Scotland's bid to win the global race to develop advanced silicon chip technology has been given a significant boost.

Major funding of £730,000 has been granted by Scottish Enterprise to assist the ground-breaking development work being carried out at University of Glasgow.

It is widely recognised that the material which has been the foundation of the microelectronics revolution over the last four decades is losing its ability to keep pace with the advances in micro and opto electronic technologies.

The key to meeting the demand for smaller chips, packed with more transistors and capable of integrating digital functions, optoelectronic devices and radio frequency components is the development of a new compound semiconductor material and its integration with silicon.

The benefits delivered by the new generation materials will be smaller and cheaper products which will be faster and have even greater built-in functionality.

The Ultrafast Group at the University of Glasgow's 5 rated Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department are recognised as world-leaders in the development of the industry's holy grail.

Professor Iain Thayne is leading the development of Gallium Arsenide devices, known as GaAs MOSFETs, as a potential additional technology platform to silicon.

The significance of his work has been recognised and endorsed by one of the world's largest manufacturers of silicon chips, who are collaborating with Professor Thayne and his team.

Central to the success of his work is the development of nano-scale technology to measure the interaction, effectiveness and purity of these new compound materials at an atomic level. This is achieved through the use of active scanning capacitance microscopy technology which is being developed by Professor John Weaver.

Another integral piece of the semiconductor revolution is to understand the characteristics of these materials and devise the circuit technologies and CAD methodologies necessary to design the new GaAs MOSFET integrated circuits. Professor David Cumming is leading this development work at Glasgow University.

The work being done by Professors Weaver and Cumming will benefit from the three year funding package agreed by the Scottish Enterprise Micro and Opto Electronics Team.

The aim is to further build the reputation of University of Glasgow in this vital area of technology innovation and encourage increased collaboration with international companies and research bodies.

Neil Francis, Scottish Enterprise Cluster Director for Micro and Opto Electronics, said: 'The silicon chip revolutionised every aspect of people's everyday life from the way we communicate to the way we spend our leisure time and the way we do business. It has sustained a highly important sector of our economy here in Scotland for more than a generation. But even with this building block of the microelectronics age is being overtaken by the speed of change. New technologies demand new innovative solutions.'

'The University of Glasgow is internationally recognised as a leader in the development of the new compound semiconductor technology that will ultimately provide the platform to deliver the step change in micro and opto electronics. Our assistance for this project fits with our strategy of supporting demand-led initiatives essential to our international competitiveness and our reputation as a global centre of innovative collaboration.'

Professor John Weaver said: 'Capacitance has been an unsolved key technology problem, as defined by the ITRS Roadmap, since around 1998 and we believe that with the Scottish Enterprise Funding we can solve it. The results will become immediately applicable to the semi-conductor industry and will be useful in all technologies, from 'Old fashioned' silicon, to Dielectrics and IIIV MOS.

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For more details contact Mike Findlay the University of Glasgow Press Officer on 0141 330-3535.

First published: 31 January 2005