CORNERSTONE: Capability for OptoelectRoNics, mEtamateRialS, nanoTechnOlogy aNd sEnsing

这项提案寻求资金，以获得步进机和相关的晶片涂布机，这些工具可以实现用于器件和电路制造的半导体晶片的光刻图案化。步行器将位于南安普顿大学最近的120米洁净室综合体中。它将缓解净化室的瓶颈，电子束光刻工具是一种速度较慢的替代图案化工具。这将增加洁净室综合体内的容量，并促进和支持大量世界级的研究。不仅南安普顿的研究将得到加强，南安普顿(SOU)、格拉斯哥(GLA)和萨里(Sur)的大学也将汇集资源，在英国建立硅光子学制造能力，以满足英国顶尖研究人员对硅光子学器件制造日益增长的需求。这将鼓励在英国境内更广泛地使用世界级设备，符合EPSRC的政策。我们寻求在4年内为3个机构的设备和3.5RAS提供资金，以建立和交付这一能力。将为这3所大学获得大量额外设备提供便利。这一能力非常及时，因为世界各地的硅代工服务都在朝着提供标准平台和设备的模式发展，这使得研究人员更难在设备层面或非标准平台上进行创新工作。南安普顿大学的36名学术人员支持这一提议，目前项目的总研究组合价值超过8800万GB。此外，我们有10个项目合作伙伴，他们将通过设计和随后测试制造的器件来参与硅光子学能力的使用和评估。他们的实物捐助总额为793,300英镑。这些合作伙伴表示有兴趣在项目完成后使用该功能。此外，我们还联系了几个来自工业部门(中小企业)以及来自世界各地的潜在用户，他们也提供了支持信，表明他们将在项目完成后使用该功能。考虑到这一净建议使用量，显然这些设备将在资助的项目期限后继续使用。仅南安普顿的用户就只需要产生他们研究组合的一小部分(0.2%)来支付运营成本和折旧。消耗品将随着使用量的增加而增加，但显然，硅光子学的能力将产生付费用户，以进一步维持项目之外的能力，这反过来将使英国研究人员能够在活跃的硅光子学领域的世界舞台上有效地竞争。在为期4年的项目之后，Silicon Photonics的能力将由3所合作大学的商业部门运营，所有这些大学都提供了支持函，确认他们正在参与。

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.