New materials increasingly rely on chemical effects at a very fine scale, sometimes at the atomic level. Understanding how these materials work, how they degrade in service and how we can improve them requires knowledge of how they are put together at this scale. The three-dimensional atom probe (3DAP), first developed at Oxford University, is the only way of seeing the microstructure of materials, atom-by-atom in 3-dimensions. In this way, the 3DAP can be thought of as giving scientists the molecular biology of materials and so helping them understand how materials work. This project aims to greatly improve the existing 3DAP analysis facilities and so provide advanced capabilities for materials analysis at the atomic-scale for scientists in the UK. The instrumentation developed in the project will allow larger volumes of material to be analysed in much shorter times than previously, so that more of the material microstructure can be seen, and also allow semiconductor materials and devices to be studied. Once the new instrumentation is developed, it will be used to study a number of technologically important materials science problems, such as the formation of copper clusters in steels used for the pressure vessels in the reactors on nuclear-powered submarines. The multilayer materials which are being developed for the next generation of read heads in computer hard disks will also be investigated, in order to understand better the way that the structure and the chemistry of these layers control their properties. By linking experiments and modelling at the atomic scale, this project will produce better tools for the design and development of new materials and nanotechnology devices.

We will establish the primary global manufacturing research hub for Compound Semiconductors that brings together Academic and Industrial researchers. This will capitalize on existing academic expertise in Cardiff, Manchester, Sheffield and UCL and the UK indigenous corporate strength in the key advanced materials technology of Compound Semiconductors. Cardiff, the Compound Semiconductor Centre and the other spoke universities will provide > £100M of additive capital leverage to the Hub, providing European leading facilities for large scale compound semiconductor epitaxial growth, device fabrication and characterisation enabling the most effective translation of research to manufacturing. The hub will operate at the necessary scale and with the necessary reach to change the approach of the UK compound semiconductor research community to one focused on starting from research solutions that can be manufactured. It will do this by providing the necessary tools and expertise and will become the missing exploitation link for the UK compound semiconductor research community. It will be a magnet and the driver for high technology industry and will act as the focal point for Europe's 5th Semiconductor Cluster and the 1st dedicated to compound semiconductors. Partners will include local and UK companies and global organisations. The importance of compound semiconductor technology cannot be overstated. It has underpinned the internet and enabled megatrends such as Smart Phones and Tablets, satellite communications / GPS, Direct Broadcast TV, energy efficient LED lighting, efficient solar power generation, high capacity communication networks, data storage, ground breaking healthcare and biotechnology. Silicon has supported the information society in the 20th century and dominates memory and processor function, but is reaching fundamental limits. Whilst the combination of Silicon and compound semiconductors will produce a second revolution in the information age, they are very different materials with, for example, different fundamental lattice constants and different thermal properties and have different device fabrication requirements. We propose research into large scale Compound Semiconductor manufacturing and in manufacturing integrated Compound Semiconductors on Silicon. The scale of the hub means we can bring together three world leading researchers in the growth of compound semiconductors on Silicon. Each has individually invented different solutions to tackle the silicon / compound semiconductor interface - together they will invent the universal solution. We will solve the scientific challenges in wafer size scale-up, process statistical control and integrated epitaxial growth and processing to facilitate new devices and integrated systems and open up completely new areas of research, only possible with reliable and reproducible fabrication, such as electronically controlled Qubits. We will facilitate the improved communication infrastructure necessary for the connected world and the integrated systems of the Internet of Things. We will produce large area integrated sensor arrays for, e.g. in-process Non-Destructive Testing, further benefiting manufacturing but also improving our safety and security. The key outcomes will be to 1) To radically boost the uptake and application of Compound Semiconductor technology by applying the manufacturing approaches of Silicon to Compound Semiconductors, 2) To exploit the highly advantageous electronic, magnetic, optical and power handling properties of Compound Semiconductors while utilising the cost and scaling advantage of silicon technology where best suited and 3) To generate novel integrated functionality such as sensing, data processing and communication.

Photonics is one of six EU "Key Enabling Technologies. The US recently announced a $200M programme for Integrated Photonics Manufacturing to improve its competiveness. As a UK response, the research proposed here will advance the pervasive technologies for future manufacturing identified in the UK Foresight report on the Future of Manufacturing, improving the manufacturability of optical sensors, functional materials, and energy-efficient growth in the transmission, manipulation and storage of data. Integration is the key to low-cost components and systems. The Hub will address the grand challenge of optimising multiple cross-disciplinary photonic platform technologies to enable integration through developing low-cost fabrication processes. This dominant theme unites the requirements of the UK photonics (and photonics enabled) industry, as confirmed by our consultation with over 40 companies, Catapults, and existing CIMs. Uniquely, following strong UK investment in photonics, we include most of the core photonic platforms available today in our Hub proposal that exploits clean room facilities valued at £200M. Research will focus on both emerging technologies having greatest potential impact on industry, and long-standing challenges in existing photonics technology where current manufacturing processes have hindered industrial uptake. Platforms will include: Metamaterials: One of the challenges in metamaterials is to develop processes for low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing. Advanced metamaterials produced in laboratories depend on slow, expensive production processes such as electron beam writing and are difficult to produce in large sizes or quantities. To secure industrial take up across a wide variety of practical applications, manufacturing methods that allow nanostructure patterning across large areas are required. Southampton hosts a leading metamaterials group led by Prof Zheludev and is well positioned to leverage current/future EPSRC research investments, as well as its leading intellectual property position in metamaterials. High-performance special optical fibres: Although fibres in the UV and mid-IR spectral range have been made, few are currently commercial owing to issues with reliability, performance, integration and manufacturability. This platform will address the manufacturing scalability of special fibres for UV, mid-IR and for ultrahigh power sources, as requested by current industrial partners. Integration with III-V sources and packaging issues will also be addressed, as requested by companies exploiting special fibres in laser-based applications. In the more conventional near-infrared wavelength regime, we will focus on designs and processes to make lasers and systems cheaper, more efficient and more reliable. Integrated Silicon Photonics: has made major advances in the functionality that has been demonstrated at the chip level. Arguably, it is the only platform that potentially offers full integration of all the key components required for optical circuit functionality at low cost, which is no doubt why the manufacturing giant, Intel, has invested so much. The key challenge remains to integrate silicon with optical fibre devices, III-V light sources and the key components of wafer-level manufacture such as on line test and measurement. The Hub includes the leading UK group in silicon photonics led by Prof Graham Reed. III-V devices: Significant advances have been made in extending the range of III-V light sources to the mid-IR wavelength region, but key to maximise their impact is to enable their integration with optical fibres and other photonics platforms, by simultaneous optimisation of the III-V and surrounding technologies. A preliminary mapping of industrial needs has shown that integration with metamaterial components optimised for mid-IR would be highly desirable. Sheffield hosts the EPSRC III-V Centre and adds a powerful light emitting dimension to the Hub.

The vision of the Hub is to create ground-breaking embedded metrology and universal metrology informatics systems to be applied across the manufacturing value chain. This encompasses a paradigm shift in measurement technologies, embedded sensors/instrumentation and metrology solutions. A unified approach to creating new, scientifically-validated measurement technologies in manufacturing will lead to critical underpinning solutions to stimulate significant growth in the UK's productivity and facilitate future factories. Global manufacturing is evolving through disruptive technologies towards a goal of autonomous production, with manufacturing value-chains increasingly digitised. Future factories must be faster, more responsive and closer to customers as manufacturing is driven towards mass customisation of lower-cost products on demand. Metrology is crucial in underpinning quality, productivity and efficiency gains under these new manufacturing paradigms. The Advanced Metrology Hub brings together a multi-disciplinary team from Huddersfield with spokes at Loughborough, Bath and Sheffield universities, with fundamental support from NPL. Expertise in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science will address the grand challenges in advanced metrology and the Hub's vision through two key research themes and parallel platform activities: Theme I - Embedded Metrology will build sound technological foundations by bridging four formidable gaps in process- and component-embedded metrology. This covers: physical limits on the depth of field; high dynamic range measurement; real-time dynamic data acquisition in optical sensor/instruments; and robust, adaptive, scalable models for real-time control systems using sensor networks with different physical properties under time-discontinuous conditions. Theme II - Metrology Data analytics will create a smart knowledge system to unify metrology language, understanding, and usage between design, production and verification for geometrical products manufacturing; Establishment of data analytics systems to extract maximal information from measurement data going beyond state-of-the-art for optimisation of the manufacturing process to include system validation and product monitoring. Platform research activities will underpin the Hub's vision and core research programmes, stimulate new areas of research and support the progression of fundamental and early-stage research towards deployment and impact activities over the Hub's lifetime. In the early stage of the Hub, the core research programme will focus on four categories (Next generation of surface metrology; Metrology technologies and applications; In-process metrology and Machine-tool and large volume metrology) to meet UK industry's strategic agenda and facilitate their new products. The resulting pervasive embedding and integration of manufacturing metrology by the Hub will have far reaching implications for UK manufacturing as maximum improvements in product quality, minimization of waste/rework, and minimum lead-times will ultimately deliver direct productivity benefits and improved competitiveness. These benefits will be achieved by significantly reducing (by 50% to 75%) verification cost across a wide swathe of manufacture sectors (e.g. aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, medical devices, optics, precision engineering) where the current cost of verification is high (up to 20% of total costs) and where product quality and performance is critical.

Optical metrology plays a vital role in an astonishing array of important research areas and applications, from basic science discovery to material processing, medicine, healthcare, energy, manufacturing and engineering. Optical metrology instruments are normally large, heavy structures that require a well-stabilised environment to maintain accuracy, stability and functionality. These physical and functional features prevent optical metrology from moving into future smart and autonomous applications across many sectors. The proposed programme aims to challenge fundamental barriers to the use of optical measurement techniques in highly integrated, smart and autonomous 'Industry 4.0' metrology applications and emerging nanotechnologies, by establishing a unique, world-leading research collaboration in the UK that brings together advanced metrology and nanotechnology. It will translate the latest advances in nanophotonics, plasmonics and metamaterials research, in which the UK has played an internationally-leading role, into metrological applications. This will have a transformational impact on optical metrology by enabling cheaper, smarter and much more compact solutions. Research will be channelled through three complementary streams: 1. Nanophotonics-enabled components for metrology. This strand of the programme will draw on the wealth of recent fundamental developments in nanophotonics, for example, the fact that surfaces patterned with subwavelength-sized features can offer exquisite control over the wavefront of propagating light. Replacing one (or several) bulky element(s) with a single surface that carries out the same (combined) function offers hugely significant savings in size and weight, complexity and robustness (e.g. against misalignment), and opportunity to develop new measurement functionalities and instrumental configurations that are not otherwise possible. 2. Novel metrology concepts for nanotechnology. We will develop two ground-breaking ideas for metrological technologies: (1) The "optical ruler", which allows for non-contact displacement measurements with potentially sub-nm resolution using a sensor that could ultimately be manufactured on the tip of an optical fibre; (2) An approach to dynamic "nano-motion imaging" based upon the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) platform, to spatially map high-frequency nano- to picometre amplitude movement. 3. Novel metrology tools for manufacturing and nanotechnology. Using the nanophotonic components and concepts described above, we will develop novel metrology tools and measurement techniques to perform in real-world, as opposed to laboratory, conditions. Target applications will include, for example, surface/geometric metrologies compatible with manufacturing tools such as diamond turning machines and multi-axis (sub-) nanometric displacement encoding for translation stages. This programme will bring together the expertise of world-leading research groups in metrology and nanophotonics, with key industrial project partners including Renishaw and Taylor Hobson. Together, we aim to address long-standing challenges for optical metrology and to develop new, disruptive metrological technologies. These advances will be vital to support the high-value manufacturing sector in the UK. The impact of this work, however, will be felt across a far broader range of disciplines, as size and weight are significant issues in, for example, instrumentation for space science, optical instrumentation for surgical applications, and robotic arm-mounted instruments.