samples of materials in capacitors in academic research.

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Chemical Sciences: Inorganic Chemistry
Engineering: Materials Engineering

Commercialisation of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal over Silicon Microdisplays

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institutions

University of St Andrews,University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Materials Engineering
Technology: Communications Technologies

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