There is a growing demand for electronic components that operate are cryogenic temperatures, from analogue amplifiers to digital control circuits for quantum computing. Existing electronic components are manufactured using semiconductors, mostly silicon, that either don’t work at all, or work poorly at very low temperatures. Two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, have been used for building transistors and even more complex components, with comparable performance to existing semiconductors. However, unlike existing semiconductor components, these materials continue to function as well, if not better, at very low temperatures. The aim of this project is to build cryogenic electronics using these 2D materials, in particular, using commercially available wafer-scale graphene to build analogue amplifiers.
This project will make use of Lancaster’s cleanroom for fabrication and the IsoLab facility for device characterisation. IsoLab is equipped with a dilution refrigerator capable of cooling devices down to 10 mK and is housed inside an electromagnetically shielded room. The filtered mains circuits and dedicated ground nest make this facility the ideal location for testing low-noise cryogenic electronics.
For this project, a student will learn to fabricate nanoelectronic devices using both 2D materials and semiconductors and characterisation of these inside a cryogenic refrigerator. This work is closely linked to existing collaborations with the National Graphene Institute in Manchester and the European Microkelvin Platform project and the student will have the opportunity to engage with these collaborations.
You are expected to have a strong interest and preferably knowledge in:
electrical measurements of nanoscale devices
cryogenic techniques
nanofabrication
data acquisition using Python or MATLAB
The Physics Department is holder of Athena SWAN Silver award and JUNO Championship status and is strongly committed to fostering diversity within its community as a source of excellence, cultural enrichment, and social strength. We welcome those who would contribute to the further diversification of our department.
Please contact Dr Michael Thompson (
[email protected]) for any additional enquiries. You can also apply directly at
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/study/phd/ stating the title of the project and the name of the supervisor.
Closing Date
Applications will be accepted until the post is filled
