Summary of the UK Semiconductors conference 2018 held 4th-5th July
The conference was attended by 290 delegates from more than 35 academic institutions and including industry representatives from 30 companies. The conference includes the TMD-UK 2018 meeting on 2D materials beyond graphene. Plenary speakers were Eric Tournié (Montpellier) on antimonide semiconductors for mid-infrared optoelectronics, Arne Ludwig (Bochum) on growth of low noise quantum dots for quantum information, Anna Barnett (Sussex) on wide band gap semiconductors for radiation detection and Amalia Patanè (Nottingham) on epitaxy, science and processing technologies for van der Waals crystals. We also hosted the prize talk from the winner of the inaugural IOP Semiconductor Physics group thesis prize: James Dimmock (Sharp Laboratories) on hot carrier solar cells.
As part of the scientific programme there were 136 other presentations, with symposia on Physics in Semiconductors, Optical Devices, Electronic Devices, Semiconductor Materials & Nanostructures, Mid-infrared and THz Devices, Organic & Hybrid Semiconductors, Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors and 2D Materials. Invited talks in these sessions were given by Diana Huffaker (Cardiff) on semiconductor nanowires, Stephan Hofmann (Cambridge) on chemical vapour deposition of 2D materials, and Andres Castellanos-Gomez (Madrid) on strain tuneable optoelectronic devices based on 2D materials. There was also an Industry & Innovation session, with speakers from a range of institutes and companies giving perspectives on the current research environment and showcasing facilities that promote interactions between industry and academia to advance the technology readiness of research.
The conference also featured a Research Communication Competition for PhD students, sponsored by the IOP Semiconductor Physics Group, with the judging panel chaired by group committee member Daniel Wolverson (Bath). In the competition, entrants gave a three minute presentation about their research suitable for a non-specialist audience. This was the third year running the competition and attracted 20 initial entrants with 9 finalists. The winners were both from the University of Sheffield: 1st prize went to Tom Lyons for “The world’s thinnest magnet: could it be used in computers of the future?” and runner up was George Gillard for “Controlling quantum bits: A step towards quantum computing”.
Details of the programme and conference proceedings can be found at:http://uksemiconductors.com/