From atoms to devices
How Royce at Imperial is helping collaborators explore new materials
The key to making innovative microelectronic devices often lies with the materials used. Fine-tune these materials at the atomic level and the devices will achieve new levels of effectiveness or demonstrate entirely new capabilities. To help researchers reach those goals, the Henry Royce Institute has set up a facility at Imperial with everything they need to perform that fine-tuning, and to test the results.
Microelectronics used to mean microprocessors and memory chips, the nuts and bolts of information-processing. But as miniaturisation advanced – and researchers started to build whole systems on silicon chips – the scope of microelectronics expanded dramatically. Add the ability to connect to wireless networks, creating the ‘internet of things’, and the possibilities multiplied again.
A microelectronic device might be a portable analyser that counts your blood cells, or a pair of smart socks that detects when people with dementia are agitated and heighten risk of falling. It might be a tiny monitor in a vineyard that tracks the water and energy needed to produce the wine, or an ear bud that can measure your brain waves. Then there are the devices within devices – the tiny sensors, photovoltaic cells, batteries, and memory units that make possible a world of different applications.
As these devices become smaller, more sensitive, more efficient, and more powerful, possibilities multiply for addressing the challenges faced by modern society, from the ageing population to sustainable economic growth, from crisis management to the drive to net zero.
Start at the atomic level
The process of developing a new microelectronic device is a journey. It often begins with researchers characterising the properties of a new material, maybe down to the atomic level. Then the material is used to build components for the planned device. And finally, the functionality of the components is tested. But this is a journey that often leads back to the point of departure. Adjustments must be made to the material in order to fine-tune the performance of the components, and so the cycle begins again.
Helping researchers from Imperial and outside to take this journey in one place is the goal of the Henry Royce Institute Imperial College Facility, or Royce at Imperial for short. This is part of the Henry Royce Institute, a national centre for research and innovation in advanced materials, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
“You can come to our facility with an idea for a device, and you can leave with that device in your hands.”
Located in the Sir Michael Uren Hub on Imperial’s White City Campus, the facility contains state-of-the-art equipment from nano-scale thin film deposition through to nanolithography, device patterning, material characterisation and device testing. There is also instrumentation that can analyse a wide variety of surfaces, from scanning electron microscopy to X-ray techniques, and a range of tools for prototyping nano-devices.
The facility is open to researchers at Imperial and other academic institutions, and companies with innovative projects. These require access contracts, which are arranged and maintained by Imperial Consultants. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from subsidised access, allowing them to work on a project at the facility for three to six months, depending on the hours involved and the funding Royce at Imperial has at the time of the request.
Users can follow the whole cycle, or step in at any point along the way to use a particular piece of equipment.
“You can come to our facility with an idea for a device, and you can leave with that device in your hands,” says Dr Peter Petrov, the Technology Platform Lead for Royce at Imperial. “And we are particularly set up to do that with devices based on novel materials.”
Users can follow the whole cycle, or step in at any point along the way to use a particular piece of equipment for a discrete piece of work. In this way, they can quickly produce prototypes for further testing, speeding up commercialisation of their technologies and demonstrating to potential investors the benefits to come. And if they are unfamiliar with the techniques, they are trained on the spot in how to get the most from the equipment Royce has to offer.
Academic and industrial users
Royce at Imperial has attracted many academic users from within the College. Examples include Dr Shelly Conroy in the Department of Materials, who is investigating the growth and design of functional thin films that could be used in electronics, quantum materials and energy devices. From the same department, Dr Cindy Tseng is investigating how catalysts split water to make hydrogen, an increasingly important means of storing energy from renewable sources. This should make it possible, for example, to design effective catalysts that rely less on rare elements such as iridium to function. And Dr Ryan Bower is using the Royce facility to advance his research on passively antimicrobial surfaces for use in hospitals and high-contact public spaces.
Commercial users have also come from within the Imperial ecosystem, including startups such as Puraffinity, Solena Materials, Beyond Blood Diagnostics, RFC Power and LoMaRe Technologies. But unconnected companies are also making use of the facilities. Examples include Paragraf, a graphene device spinout from the University of Cambridge, and Amphico, a textile startup developing through the Royal College of Art.
“We provide training for startup companies, and that helps to address the UK's up-skilling needs.”
In addition to accessing the facilities at Royce at Imperial, companies can also use Imperial Consultants, which oversees access contracts for commercial partners, to source additional expertise, for example to help analyse the results produced or to suggest next steps. This separate service links Royce at Imperial with the university’s wider expertise
“The companies we have been working with fall into four broad categories: medical devices; sustainable material production; batteries and catalysts; and electronics,” says Dr Michael Leverentz, the Research Development Manager for Royce at Imperial.
While some of these users are already familiar with the techniques on offer, others may be coming to them for the first time. In this case, Royce provides the necessary advice and training. “In particular, we provide training for startup companies, for example in how to use scanning electron microscopy or deposition systems, and that in itself is quite valuable, helping to address the up-skilling needs of the UK highlighted in both the Semiconductor and Quantum national strategies,” explains Professor Neil Alford, Atoms to Devices Research Area Lead for Royce at Imperial.
“Being present in the facility makes it easy to make contact with our experts and other academics, and start that discussion.”
Companies who need more help, for example in designing their experiments, can set up additional collaborations with researchers at Imperial. “Being present in the facility makes it easy to make contact with our experts and other academics, and start that discussion,” Dr Petrov says.
While Royce at Imperial supports commercial projects, its facilities are set up for prototyping rather than scale-up. “Although we have wafer-scale capability, the devices we make are usually smaller, and we cannot make lots of them," Dr Petrov explains. "But we can make, very quickly, a lot of different proof-of-principle devices.”
That can help startups make iterations of their devices and test them, until they are confident enough to start piloting. “We also get some larger companies who already have production lines set up, but who want to innovate without taking those lines down,” adds Dr Leverentz. “So, they can come to us to create a prototype, and determine if it has the desired properties before deciding to alter their productions lines.”
Measuring blood counts at home
The collaboration with Royce at Imperial has been transformative for Beyond Blood Diagnostics, an Imperial spinout developing a device that will allow home monitoring of blood cell levels. This will mean that people with chronic diseases or living with cancer will be able to track their conditions without having to go to hospital every time they need a test.
The company was founded in 2022 by Manfredi San Germano while writing his PhD thesis in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial. “We had some initial money from friends and family, and then some grant funding, which was just enough to rent a basic lab,” he recalls. “But then we reached a point where we needed access to better equipment and some technical expertise in order to reach our next technical milestones. We didn’t have it, but Royce at Imperial did.”
“We are a small company of just six people. Royce provided expertise that we didn’t have in-house and training that we needed.”
Beyond Blood’s system is designed to work with just one drop of blood. This is added to a cartridge fitted with a system of microscopic channels, which is then placed in a reading device. As the blood passes along the channels, the number and type of cells is recorded, analysed, and the results reported to a mobile phone app. The result is a full blood count, which counts every single cell in the drop of blood. If given larger sample volumes, the test could be expanded to detect the presence of circulating cancer cells, an early sign that a tumour may have spread.
A drop of blood added to Beyond Blood's reading device is enough to provide a full blood cell count.
Beyond Blood's reading device.
In order to build and test designs for its lab-on-a-chip, Beyond Blood used thin-film deposition, photolithography and femtosecond laser micromachining instruments at Royce, all housed in high-specification clean rooms. “Not only is this equipment very expensive, but it is extremely sensitive to dust and other contaminants, so you need to work in highly controlled environments,” explains Dr Andrea Attipoe, lead microsystems engineer at Beyond Blood.
Having access to Royce’s technical knowhow was also important. “We are a small company of just six people,” says Mr San Germano. “Royce provided expertise that we didn’t have in-house and training that we needed.”
The photoresists used for photolithography are sensitive to UV light, so photolithography labs have yellow lights, blocking out UV to prevent the photoresist from becoming over- or prematurely exposed.
The photoresists used for photolithography are sensitive to UV light, so photolithography labs have yellow lights, blocking out UV to prevent the photoresist from becoming over- or prematurely exposed.
Having Royce-funded access for six months allowed Beyond Blood to prove its technology and move on to the next level. “Meeting those technical milestones enabled us to raise a further £2 million and bring in top UK and US investors, sign a partnership with a public company and begin our first clinical trial with an NHS Trust,” explained Mr San Germano. “And that all happened because of the help we had from Royce at Imperial.”
Better electrodes for energy storage
Meanwhile, RFC Power has used the equipment at Royce to delve deeper into electrochemistry for energy storage. Spun out from Imperial in 2018, the company has developed a regenerative fuel cell that combines the benefits of a flow battery with the best elements of fuel cell technology, to efficiently convert electrical energy to chemical energy and back again. An important application for this technology will be storing energy produced intermittently by renewables such as wind power, and then releasing it into the grid when needed.
“We still need to do fundamental analyses to understand and develop our core technology, but we don’t have the resources and facilities to do that in-house.”
The company is currently in the scale up phase, preparing to test its technology with commercial partners, but this does not mean R&D stops. “We still need to do fundamental analyses to understand and develop our core technology, but we don’t have the resources and facilities to do that in-house,” says Dr Stefano Mezzavilla, Chemistry Lead at RFC Power. “That’s why engaging with Royce has been so useful.”
RFC Power's regenerative fuel cell combines the benefits of a flow battery with the best elements of fuel cell technology.
RFC Power's regenerative fuel cell.
This is exploratory work, almost blue skies research. “We have some ideas, primarily around electrode materials, that we are interested in testing, so this allows us to make samples and run them.”
In particular, RFC Power is interested in Royce’s surface science capabilities. These include coating and thin film instruments able to produce surfaces with precisely controlled characteristics, and instruments able to analyse the results of the coating process.
Researchers and companies use the magnetron sputtering system to deposit nanometer-scale metallic films of metals like gold, to make electrical contacts for prototype devices.
Researchers and companies use the magnetron sputtering system to deposit nanometer-scale metallic films of metals like gold, to make electrical contacts for prototype devices.
“An electrochemical cell is a sandwich of components, and each component is catalysing a chemical reaction on its surface,” Dr Mezzavilla explains. “So, there is a clear overlap between what we want to do and Royce’s capabilities.”
Dr Mezzavilla is already an experienced user of these instruments, but he welcomes input from the Royce staff. “I know what these machines can do, but I don’t necessarily have the in-depth expertise to select the best coating parameters to consider. So we discuss these and agree them in a collaborative way.”
The HIPIMS, or high-power impulse magnetron sputtering system, is used to create thin films of denser coating morphology and an increased hardness compared to standard magnetron sputtering techniques.
The HIPIMS, or high-power impulse magnetron sputtering system, is used to create thin films of denser coating morphology and an increased hardness compared to standard magnetron sputtering techniques.
Being able to do this work for six months, funded by the Royce Institute, was a great opportunity for the company. “Without this scheme, it would be very difficult for a small company like ours to access a facility with this kind of equipment, even for the small samples that we want to try out,” says Dr Mezzavilla. “Being able to do that next door to where we are based is extremely useful.”
Textiles for a greener future
Amphico has an entirely different reason to be interested in how materials perform. Founded in 2018, it is developing a textile with lower environmental impact for use in outdoor pursuits such as hiking and mountaineering, one that is designed for circularity and avoids the hazardous chemicals often used in waterproof clothing.
“Just thinking about buying an SEM would be out of the question for us, so the fact that Royce has funded our access to the equipment for six months, is really helpful.”
“We are still in the pre-revenue stage of starting up, so we are doing a lot of R&D and product development,” says Dr Deana Tsang, Amphico’s Chief Technology Officer. In particular, the company is working to ensure its textile meets the performance requirements of the clothing brands it hopes to have as commercial partners. “That requires a lot of iterative work, going through the materials characterisation steps again and again after each slight change on the materials processing side.”
A laminated woven parka made from Amphico's PFAS-free waterproof and breathable textile.
A laminated woven parka made from Amphico's PFAS-free waterproof and breathable textile.
To do this, Amphico is making use of the microscopy facilities at Royce, in particular its scanning electron microscope (SEM). “We’re really interested in the surface morphology of our material, looking at small structures such as fibres and pores,” Dr Tsang explains. “We often have to go down to the micro- and nanometre scale to be able to see them, which is why we need to use an SEM.”
The Royce FEG-SEM or Field Emission Gun – Scanning Electron Microscope, provides the very highest resolution imaging compared to regular SEM. It guarantees high brightness, crisp images, which are used to characterise a diverse range of surfaces.
The Royce FEG-SEM or Field Emission Gun – Scanning Electron Microscope, provides the very highest resolution imaging compared to regular SEM. It guarantees high brightness, crisp images, which are used to characterise a diverse range of surfaces.
This kind of microscope is beyond the budget of most startups and small companies. “Just thinking about buying an SEM would be out of the question for us, so the fact that Royce has funded our access to the equipment for six months, is really helpful.”
Working outside Royce at Imperial’s core area of microelectronics has also resulted in some interesting discussions about the facilities. “The Royce team has been really helpful in trying to understand our needs,” says Dr Tsang.
Royce at Imperial is just beginning
Engagement with academic and commercial users is also stimulating thoughts about what more Royce at Imperial can do. “The facilities are constantly evolving,” says Professor Alford. “For example, we were awarded funding last year to acquire additional capability on our electron microscope for energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, which allows us to now determine elemental compositions of the samples being imaged. Even more recently, we have been awarded a large capital bid for a cutting-edge mask aligner, which will update our photolithography capability to the industry standard, in addition to providing nano-imprint lithography, which is an entirely new technique for us and will drastically improve our ability to create scalable industrially relevant processes."
Both of these instruments greatly enhance the capabilities Royce at Imperial can offer to its industrial and academic partners, such as the London Centre for Nanotechnology, which brings together Imperial, King’s College London and University College London.
“Royce at Imperial is part of the Atoms to Devices Research Area, which includes the universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Manchester.”
Connections can also be made with other Royce resources. At Imperial these include an electrochemistry suite that is part of the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator at White City, and the SPIN-Lab, a hub for magnetic characterisation in South Kensington.
Contacts can equally be made across the broader Royce community. “Royce at Imperial is part of the Atoms to Devices Research Area, which includes the universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Manchester. But Royce has several other research areas at other universities, for example electrochemical systems at Oxford, as well as biomedical materials and sustainable materials, also at Manchester,” says Dr Leverentz. “Our users don’t automatically get access to those facilities, but we can help them with contacts to the wider Royce network.”
“Our goal is to make sure that our external users have the tools to carry out excellent science and to enable ground-breaking technological advances.”
Although Royce at Imperial is a busy facility, it has plenty of flexibility to accommodate even more academics and companies. “Although we have lots of equipment, and we do lots of different things, not every instrument is busy all of the time, so we can always fit people in where they need to be,” says Dr Leverentz. “Our goal is to make sure that our external users have the tools to carry out excellent science and to enable ground-breaking technological advances.”
Photos of Royce at Imperial: Dave Guttridge
Royce at Imperial is open to researchers at Imperial and other academic institutions, and to companies with innovative projects.
Access for external clients is facilitated by Imperial Consultants and is sometimes available to small- and medium-size businesses at subsidised rates.
To discuss opportunities for collaborating with Royce at Imperial or accessing its equipment, please email the facility team:
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