Details of Grant 

Capital costs for equipment are added to the institutional equipment account of the holding institution. Institutional equipment accounts therefore indicate the cumulative amount awarded to that institution. Recurrent costs directly associated with equipment are awarded through a separate grant. For a full record of awards made by the EPSRC Equipment Business Case panels see: https://epsrc.ukri.org/research/ourportfolio/themes/researchinfrastructure/subthemes/equipment/supported/

EPSRC Reference:	EP/K022679/1
Title:	University of Newcastle - Equipment Account
Principal Investigator:	Hofer, Professor W
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Natural & Environmental Sciences
Organisation:	Newcastle University
Scheme:	Standard Research - NR1
Starts:	10 January 2013	Ends:	31 October 2017	Value (£):	3,009,791
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 24 Oct 2012 EPSRC Equipment Business Case - 24th and 25th October 2012 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The past decade has seen an explosion in the number of high frequency micro-manufactured devices being developed. Well-known examples include RF-Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (RF-MEMS), Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices for applications in biosensing, SAW devices for applications in digital signal processing (DSP), ultrasound transducers for applications in medical imaging and finally micromachined sonotrodes used in ultrasonic welding technology. This growth will continue as Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEMS) become more prevalent due to developments in fabrication techniques and materials. For example, the unique electrical and mechanical properties offered by graphene will see devices developed with ever increasing resonant frequencies. An essential part in the development of high frequency devices is the measurement of their dynamic behaviour. This includes natural frequencies, modeshapes, displacement fields and support loss mechanisms. This is critical for design optimisation, optimising process steps and validating any model or simulation. The measurement options available for high frequency systems where displacements may be of the order of picometres are extremely limited and only a few options exist. Contacting characterisation techniques e.g. AFM, load the device and therefore prevent a true accurate measurement of its dynamics. High frequency laser vibrometry presents the only non-invasive measurement option. We aim to purchase a ultra-high frequency laser vibrometer to enable dynamic characterisation of high frequency microsystems. This equipment will allow the displacement or velocity field of any structure will greater than 4% reflectivity to be measured with picometre resolution and up to a frequency of 1.2 GHz. It will therefore be ideal for characterising SAW devices, high frequency N/MEMS sensors and RF MEMS.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk Summary Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.ncl.ac.uk