The main aims of the course
Nanotechnology refers to the world as it works on the nanometre scale from about one nanometre to a few hundred nanometres. The synthesis and control of nanomaterials can involve 'bottom up' strategies of self-assembly, starting with the smallest possible entities such as atoms and molecules, much in the same way as synthesis is conducted in natural biological systems. Alternatively, more conventional 'top-down' strategies can be extended to the nanoscale. This module will introduce the underlying principles of nanoscale processing and the fabrication of nanostructures for advanced device applications, and help students understand the techniques that can be used for the characterisation of nanoscale device structures.  

Where it is relevant?
Nanostructures underpin a very wide range of devices and circuits, including the microprocessors and wireless chips in computers and mobile phones, as well as semiconductor lasers used in fibre optic communications, 3D-imaging sensors and many other applications.  They are also at the heart of the emerging field of quantum devices and computers.

 

The course provides a rigorous and wide-ranging technological and scientific foundation for nanotechnology, optoelectronics and quantum technology.  It embraces the basic principles of the fabrication of nanostructures for advanced device applications and a wide range of characterisation methods that are required to give information on nanometre-scale structures. 

 

This course will equip MSc and undergraduate students with appropriate expertise for pursuing careers as engineers, consultants and researchers in the semiconductor and nanotechnology industries, as well as providing a starting point for PhD study in a wide range of research fields, including electronic devices, photonics and quantum technology.

Method of delivery for this year
All the lectures will be delivered live and will be supported by in-person workshops and open discussion sessions.  The course is 100% assessed by an in-person, closed-book examination held in the Summer term.

4.       Who will be teaching on the course and their (research) interests linked to the course

The professors teaching the course are carrying out world leading research in the areas of nanotechnology and optoelectronics.

Huiyun Liu was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and started his academic career as Senior Lecturer at University College London in 2007, commissioning the first new Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) facility in central London.  He was promoted to Professor of Semiconductor Photonics in 2012.  He has more than 20 years of experience in the nanometre-scale engineering of low-dimensional semiconductor structures using MBE, including quantum wells, quantum dots and nanowires, and the development of novel optoelectronic devices including lasers, detectors, solar cells, and modulators. He holds several international patents on silicon photonics and epitaxial materials and has co-authored more than 300 publications, including papers in Nature Photonics, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Nano Today, Nano Letters, Light Science & Applications and Optica.

 

Michael Wale was appointed as Professor of Integrated Photonics at University College London in May 2019.  He received his B.A., M.A. and D.Phil. degrees in Physics from the University of Oxford and subsequently moved into industry, where he was based for more than 35 years.  Most recently he was Director Active Products Research at Oclaro (now Lumentum), a major supplier of photonic components for the global optical communications market.  His experience encompasses many different aspects of research, development and manufacturing of photonic devices and systems, with focus on photonic integrated circuit technology.  He is author or co-author of more than 250 scientific and technical papers and is named as an inventor on nine published patent applications.   Alongside his professorship at UCL, he is also Full Professor Emeritus at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands and Honorary Professor of Photonic Communications at the University of Nottingham.

 