PHD studentships currently available in the Centre for Plasma Physics.

Advanced diagnostics for atmospheric and low pressure industrial plasmas

Supervisors: Dr Tom Field, David Riley, Tom Gilmore

● The student who takes up this PhD position will work on an experimental project to study low temperature plasmas, which are used by high-tech industry to make computer chips and have many other uses.
● The experiments will be performed partly at Queen’s University Belfast and partly at Impedans Ltd., which designs and manufactures novel plasma diagnostic tools and is located in Dublin, Ireland – (Student travel expenses will be covered.)
● There will be a mixture of pure ‘blue-skies’ research and more applied research relevant to high-tech manufacturing.
● The studentship stipend is £17,285 per year for 3 years, which is tax free. The stipend is made up of £15,285 per year from a DfE PhD studentship and £2,000 per year as part of the collaboration with Impedans.
● The expected project start date is 1st October 2021. Applicants should hold or expect to hold at least a 2.1 honours degree in physics or a related subject by this date.
● To apply, please use the QUB portal -  https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/user/u_login.php
● Informal enquiries, please contact Tom Field at t.field@qub.ac.uk

 Project Description:

The objectives of this project are to
● study low pressure plasmas on short timescales
● investigate diagnostic tool use with atmospheric plasmas

This experimental project will be carried out partly at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and partly in the research labs at Impedans. At Impedans, the focus will be on low pressure, low temperature, radio-frequency driven capacitively coupled plasmas similar to those used in high-tech industry for semiconductor plasma
processing. At QUB the focus will be on plasmas generated at atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric plasmas are
becoming more commonly used in mass production due to their advanced material treatment capability and because they do not require liquid chemicals or vacuum chambers. Characterising atmospheric plasmas presents a new challenge.

The student will use new sensors to measure the kinetic energy of ions, RF harmonics and plasma
parameters, such as the electron temperature, ion density and plasma potential. These measurements can give insight into the fundamental physics of plasmas and can also be used to help develop repeatable reliable processes in industry. For example, a new challenge in both academia and industry is to measure ‘live’ ion energy distributions on timescales of milliseconds and microseconds. The student will get to use some brand-new plasma diagnostic technologies and will be the first to publish material using them.

Personal Development and Training during the PhD:

This project gives an opportunity to join both a university research group and an industrial research and development team. Note that the team at Impedans have to work at the highest level to be able to develop new plasma diagnostics that are useful to the world-wide semiconductor industry.
The research in the university will lead to publications and opportunities to present research results at international conferences. There is a lively global community of academics who work with low pressure plasmas. Wherever possible the student will be given freedom to direct their own research in consultation with their supervisors.

At Impedans the student will work with engineers who have years of experience of working directly
with all areas of industrial plasma usage, from semiconductor processing, to deposition of advanced coatings, to medical device manufacture. The student will gain practical knowledge of the use of plasmas in a manufacturing / commercial context, including common issues and their solutions. The student will gain insight into the real needs of industry and the challenges that the next generation of semiconductor technologies will face.

Impedans is a small to medium enterprise (SME) with under 50 employees, so on placement they will meet people from, and gain insight into, all aspects of the business.