index1 | Advanced Composite Materials Facility

The Advanced Composite Materials Facility houses a multi-chamber ultra high vacuum line for combinatorial thin film material synthesis, device fabrication and surface analysis established through the UK Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) in 2013 (£8M).

This was refurbished and extended in 2020 through support from Ilika Technologies.

The laboratory also incorporates a manufacturing cluster tool based on the same physical vapour deposition methods funded by EPSRC (£3.3M) in a capital grant intended to support economic growth in the UK by investing in 'eight great technologies'.

Laboratory established in 2014

The facility houses extensive high throughput characterisation and screening tools for thin film materials. In addition, there are a number of surface science tools for the characterisation of the interfaces at, and between, interfaces. The laboratory which houses the ACMF was opened by the Rt. Hon Greg Clark in November 2014. The facility is also strategically supported by industrial partners such as Ilika plc and DCA Instruments Oy.

ACMF — Advanced Composite Materials Facility

Material discovery and device development

This world leading facility, which is unique in the UK, will develop and manufacture radically new and advanced composite materials for:

semi-conductor electronics
data storage devices
sensors
photonic devices
energy harvesting, conversion and storage devices

The capability is provided through the synthesis of new materials on up to 150mm wafers, combined with the nearby clean room facilities of the Optoelectronic Research Centre (ORC) and Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Southampton.