Senior Electron-beam Lithography Technician at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre – University of Nottingham  –

Richard completed a PhD in nanomechanical resonators at the University of Nottingham in 2016.  They now run the nanofabrication facility within the nano- and microscale research centre at the University of Nottingham.  They are an expert in electron beam lithography, in particular they have considerable experience working with insulating substrates.  

Dr James Grant is Head of Engineering and Process at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC), University of Glasgow. He leads the team responsible for the operation and development of fabrication capability supporting a wide range of academic and industrial research.

He has worked across research technology and cleanroom operations for a number of years, progressing from hands-on process engineering into leadership of technical teams and large shared research infrastructure. His experience spans facility operations, capability development and engagement with researchers and industry to translate experimental requirements into reliable processes.

James now focuses on developing people, capability and sustainable access to advanced fabrication facilities. Through nanoFabUK he contributes to coordination between UK cleanrooms, promoting collaboration and helping align national infrastructure with future technology needs

University of Cambridge

Dr Dave Ellis, Head of the Cavendish Nanofabrication Centre, has over 20 years experience in the design, fabrication and characterisation of quantum technologies, and has led research teams in academia and industry.    At the Cavendish, Dave leads an expanding team of highly-trained RTPs and apprentices that support user training, service provision, and underpin professional and technical skills development for users at all levels.   

Moving to state-of-the-art facilities in the Ray Dolby Centre, the Cavendish Nanofabrication Centre offers ~ 1500m² of ISO3-ISO7 device fabrication space – split into two dedicated areas for work with organic and inorganic materials respectively.  This provides us with a unique platform to support a broad range of research, including developing hybrid materials systems.  

The centre also offers MBE growth capabilities across four reactors including Arsenide-based compound semiconductors (3” substrates);  and more exotic materials such as topological insulators and thermoelectrics. These activities are based in an additional ~400m² of deposition laboratories.   

The Centre will operate as an open-access facility, building on Dr Ellis’ passion for training and outreach to bring knowledge-sharing, teaching, and collaboration to the fore, and making the new facility more than a collection of shared equipment – which goes hand-in-hand with the vision of NanofabUK. 

University of Southampton 

Martin Ebert studied nanotechnology and microfabrication at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, and obtained his Dipl. Ing. degree in 2011. After working as a research scientist at the Fraunhofer research organization for several years, he embarked on his Ph.D. studies focusing on ZnO nanowire field-effect transistor fabrication at the University of Southampton. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 2019, he joined the Photonic Systems Circuits and Sensors Group as a research fellow, where he developed fabrication processes for integrated silicon photonic devices. Since 2022, Martin Ebert has been a technical manager at CORNERSTONE, where he leads a group of technicians and spearheads the development of new platforms and customized batches for integrated photonic devices. 

Dr James Grant is Head of Engineering and Process at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC), University of Glasgow. He leads the team responsible for the operation and development of fabrication capability supporting a wide range of academic and industrial research.

He has worked across research technology and cleanroom operations for a number of years, progressing from hands-on process engineering into leadership of technical teams and large shared research infrastructure. His experience spans facility operations, capability development and engagement with researchers and industry to translate experimental requirements into reliable processes.

James now focuses on developing people, capability and sustainable access to advanced fabrication facilities. Through nanoFabUK he contributes to coordination between UK cleanrooms, promoting collaboration and helping align national infrastructure with future technology needs

University of Manchester 

Dr Lee Hague (LH) is a senior technical specialist in nanofabrication and electron-beam lithography at the National Graphene Institute. Lee has an MPhys (Physics) and a PhD in Physics (centred around the study of organic semiconductors) from the University of Sheffield. He has been working in cleanrooms for ~15 years and is now responsible for using, maintaining and training (cleanroom users and other RTPs) on electron microscopes and physical vapour deposition equipment.

University of Cambridge

Luigi Occhipinti has been managing research and innovation for over 25 years, encompassing multiple fields of engineering including flexible and wearable sensor systems, biomedical devices, advanced signal processing, AI and robotics, renewable energies, and nanomaterials. 

He has PhD in Electrical Engineering and Laurea (Master) degree in Electronic Engineering obtained in 1997 and 1992 respectively. In the first part of his career, Luigi devoted 19 years to work for the global semiconductor company STMicroelectronics where he was leading R&D teams located in Italy, France and Singapore, contributing significantly to the company’s front-end technology and manufacturing portfolio, developing long-term strategic vision and contributing to shape the company’s R&D activities for the post-Silicon roadmap, as member of the Corporate R&D technical staff. 

Since 2014 he works at the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, where Luigi is currently Director of Research and Principal Investigator, and serves as Director of Facilities in the Electrical Engineering Division, which include the Electrical Engineering Cleanrooms, the Nanoscience Centre and the Cambridge Graphene Centre. 

Luigi is Senior member of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, as well as member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Materials Research Society (MRS), and sits in multiple advisory boards of multinational collaborative research programs, experts technology groups, and editorial boards of scientific journals and book series.  

He contributed to different standardisation committees, such as the IEEE P1620 and P1620.1 on Organic Transistors and Ring Oscillators, the IEC/CEI CT105 on Fuel Cells technology, the IEC/CEI CT111 on Environmental Standardization for Electrical and Electronic Products and Systems, and the IEC/CEI CT113 on Nanotechnologies. 

He also served as General Chair and Technical Programme Chair in different international conferences such as the IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS 2019-2022), the Innovations in Large-Area Electronics Conference and Exhibition (innoLAE, since 2015), the IEEE Biosensors Conference (2024), which is taking place in Cambridge on 28-30 July 2024.  

He has over 150 SCI papers and 90 patents and patent applications (49 granted)

University of Leeds  

Mark graduated with a first class honours (Masters of Engineering) from Durham University in 2004. He then undertook a PhD and two Research Associate positions at Durham. His work involved surface micromachining, FIB lithography and developing carbon-nanotube tipped thermal AFM probes. Mark worked with a range of external research groups and SMEs on diverse systems such as GaAs nanowires, diamond power devices and organic electronics. In 2012 Mark moved to the University of Leeds to run their new 100 kV Electron beam lithography system. This system was installed to support the Leeds cleanroom activities which were predominantly in the areas of III-V devices and thin film magnetic systems. The roll quickly expanded to encompass all cleanroom activities with projects spanning companies, international research institutes and universities. Following a substantial period of growth between 2012 and 2019, the facility moved to the new “Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom” in the Sir William Henry Bragg Building in February 2021. Mark was responsible for the technical specification, and significant aspects of the design of the new facility. He coordinated the migration, hook up and commissioning of the tools. Today Mark is the senior Experimental officer for the Nanotechnology Cleanroom overseeing all technical aspects of the facility and day-to-day operation. With 20 years of cleanroom experience, Mark has authored more than 60 publications which have been cited over 700 times (H-index of 16)

Imperial College London 

Dr Florent Seichepine (FS) manages the bionanofabrication cleanroom (EPSRC EP/R04256X/1) and the Microfluidics facility at the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre. FS also manages the nanofabrication technician network at ICL.

Royal Holloway University of London

Dr Rais Shaikhaidarov (RS) has over 25 years experience working in the field of experimental condensed matter physics and nanotechnology. Strong background in Nanofabrication of superconducting quantum devices. Deep knowledge of modern nanofabrication techniques: Photolithography, Electron Beam Lithography, deposition and etching.  Maintained ‘old’ nano fabrication facilities at Royal Holloway for over 15 years.  Contributed in design and construction of SuperFab in 2016-2018.  Maintaining SuperFab Nanofabrication Facility smooth operation since 2018

Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield  

University of Manchester 

Dr Alex Summerfield is a Technical Specialist in Ultra-High Vacuum atthe National Graphene Institute (NGI) since 2021 and is currently
responsible for running and developing the Royce Institute Ultra HighVacuum Suite at the NGI. He holds a PhD in physics from theUniversity of Nottingham (2016). He previously worked as apostdoctoral research associate at both the Universities of Manchester(2019-2021), Nottingham (2017-2019) and was an EPSRC doctoralprize fellow at Nottingham(2015-2017).