Novel Nanoreplication Methods for Manufacturing of Optoelectronic and Photonic Devices

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) have quickly grown to become the dominant interface between computer and user; television and viewer; and machine and operator. This success is largely due to the adaptability of the technology to hit new target specifications through the creation of new manufacturing methods and components. In the last three years, novel LCDs have begun to be established in the retail labelling sector through the spin-out company ZBD Displays, Europe's second fastest growing technology company of 2012. This UK success story is based on a new type of LCD in which complex sub-micron textures are manufactured on the internal surface of an otherwise standard display, an invention made by the applicant of this proposal.

ADDING NANO-STRUCTURES TO LCD TO CREATE A NEW BREED OF OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES

Since founding and technically leading that company to the market place, the applicant now proposes to set up a world leading centre for novel manufacturing methods and technologies based at the University of Manchester. The proposed work will invent new novel sub-micron structures and apply them to a range of novel devices, from other liquid crystal devices used for display and non-display applications, full-colour electronic paper, to photonic devices and sensors. The applicant will bring exceptional industrial experience to the academic environment to not only create internationally judged high quality research, but also to have practical application and job-creation in the UK. It is a primary intention from the outset to create spin-out companies from the proposed work.

The proposal is for a five year period. The work will begin by studying methods for producing smaller and deeper structures than have been explored to date, applying these structures to different types of liquid crystal device, including ultra-fast displays and 2D optical modulators, novel adaptive optic systems (including a bistable contact-lens) and multi-stable phase modulators. As the work progresses, the theme will extend to surface profile aligned liquid crystal systems with additional dispersants included. A range of different dispersants will be investigated, from nano-particle colloids, Janus particle suspensions, emulsions and esoteric particles such as mesogenic nano-particles, carbon-nanotubes, and quantum dots. Key to inventing in this space is the ability to control and manufacture the required surface properties for the desired device operation. Eventually, the novel fabrication method will be extended to allow more complex structures suitable for a wider range of micro-fluidic systems, not just those using liquid crystals.

The range of applications of the work is enormous and diverse, from components in telecommunication systems, novel tuneable lasers, full colour flexible electronic paper that is easy to manufacturer, to biological sensors that can detect individual molecules or viruses.

The project vision is to create a world-leading centre of excellence for novel fabrication methods of electro-optic and photonic devices; invent revolutionary new devices by combining sub microscopic surface features into novel optoelectronic devices. This approach has previously been successful for the applicant, who founded the UK success story ZBD Displays Limited based on grating aligned liquid crystal displays. Now, the applicant intends to bring the expertise garnered from taking that idea from laboratory to market place, to create other new devices in a wide range of soft-matter systems. It is the project starting intention and a measure of project success, to create spin-out companies based on new IPR developed during the proposed work.

With nearly thirty years in the field of soft-matter physics, the applicant is well known and respected internationally both academically and industrially. Through his previous role as technical leader of the world-renowned Display and Liquid Crystals Group at DERA, Malvern, the applicant already has strong links across the UK soft-matter academic community, and with the various industrial players in this field. This is an area where the UK maintains a world-lead, and remains one of the key areas for on-going support within the EPSRC. Where spin-outs are not the most suitable exploitation route, the applicant will work closely with Manchester University's Intellectual Property (UMIP) group to license the technology to industrial players, both UK and international. The proposal already has strong financial support of ZBD Displays limited, who wish to use improvements related to grating aligned LCDs for retail applications. Many other applications are envisaged. For example, Merck Limited in Southampton, world-leading Quantum dot supplier Nanoco (who have close ties to the University) and Kingston Chemicals of Hull, will benefit from new devices operating with materials that they provide; Film Optics Limited in Shrivenham are a potential beneficiary as a produce of optical films suitable for nano-replication; US spin-out Gamma Dynamics (with whom the applicant also has a close interaction with) will benefit from lower cost manufacturing methods for their novel electro-fluidic approach to electronic paper.

The proposal will not just have an impact on wealth creation and UK industry, but also provide a means for helping target more commercial application across many of the academic groups in the UK working on liquid crystals and soft-matter systems. The creation of a facility dedicated to device manufacturing and operation will help focus the work of the chemists, physicists and mathematicians already working in the area. The number of groups already device focussed is relatively small compared to all of the other nations researching in this field. Adding the applicant's expertise in this area should have a major positive impact on the academic focus. It will also be a facility to provide validation of ideas from other academic devices in practical devices.

The applicant's industrial and entrepreneurial experience will benefit the University of Manchester in particular. This is most timely, with the explosion of interest and opportunity springing from its work on Graphene, and the formation of the National Graphene Institute.