NPL-Imperial College iCASE Studentship on Metrology of Single Electron Transistor Devices

NPL-Imperial College iCASE Studentship on Metrology of Single Electron Transistor Devices

A four-year funded PhD studentship is available at Imperial College London (ICL), in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, Middlesex. 

The successful candidate will join the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, ICL.  The student will be primarily located at ICL but will also spend at least three months at NPL Teddington, Middlesex, in the Dimensional Metrology Group.

The studentship is funded by EPSRC and NPL, and provides a Home student stipend of approximately £20,662 @EPSRC rates + £5,000 top-up from industry per year (tax-free) for four years and research expenses and conference travel support.

Project Summary:

Single-electron transistors (SETs), controlling charge at the one-electron level, provide a means to reduce electrical devices to few-nanometre scales. Applications include ultra-low power nanoelectronics, quantum computing, single molecule detectors, metrological current standards, and atomic force microscope (AFM) length metrology. However, many applications require room-temperature (RT) operation and large-scale ~1 nm scale manufacture remains a formidable problem. 

The project will develop AFM metrology of quantum-effect devices, and dimensional metrology methods, based on RT single atom SETs and silicon NW tunnel FETs. We aim to correlate and ‘close the loop’ between AFM structural metrology data and electrical characterisation. Several AFMs will be used, e.g. a vacuum AFM at ICL and AFMs with on board metrology at NPL, and AFM instrumentation developed.

NPL is a world leading national metrology institute and Imperial College is consistently ranked as one of the world’s top universities. The project will provide a grounding in several industrially relevant areas and provide a sound basis for nanoscience career. There will also be additional training and support at the Post Graduate Institute for Measurement Science at NPL.

Requirements:

Candidates must meet ICL graduate entry requirements, including at least an upper second-class undergraduate degree or equivalent in a relevant subject, e.g., physics or electrical engineering. A relevant master’s degree and semiconductor device instrumentation and fabrication experience would also be advantageous.

Candidates must have Home Student status. EU nationals with Pre-Settled Status may be considered home status if they have 3 years residency in the UK/EEA/Gibraltar/Switzerland immediately before the start of the course. Full details of UKRI eligibility criteria may be found at:

https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/developing-people-and-skills/esrc/funding-for-postgraduate-training-and-development/eligibility-for-studentship-funding/

Start date:

Candidates should ideally be able to start on the first day of term of the 2024/2025 academic year, or earlier if available.

Further Information and application:

For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Zahid Durrani (ICL) z.durrani@imperial.ac.uk and Dr Andrew Yacoot (NPL) Andrew.yacoot@npl.co.uk

Please click the 'Apply' button to apply. Course code: Electrical Engineering Research – H6ZX. The application should also include a cover letter and your CV. The application should indicate Professor Zahid Durrani as research supervisor.

Full guidance is available here. For further queries regarding the application process, contact Miss Hashi Chowdhury  eepgoffice@imperial.ac.uk.

Closing date: 1 June 2024

Early application is highly recommended as, if a suitable candidate is found, the position may be filled earlier.

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