Research Fellow (Terabotics) (109569-0824)

For informal enquiries, please contact John Murphy (Professor) at John.d.murphy@warwick.ac.uk.

This fixed term post will commence as soon as possible with funding potentially available until the project end date, which is currently 31st August 2027.

You will undertake experimental research on a EPSRC Programme Grant entitled “Terabotics - terahertz robotics for surgery and medicine”. This is a £10m interdisciplinary research project which includes activities at the University of Warwick (Physics, Engineering, and Medical School), the University of Exeter (Physics), and the University of Leeds (Electronic and Electrical Engineering, and Medicine). The overarching aim is to develop THz technology and combine it with surgical robotics to bring a step change in cancer diagnosis and surgery.

This post in the School of Engineering will focus on the development of the modulators of the THz radiation, working in the Electronic Materials and Interfaces Group under the supervision of Prof. John Murphy. You will have expertise in semiconductor materials/ device engineering and will develop the photomodulator devices used to control the properties of the THz radiation. You will understand the fundamentals of carrier lifetime and recombination in semiconductors, and will develop and fabricate novel device designs to achieve the required modulation properties. Our work to date has used silicon-based photomodulators with passivation and lifetime control approaches from the field of silicon photovoltaic solar cells, so candidates with a background in that field are encouraged to apply. We are also interested in exploring the use of other materials systems in this project.

You will use the Science City Cleanroom/ Nanofabrication Research Technology Platform at Warwick. This contains excellent relevant facilities including wet benches (for chemical cleaning and etching), state-of-the-art plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (for dielectric deposition), annealing furnaces, and lithographic facilities. The willingness and ability to conduct cleanroom work, including performing chemical processing of semiconductor samples, is required. You will also characterise the modulators produced by using techniques such as photoconductance lifetime measurements and photoluminescence imaging. You will be expected to supply photomodulators to other members of the project team, who have expertise in THz-based characterisation and imaging for medical applications.

This post is based at the University of Warwick and requires a commitment for regular on-site work experimental work. You will be required to make occasional trips to project partners in the UK so the willingness to travel occasionally is required. There will be opportunities for presenting work at international conferences.

You will be expected to write up your research for publication and work with project partners to produce joint publications. You will be expected to deal with any management/ administration problems that may arise from the project and produce and present regular project reports ensuring that the project objectives and deadlines are met.

We will consider applications for employment on a part-time or other flexible working basis, even where a position is advertised as full-time, unless there are operational or other objective reasons why it is not possible to do so.