- MSc Admissions

Information and Syllabus

Electronic technologies have evolved to the extent that modern device features are measured in nanometers. As a result of this, many new device concepts, fabrication methods and characterisation techniques have emerged.

Nanotechnology has become a key area of research within the School, and internationally it is an increasingly important feature of modern electronics manufacture and research in industry. Our recently completed state-of-the-art Nanofabrication centre provides the backdrop for three different MSC programmes that we offer in this area: Nano-electronics and Nano-technology, Micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS), and Bio-Nanotechnology. All three degrees will offer substantial training and experiments in our clean room facility.

Although these three degree programmes sound very different, they are all strongly dependent on fabrication techniques on both micro- and nano-scale. They hence share around 50% of the taught part with the other 50% allowing for your specification. On the Nanofabrication centre web page, you can see the differences between the three degrees in detail. The degrees all provide an excellent platform for further research in either industry or academia (such as PhD student in the Nano or MSD group).

Nano-electronics and Nanotechnology includes both scaling of commercial available logic and memory devices such as MOSFETs, SRAM, FLASH, and hard disks drives into the future in which these devices are only a few tens of nanometers long, but as well new materials and effects that exploit the inherent quantum mechanical nature of devices at that scale. Carbon Nanotubes, single electron transistors, spintronic devices, and, a bit more speculative, quantum computers, are a few of the most important in this category. You will not only learn about device operation, but you will also get a strong grounding in how to make and characterise these devices, learning about (and seeing in action!) state-of-art equipment such as electron beam lithography, scanning electron microscopy, focussed ion beam systems, scanning probe microscopy, and thin film, nanowire, and nanotube growth by chemical and physical vapour deposition.

The syllabus is updated every year but this list will give you a rough guide to modules offered at present.