Building next-generation technologies with the Institute for Compound Semiconductors
Powering the technology of the future in our purpose-built cleanroom facility.
Book the facilityFounded in 2015, the Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS) was established as part of the University’s £300M capital development plan to provide an open-access, world-class facility.
Cleanroom facility
Our purpose-built 1,500 sqm cleanroom facility has enabled the scale-up of compound semiconductor chip fabrication from 150mm to 200mm wafer diameters.
Skilled team
Our Process Engineers can work at all stages of the compound semiconductor fabrication process.
End-to-end processing
We offer the end-to-end processing of compound semiconductor wafers up to 200mm in diameter, all under one roof.
“We deliver full end to end processing under one roof from incoming wafer inspection to lithography metal deposition, etch, metrology, dicing and back-end processing. We work with prospective customers to fully understand their requirements, timescales and budgets and tailor our services to suit their needs. We focus on quality and control of processes so that industry can be confident that they will receive repeatable and reproducible outcomes.”
— Elizabeth Beaumont, Senior Process Engineer, ICS
The ICS is where academic researchers and industry can collaborate to develop commercially viable compound semiconductor technologies, from prototype devices to small-scale contract manufacturing.
Operating from our new home in the Translational Research Hub since 2023, we offer the end-to-end processing of compound semiconductor wafers up to 200mm in diameter, all under one roof, to industry and academia alike.
Our purpose-built 1,500 sqm cleanroom facility has enabled the scale-up of compound semiconductor chip fabrication from 150mm to 200mm wafer diameters, critical for industrial relevance and commercial viability, and allowing the Institute to build upon its impressive reputation for process flow development.
The Institute for Compound Semiconductors
Our vision is to provide a world-class facility where academic researchers and industry work together to generate economic impact through the rapid development of commercially viable Compound Semiconductor technologies.
With a dedicated team of skilled Process Engineers, mostly with industrial backgrounds, the ICS can work at all stages of the compound semiconductor fabrication process, from establishing a single process step to the development of fully qualified process flows.
We have worked hard to bring together a toolset that can satisfy the process development needs of the compound semiconductor industry, comprehensive in the breadth of materials that can be processed, the chemistries it works with and with a focus on scale up.
But even more important than the equipment is the people, their skills and the capability these provide. The ICS team has been assembled with a balance of industrial and academic experience so we can help those two worlds collaborate and ensure the world-leading compound semiconductor research is translated into tangible, real world products.
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Your innovation partner
We work across academia and industry to turn research excellence into real-world impact. Explore the potential in our cutting-edge facilities.