Case Studies

Europe is launching 22 satellites as its new global positioning system Galileo expands. This will provide robust, secure location and timing signals to European users, removing reliance on other countries, and opening new markets for high performance products that require precision time and frequency signals. Satellite positio...

Semiconductor manufacturing requires tiny details to be etched onto silicon wafers using precision chemical processes. These are performed in cleanrooms to avoid contamination. However, chemicals from other stages in the production process, most importantly, ammonia or hydrofluoric acid, can occasionally spill producing traces ...

Our increasing use of mobile phones for accessing the internet, checking train times, and transferring money online, relies on communication networks that can match our rising expectations. Good quality signals, data transmission speeds, and network coverage are essential for reliable network operation, and in rural areas conne...

Films and coatings with complex layers often introduce formidable surface chemistry challenges in advanced manufacturing processes, such as constructing electronics based on non-silicon semiconductors or in drug delivering layers used in medical implants. Biochemical surface interactions have particular importance for patient w...

Thin films and complex surfaces can introduce formidable surface chemistry challenges in high volume manufacturing, such as electronics, and medical implant production. Multiple chemical layers are often engineered to give specific functionalities during use. The quality and completeness of these functional layers needs to be c...

Advanced manufacturers of nanotechnologies, semiconductors and solar cells are increasingly innovating with multifunctional materials and this requires the accurate characterisation of very small features. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) allows very precise sub-nanometre measurements of surface features and could in the future pr...