Dr Mike Jennings recognised with prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship
16th July 2020
A prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship has been awarded to Associate Professor, Dr Mike Jennings to work as an embedded industrial partner at Newport Wafer Fab (“NWF”). Dr Jennings has 15 years of power semiconductor device experience, having published over 100 journal articles on the topic, bringing his knowledge of silicon and wide bandgap semiconductor technologies to NWF.
Dr Jennings is an Associate Professor at Swansea University working within the framework of the Centre of Integrated Semiconductor Materials (“CISM”). The Fellowship will allow collaborative research and development in compound semiconductor power technology.
Swansea University’s CISM and NWF are key partners in the UKRI Strength in Places’ CSconnected project that has recently received funding to accelerate research excellence by strengthening the emerging regional supply chain in advanced semiconductor materials and manufacturing.
Dr Jennings’s said, “This Fellowship represents a powerful alliance that will steer the UK’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips, Newport Wafer Fab into the modern era of compound semiconductor and wide bandgap technologies”.
Wide bandgap semiconductors represent the underpinning components within electricity conversion technologies that are critical in delivering the energy efficient technologies of the future such as electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure. These advanced semiconductors perform faster, smarter and produce less heat, maximising power delivery with little or no wastage.
Sam Evans Director of External affair said “The Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship process is a unique and powerful model that will help in areas such as new CS technologies, upskilling our existing workforce and enhancing our relationships with existing and future customers through more advanced R&D activity. We are delighted to have Mike working alongside our technology development groups in the UK’s largest semiconductor site.”
This type of collaborative RD&I support will help not only Newport Wafer Fab, but the wider CSconnected project deliver next generation technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), LiDAR, power electronics and artificial intelligence (AI).
About the Royal Academy of Engineering:
The Academy bring together the most successful and talented engineers from across the profession – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society. The operation is formed around three strategic priorities: make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation and businesses, address the engineering skills crisis, and position engineering at the heart of society.
About Newport Wafer Fab:
The world’s first CS and silicon foundry, at Newport Wafer Fab, we have over 30 years of experience of fabricating world class, high end silicon devices. Providing a manufacturing service, which enables our customers to succeed in their fields of expertise. With a fast and agile ‘semiconductor production’ service for the CS cluster and the wider foundry market, Newport Wafer Fab is a high volume 200mm wafer fab. Our production capacity provides capability from 0.18µm and above. We have a complete tool line, advanced process controls and a highly skilled, experienced team.
NWF with its Compound Semiconductor cluster partners recently won a Strength in Places, Innovate UK Award of £43M to enhance RD&I in the field of CS technology
About CISM
The new Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials at Swansea University is a TRL spanning initiative which seeks to integrate state-of-the-art semiconductor platforms with over-the-horizon materials and processes to deliver next generation technologies for optoelectronics, energy, power systems and healthcare applications. CISM represents a western expansion of the CS Connected Cluster and is delivered in close partnership with the regional semiconductor industry.
More: https://www.newportwaferfab.co.uk/blog/royal-academy-industrial-fellowship
