Author: Andrew See

The First Australian Direct Write Lithography Workshop 4-6 December 2019

The Research & Prototype Foundry at the University of Sydney invites you to attend a FREE one-day workshop that focuses on direct write lithography technologies, including electron, photon, and ion beam lithography. This workshop is the first of its kind in Australia and is a joint collaboration between ANFF and Microscopy Australia.

The program features technical experts and equipment manufacturers to introduce a broad spectrum of state-of-the-art lithography capabilities and case studies. The event also offers plenty of opportunities for participants to share and exchange fabrication knowledge in dedicated parallel group sessions.

Immediately following the workshop, participants can choose to stay on for either a two-day training course on GenISys Beamer, a software package that targets electron beam lithography users, or a half-day practical introduction to direct write photolithography in our world-class cleanroom.

Program details, including travel funding, will be released closer to the date of the workshop. Catering will be provided

Location and Dates:

Seminar Room LG17, St Paul’s College, University of Sydney
4 Dec, 9am to 5pm – Direct Write Lithography Workshop
5-6 Dec, 9am to 5pm – Beamer Training
6 Dec, 9am to 1pm – Direct Write Photolithography Practical

Organizers:

ANFF – Jason Hwang, Research & Prototype Foundry
University of Sydney, jason.hwang@sydney.edu.au
Microscopy Australia – Elliot Cheng, Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, University of Queensland, h.cheng6@uq.edu.au

Limited Seats Available – RSVP now [Link]

ARC Laureate Fellowship success – Andrew Dzurak

Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak has been awarded an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in the 2019 round. This award is one of the most prestigious and contested in the research community, with just seventeen new Fellows nationwide this year, and is a huge achievement recognizing sustained outstanding research. Andrew also becomes the School of EE&T’s first-ever Laureate Fellow.

The grant, funded with $2.9M over five years, will develop 10-20 qubit processors based on silicon metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, and aims to resolve critical issues related to readout, error correction, and long-distance on-chip coupling, to pave the way towards commercialization. The fabrication of the qubit processors are done right here at the NSW node of ANFF.

UNSW Newsroom release [Link]

CQC2T open day 2019

On the 5th September 2019, over one hundred school students got to experience ‘a day in the life’ of a quantum computer researcher, as the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology opened up its doors at UNSW Sydney. The primary school and high school students were emerged in science, with an introduction to quantum computing from Prof Michelle Simmons, a tour of the quantum laboratories including the Australian National Fabrication Facilities (ANFF) labs, to witness the technology being used to build a quantum computer in silicon, and hands-on experiments to demonstrate the principles, processes and materials used in the labs. The day finished with some of our PhD students and experienced researchers answering questions on their career journey to inspire students to purse a career in STEM.

FUNDING SUCCESS: over $8.3M NCRIS funding for ANFF-NSW

Friday, 19 July 2019:  ANFF-NSW has secured > $8.3M  of additional NCRIS/ANFF funding with the signing of a new contract between UNSW and the Australian National Fabrication Facility Limited (ANFFL).  The agreement also formalises the addition of The University of Sydney to join with UNSW within a merged NSW Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).   

The new contract variation will bring $5.2M of operational funds for the next four years, plus $3.1M of capital funds via the Commonwealth Research Infrastructure Investment Plan (RIIP). Moreover, required matching funds commitments for the RIIP component will add a further $3.1M bringing the total expected funding to over $11.4M. The new funding will enable the ANFF-NSW laboratories to be well positioned to maintain and expand cutting-edge capabilities as a core research asset for Australian researchers in nanofabrication, microelectronics and quantum computing.

ANFF-NSW now supports over 400 researchers, including 5 ARC Centres of Excellence (CQC2T, FLEET, Equs, CBNS, Exciton Science) who access more than 20,000 hours/year of ANFF facilities.  Based on acknowledgements in 2018-19 publications ANFF-NSW supports >$190M of ARC/NMMRC funded research projects.  With over $20M of continuous EIS/CRIS/NCRIS funding since 2006, research supported by ANFF-NSW has generated >400 publications, >6,600 citations, >50 publications in high impact journals (IF>10).    

200 times faster than ever before: the speediest quantum operation yet

A group of scientists led by 2018 Australian of the Year Professor Michelle Simmons have achieved the first two-qubit gate between atom qubits in silicon – a major milestone on the team’s quest to build an atom-scale quantum computer. The pivotal piece of research was published today in world-renowned journal Nature. This work was performed in part at the NSW node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility.

Click [here] for the full UNSW Newsroom article