We are delighted to welcome Rachel to our January 2024 Innovation Seminar Talk.

About this talk

Porous semiconducting nitrides are effectively a new class of semiconducting material, with properties distinct from the monolithic nitride layers from which devices from light emitting diodes (LEDs) to high electron mobility transistors are increasingly made. The introduction of porosity provides new opportunities to engineer a range of properties including refractive index, thermal and electrical conductivity, stiffness and piezoelectricity.

A novel etching process has been developed, which allows complex subsurface porous multilayers to be straightforwardly fabricated, but leaves the top surface of the material almost unaltered and suitable for further epitaxy.  Etching proceeding vertically from the top surface through channels formed at naturally-occurring defects in the crystal structure of GaN. This new defect-based etching process provides great flexibility to create novel device designs, enabling improvements to light extraction efficiency in LEDs for solid state lighting and new approaches to strain management in LEDs for microdisplays.  These discoveries have formed the basis of a spinout company, Poro Technologies Ltd, which has recently announced a new technology which allows full-colour microdisplays to be created from a single wafer of nitride material, a transformative approach in terms of reduction in manufacturing complexity.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/porous-nitrides-adding-value-by-taking-material-away-tickets-795190655657

About the Speaker

Prof Rachel Oliver is a materials scientist, inventor and spinout founder who also campaigns for equity in science and engineering research.  Her passion for understanding and engineering the small-scale structure of materials to enable new technologies was recognised in 2021 by the award of a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and her selection as an IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer.  She currently holds a prestigious Chair in Emerging Technologies from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

About the Seminar Series

The Innovation Seminar Series is organised by a number of inititiatives across the University and has a lineup of brilliant speakers who are at different stages in their Innovation and Entrepreneurship journey. If you are a member of the University of Cambridge community interested in all things entrepreneurial, this is a series for you!

This series of seminars happens monthly and speakers will present their ideas and experiences on how innovation impacts their endeavours.

• We have a varied list of speakers, from academics turned in to entrepreneurs all the way to established companies.
• The format is a 45 minute talk, followed by Q&A.
• Attendance is free

Come and join the talk with Prof Rachel Oliver.

Venue: The Maxwell Centre, Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Ave, Cambridge CB3 0HE.

The University ‘U’ bus (U1 and U2) from the city centre / Madingley Road Park and Ride also serves the West Cambridge site and stops outside the centre - see here for details.

Cycle racks available next to /opposite the building.

Data Protection

We collect information about you when you register to attend the Innovation Seminar Series. You can find details on how we handle personal information at https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/faqs.

The data we hold for this purpose is very limited (contact details: name, email address, name of the organisation you are affiliated with).

The information you provide will be used to process your booking, and contact you regarding your participation. We may also contact you to undertake post-event evaluation and provide marketing information about events and services offered through the Maxwell Centre, University of Cambridge and the Impulse Programme. All marketing communications will incorporate an option to opt-out of receiving further communications.

Please note that we are managing registration for this event via Eventbrite. Eventbrite is a third-party service that is not owned or managed by the University of Cambridge. You may wish to review Eventbrite’s terms and conditions and privacy policy as we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies.