Coordination

In today's rapidly developing electronics technologies, there is a need for a multidisciplinary approach to the solution of major challenges. Our role as coordinators of networks of excellence is to facilitate and encourage the interaction of disparate expertise in a variety of technical fields in both industrial and academic environments and thus promote the development of new synergies that will bring about efficient solutions to ever more complex problems.

We currently coordinate SETNET, the Semiconductor Test Network and have coordinated E3NET, the Electronics for Extreme Environments Network, Silicon Futures. a network of leading UK universities involved in semiconductor research, and HITEN, the High Temperature Electronics Network.

In this role we develop and maintain the network websites, develop resources for the network members, organise meeting and conferences, and provide a centre for network management and points of contact..

We have organised a number of 3 day postgraduate research conferences in Electronics, Photonics, Computing Science, Communications & Networks.

These are PREP 2003, PREP 2004 and PREP 2005.

We have also been involved in several major interdisciplinary research and development programmes.

Networks

SETNET

Semiconductor Test Network

We coordinate SETNET, the Semiconductor Test Network. This is a network of approximately 150 members from all over the world who are involved in fields relating to semiconductor test. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors predicts many problems in the area of Test over the coming years: by 2014, it may cost more to test a transistor than to manufacture it. Design and Test Engineers need to work closer together in the future to face tomorrows challenges. SETNET was established to raise the profile of semiconductor test, to encourage collaboration between industry and academia and to provide some of the necessary tools in terms of products and services for members. These include:

Industry Test Forum
Seminars and Workshops
Information on current and recent research
Hands-on training courses for industry and academia
Database of test expertise and points of contact
Commission/provision of technical reports
Commercial Information
Technical Information/equipment reviews
Industry News
Members Directory
Links Database
Networking

Visit the SETNET website

E3NET

Electronics for Extreme Environments Network

We coordinated the EEENET, the electronics for extreme environments network. The network was a grouping of around 60 members from Europe and the USA involved in research and development of new electronics technologies for hostile environments such as space exploration. Increasingly, electronics are required to operate reliably under extreme environments such as:

Ambient temperatures above 300 oC and below -60 C
Power densities higher than typically achievable in silicon
Power electronic switching frequencies higher then typically achievable in silicon
Operation in corrosive atmospheres
Operation in high ionising radiation environments
Extreme thermal cycles

These requirements arise in a number of industry sectors, including Aerospace, Automotive, Manufacturing and Energy Conversion.

Many organisations worldwide are developing semiconductor and related technologies to address these requirements. It is the aim of EEENET to assist in these efforts by providing a number of resources and activities that will support this effort.

The project can be viewed on the EPSRC website here

Silicon Futures

Silicon Research and Exploitation For the Nanotechnology Era

SiFutures was a network of leading UK Univesities invoilved in Silicon Research to act as a thinktank in order to address the following points:

Silicon technology has had a dramatic impact on the world economy over the past few years and is currently the dominant technology for electronics applications. There is currently no rival to silicon electronics technology and it is predicted to remain the dominant technology for the foreseeable future.
However, simple CMOS scaling is no longer a viable approach for the future technology generations and hence new materials, such as silicon germanium, and new architectures, such as silicon on insulator, are being extensively researched. Furthermore, silicon technology is progressively moving into new applications as new silicon-based technologies are developed, such as microsystems, silicon-based photonics and bioMEMS.
A presence in this over arching technology for one of the leading industrialised nations is considered essential by the farsighted. And with innovation now being central to continuing progress, it is timely for the UK community to review its approach and agendas in silicon in order to determine how best to utilise and exploit this country's inherent talent in this discipline.
Undoubtedly there is still very significant and substantial work to be done in nanoscale - CMOS, but it is equally important to establish an early toe-hold in the post -CMOS era. This is entirely consistent with the government's view of the necessity for a knowledge-based economy in the UK