News: Microelectronics
12 March 2020
Compound Semiconductor Centre participating in £36.7m round of challenge projects to push UK to net-zero-carbon growth by 2050
The Compound Semiconductor Centre Ltd (CSC) – a joint venture founded in 2015 between Cardiff University and epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK – is to participate in a £36.7m round of challenge projects awarded to push the UK to net-zero-carbon growth by 2050.
About £30m will be used to create four Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) centers of excellence in Newport, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Sunderland, bringing together climate change pioneers to research and develop green electric machines including planes, ships and cars.
A further £6.7m will be awarded to 14 projects that aims to help increase the efficiency and breadth of UK supply chains for the advanced components required for the electrification of transport.
The CSC projects focus on:
- Progressing the next generation of power electronic materials based on gallium nitride (GaN), ensuring that advanced semiconductor materials can reach the final buyer in a supply chain more quickly and efficiently, with partners Newport Wafer Fab Ltd and the Centre for Device Thermography and Reliability (CDTR) at Bristol University.
- The development of a novel method for in-line characterization of electrical steels using novel compound semiconductor-based magnetic sensors, with partners Advanced Hall Sensors Ltd, Cogent Power and Microsemi Semiconductors Ltd.
“Compound semiconductor materials are essential building blocks for the next generation of electrification technologies, and we are aiming to develop novel materials and device technologies to address a rapidly emerging GaN power device market,” says CSC’s Power Materials Programme Manager Rob Harper.
“The UK is leading the way in developing cleaner technologies to help us reach our target of zero emissions by 2050 and these new centers will play an important part in that,” believes the UK Government’s Business Secretary Alok Sharma. “The £30m industrialization centers will provide a home for virtual product development, digital manufacturing and advanced assembly techniques that could drive world-leading improvements in the testing and manufacturing of electric machines.”
