The last two decades have seen major advances in developing III-nitride materials and devices which play an important role in a wide range of fields, such as high definition display, smart phones, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, satellite communications/GPS, energy efficient lighting, efficient solar power generation, visible light communication, advanced healthcare and ground-breaking biotechnology.
More recently, there has been an increased focus on developing III-nitride micro-LED and on-chip integration of electronics and photonics. The key issue is the crystal quality of Gallium Nitride (GaN) grown on large lattice-mismatched substrates.
Over the last 10 years we have developed a number of advanced MOVPE overgrowth techniques and novel nanofabrication techniques, demonstrating a wide range of high performance devices on cost effective substrates, such as sapphire and silicon.
The focus has been on c-plane GaN but the next generation is non-polar or semi-polar GaN where the high response time is suitable for integration with emerging technologies such as UV LEDs, Li-Fi and other telecommunication applications.
Professor Tao Wang
Director of the Centre for GaN Materials and Devices
With the aim of bridging the gap between fundamental research and real-world applications, the Centre offers the full project life cycle for industry collaboration – from design, advanced epitaxy growth, device fabrication and characterisation to testing.
Professor Wang also launched a new way to get involved with and help shape the Centre’s research:
“We want to offer the best support to industry and a membership option will allow us to provide expertise, future trends analysis and world-class facilities. Any company that is interested in membership is welcome to contact me.
We continue to strive for industry-ready applications for our III-nitride research and look forward to working with industrial partners in the years to come.”
Erica Williams, Business Development Operations Manager for the Faculty of Engineering, outlined more opportunities for collaboration available to any size of business.
These include:
- consultancy
- training
- sponsored PhDs
- student placements
- help with applying for third party funding
- access to full-scale test facilities and specialist equipment at the University
Creating links with industry drives a lot of what we do here at the University. The message is that if you have an idea, talk to us and we can find someone that will help.
Erica Williams
Business Development Operations Manager for the Faculty of Engineering
The event concluded with a networking lunch and a tour of the research facilities at the Nanoscience and Technology Centre.
