CORNERSTONE: Capability for OptoelectRoNics, mEtamateRialS, nanoTechnOlogy aNd sEnsing

This proposal seeks funding to acquire a stepper and associated wafer coater, tools to enable photolithographic patterning of semiconductor wafers for device and circuit fabrication. The stepper will be located at Southampton University in the recent £120m cleanroom complex. It will relieve the bottleneck within the cleanroom, an electron beam lithography tool, which is a slower alternative patterning tool. This will increase capacity within the cleanroom complex and facilitate and underpin a wealth of world class research. Not only will research at Southampton be enhanced, but Southampton (SOU), Glasgow (GLA), and Surrey (SUR) universities will pool resources to establish a Silicon Photonics Fabrication Capability within the UK, to facilitate an increasing demand for the fabrication of Silicon Photonics devices from the UK's premier researchers. This will encourage wider usage of world class equipment within the UK, in line with EPSRC policy. We seek funding for both the equipment and 3.5 RAs across the 3 institutions, over a 4 year period, to establish and deliver the Capability. Access to a very significant inventory of additional equipment at these 3 universities will be facilitated. The Capability is extremely timely, as silicon foundry services around the world are moving towards a model in which standard platforms and devices will be offered, making it more difficult for researchers to carry out innovative work at the device level, or in non-standard platforms.

The proposal is supported by 36 members of academic staff at Southampton, with a total current research portfolio of projects valued in excess of £88m. Furthermore we have 10 project partners who will take part in the use and assessment of the silicon photonics capability by designing and subsequently testing fabricated devices. Their total in-kind contribution is valued at £793,300. These partners have expressed an interest in using the capability after the project has been completed. In addition we have contacted a few example potential users from within the industrial sector (SMEs), and from around the world who have also provided letters of support indicating that they would use the capability after the project is complete. Taking this net proposed usage, it is clear that the equipment will be sustained beyond the period of the funded project. The Southampton users alone need only generate a tiny fraction (0.2%) of their research portfolio to cover running costs and depreciation. Consumables will increase with usage, but clearly, the silicon photonics capability will generate paying users, to further sustain the capability beyond the project, which will, in turn, allow UK researchers to compete effectively on the world stage in the buoyant field of silicon photonics.

Beyond the 4 year project, the Silicon Photonics Capability will be operated by the commercial arms of the 3 partner universities, all of whom have provided letters of support confirming their ongoing participation.

The impact of this strategic equipment grant lies in the new research that it will enable, and the range of technologies it will enhance. The research described in the Case for Support has wide-ranging impacts nationally and internationally in a number of important sectors, comprising the facilitation of high quality research by world leading groups that could fundamentally change those technologies and their exploitation. Furthermore, the introduction of a Silicon Photonics fabrication Capability within the UK will allow UK researchers to compete on the world-wide stage in this specific discipline, without having to rely on collaborators generosity, or to be limited to the "standard" devices and platforms that are developing in foundries both in Europe and the rest of the world. The list of UK universities providing letters of support is already impressive, and contains all of the leading silicon photonics groups in the UK, as well as other photonics activities that will utilise silicon photonics in some way. These groups represent the cream of the UK research community who are already operating world class activities. Their ability to utilise a "local" fabrication capability will enhance their effectiveness, and their productivity, and the impact of their work can only increase even more. Such impact will drive more publicity and hence additional users. Already the reaction from around the world is extremely positive.

To demonstrate this, we have invited selected additional potential users both from inside and from outside of the UK to write letters of support, indicating that they would utilise the Capability in the longer term. These include universities and SMEs. The purpose of these letters is to underline both the impact and the longer term viability of the proposed Capability. With foundry services moving away from device level research, there is a requirement to facilitate such work, in the way that some flexible foundry services have done until their move to standard platforms. This has established these foundries as international leaders in the field, and we anticipate a similar opportunity for a UK based Capability due to the dearth of alternative options for researchers to access, and hence this is a significant opportunity for the UK. Furthermore, We are now supported by Dr Andrew Rickman, the world's most successful Silicon Photonics entrepreneur. The existence of a flexible fabrication capability within the UK will be instrumental in Dr Rickman establishing his new venture within the UK, thus immediate impact is likely.

Another key part of our impact strategy is to enhance the diverse research within Southampton University. 36 members of academic staff (and their groups) support this bid. The introduction of the stepper will increase capacity in the Southampton cleanroom by releasing the pressure on the current bottleneck which is the electron-beam lithography system. Many of these researchers are already world leaders in their field, and the opportunity to be even more effective should not be missed, since their proven track record indicates the likelihood of success. The additional capacity will also inevitably result in new and additional research, enhancing the quality and volume of work at Southampton and in the UK. This will, in turn, allow enhanced training capability (RAs, undergraduates, MSc, and PhD students), more access to fabrication facilities for PhD students, and support of younger academics. Particularly important will be the emergence of the RAs employed on the project. They will be recognised as experts in the fields of device fabrication and silicon photonics, as has been observed in the example of RAs employed by the "Epixfab" foundry service.Their involvement will catapult them to prominence.