Applications are invited for a PhD opportunity in Nano-electronics. The position will be based on the Nano-Electronics and Materials Group within Electronic Engineering. The department has a purposely-designed brand-new building (Shilling building) situated on the beautiful Egham campus close to London.
Since the launch of the very first-generation integrated circuit, the semiconductor-based electronics industry has followed the famous Moore’s Law that the number of transistors per square inch increases exponentially. However, this trend is about to hit a limit within the next decade when the computing units enter the regime of nano-scale and the quantum mechanism starts to dominate: unwanted leakage current will occur due to quantum tunneling effect; high resistance due to electron scattering from interfaces and grain boundaries will result in reduced bandwidth, longer delays, higher power density and eventually breakdown. Understanding spin transport and harnessing the quantum nature of materials hold the key for the next-generation electronics beyond Moore’s Law. In the pursuit for such goals, the intrinsic material properties are important indicators and the artificially synthetized heterostructures are valuable models for studying spin transport phenomena and could potentially be used as actual components for racetrack memory and logic devices.
The rise of nano-electronics has been strongly linked with the development of instrumentation in advanced nanofabrication in the past twenty years. The experimental side of the research today has marched to a historical point where the paramount urgency is to use materials of the highest perfection and homogeneity and detection tools with atomic sensitivity. Royal Holloway hosts SuperFab, a new national centre for nanofabrication, and has a strong infrastructure in quantum material research. We also benefit from the geographical proximity to National Physics Laboratory, and the national synchrotron and neutron scattering facilities (Harwell Campus), where the students are expected to take relevant trainings and perform experiments.
Eligibility:
Applicants should hold, or be predicted to achieve, a First-Class degree or equivalent in one of the following subjects: Physics, Material Science, and Engineering. Some laboratory research experience in physical subjects and relevant track records would be advantageous.
How to apply:
Applicants are encouraged to send their CVs, abstract and outline of thesis, and publications if any to Dr Wenqing Liu, on [Email Address Removed] for an informal discussion before the online application. Formal submission must be completed via Royal Holloway Direct after discussions with the supervisor.
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