A novel platform-technology for long-term subcutaneous neurophysiology. This project aims to develop a novel miniature device for subcutaneous and tetherless brain sensing. It addresses the lack of a device solution for brain-sensing that combines ultra-long-term reliable sensing capability and small dimensions for minimally-invasive procedures. We achieve this through our novel electrode architecture that significantly enhances the quality and reliability of recorded brain signals. We introduce ....A novel platform-technology for long-term subcutaneous neurophysiology. This project aims to develop a novel miniature device for subcutaneous and tetherless brain sensing. It addresses the lack of a device solution for brain-sensing that combines ultra-long-term reliable sensing capability and small dimensions for minimally-invasive procedures. We achieve this through our novel electrode architecture that significantly enhances the quality and reliability of recorded brain signals. We introduce a platform technology designed for subscalp anatomy with future use in various brain-machine interfacing applications relying on reliable, long-term and easy-to-implant systems. This project's device manufacturing, training, and intellectual property are expected to strengthen Australia's position in bioelectronics.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors. The von Neumann paradigm is the foundation of modern computing systems, which are based on the data exchange between central processing unit (CPU) and memory. The physical separation between the CPU and memory will cause von Neumann bottleneck – a memory wall to limit the data processing speed for contextually intelligent applications. This project aims to develop a novel ferroelectric field effect transistor that integrates a ferroelectric mat ....Beyond the Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors. The von Neumann paradigm is the foundation of modern computing systems, which are based on the data exchange between central processing unit (CPU) and memory. The physical separation between the CPU and memory will cause von Neumann bottleneck – a memory wall to limit the data processing speed for contextually intelligent applications. This project aims to develop a novel ferroelectric field effect transistor that integrates a ferroelectric material into a semiconductor transistor structure to merge logic and memory functionalities in a single-device level. This will solve the memory wall problem while provide low power, high speed, high density and long data retention time for future logic-in-memory and data centric computing paradigms.Read moreRead less
Enabling technology unlocking full potential of high bandgap chalcopyrite . This project is aimed at solving the fundamental challenges of high bandgap chalcopyrite light-harvesting material to unlock its full potential as the top cell for photovoltaic tandem cell and the photocathode for photoelectrochemical applications. This will be realised by dynamic optimisation of its performance in photovoltaic solar cell device through understanding of its defects origins, enabling defects controlling t ....Enabling technology unlocking full potential of high bandgap chalcopyrite . This project is aimed at solving the fundamental challenges of high bandgap chalcopyrite light-harvesting material to unlock its full potential as the top cell for photovoltaic tandem cell and the photocathode for photoelectrochemical applications. This will be realised by dynamic optimisation of its performance in photovoltaic solar cell device through understanding of its defects origins, enabling defects controlling technologies, and microscopic carrier loss mechanism analysis via systematic macro-to-micro characterisations combined with 3D device simulation. The project completion will reinforce the next-generation tandem cell and photoelectrochemical technologies with the efficient, stable, RoHS-compliant and thin chalcopyrite devices.Read moreRead less
Central Representation of Electroacoustic Stimuli. Cochlear implantation, initially only provided to profoundly deaf individuals, is now routine in people with substantial residual hearing. Although stimulation via a cochlear implant and hearing aid in the same ear has been shown to improve speech understanding, particularly in noise, and to increase the aesthetic quality of sound, almost nothing is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying these benefits. The broad aim of our project ....Central Representation of Electroacoustic Stimuli. Cochlear implantation, initially only provided to profoundly deaf individuals, is now routine in people with substantial residual hearing. Although stimulation via a cochlear implant and hearing aid in the same ear has been shown to improve speech understanding, particularly in noise, and to increase the aesthetic quality of sound, almost nothing is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying these benefits. The broad aim of our project is to address this deficiency by measuring the patterns of neural activity evoked by speech sounds across the tonotopic axis in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex and assess the extent to which the pattern of neural activity allows discrimination between the different speech sounds.Read moreRead less
Probing and harnessing the light-matter interactions in two-dimensional phosphorene. This project aims to investigate phosphorene, a new two-dimensional material, for the development of new optical and electronic devices. Such materials have unique optical and electronic properties due to their flat physical structure, which gives rise to strong interactions between light and matter. The expected outcome of this project will be new kinds of near infrared light emitting diodes, single photon emit ....Probing and harnessing the light-matter interactions in two-dimensional phosphorene. This project aims to investigate phosphorene, a new two-dimensional material, for the development of new optical and electronic devices. Such materials have unique optical and electronic properties due to their flat physical structure, which gives rise to strong interactions between light and matter. The expected outcome of this project will be new kinds of near infrared light emitting diodes, single photon emitters and ground-breaking lasers. These developments will enable the fabrication of new low-power light sources that can integrate with communication technologies now, and quantum communication technologies in the future.Read moreRead less
Electronics out of thin air: MAGIC - Metal–Air Gated Integrated Circuits. We constantly seek faster, lighter, and energy-efficient devices. This project will create a new class of electronic devices, re-inventing vacuum tubes that enabled electronics almost a century ago, and scaling them down to the nanoscale realm. The devices are termed vacuum channel transistors, and transistors are the critical functional element of all electronics. At the extremely small size scales for nanoelectronics, th ....Electronics out of thin air: MAGIC - Metal–Air Gated Integrated Circuits. We constantly seek faster, lighter, and energy-efficient devices. This project will create a new class of electronic devices, re-inventing vacuum tubes that enabled electronics almost a century ago, and scaling them down to the nanoscale realm. The devices are termed vacuum channel transistors, and transistors are the critical functional element of all electronics. At the extremely small size scales for nanoelectronics, the charge carriers travel very short distances. This avoids collisions enabling extremely high-speed transport. Such a virtual vacuum environment can potentially enable electronics thousands of times faster than the current silicon-based technology, providing a solution to the challenges faced by the semiconductor industry.Read moreRead less
Engineering nanomembranes for Long-term Implanted Flexible Electronics. This project aims to investigate the key technologies of inorganic semiconductor nanomembranes for long-lived bio-integrated electronics. Taking advantage of the well-established silicon carbide (SiC) synthesis and fabrication technology, the project expects to elucidate a new understanding of the SiC-on-polymer platform, establishing a foundational guideline for the development of chemically inert and mechanically flexible ....Engineering nanomembranes for Long-term Implanted Flexible Electronics. This project aims to investigate the key technologies of inorganic semiconductor nanomembranes for long-lived bio-integrated electronics. Taking advantage of the well-established silicon carbide (SiC) synthesis and fabrication technology, the project expects to elucidate a new understanding of the SiC-on-polymer platform, establishing a foundational guideline for the development of chemically inert and mechanically flexible devices. These findings will offer innovative solutions for daunting challenges in bio-integrated electronics, leveraging their safety, reliability, and long-term performance. The project expects to offer Australia cutting edge technologies and an impact profile in the fast-growing flexible bio-electronics market.Read moreRead less
Next Generation Terahertz Materials. We will investigate novel tuneable terahertz (THz) metamaterials, based on the exploitation of phase change materials. Tunable metamaterial-based terahertz devices, such as modulators and filters, will potentially generate significant downstream IP for short-path wireless applications. This fills a critical need to meet the increasing demand for greater bandwidth. Elucidation of the fundamental science underlying the interaction between terahertz signals and ....Next Generation Terahertz Materials. We will investigate novel tuneable terahertz (THz) metamaterials, based on the exploitation of phase change materials. Tunable metamaterial-based terahertz devices, such as modulators and filters, will potentially generate significant downstream IP for short-path wireless applications. This fills a critical need to meet the increasing demand for greater bandwidth. Elucidation of the fundamental science underlying the interaction between terahertz signals and phase-change materials will enable tuneable metamaterials. A major leap will be devices that can steer and modulate terahertz signals with unprecedented agility and compactness; enabling future high-bandwidth desktop data transfer.Read moreRead less
Nitride materials: In the “bond ionicity Goldilocks zone” for solar energy. Progress towards commercial devices for solar-driven hydrogen generation as well as in-situ electricity generation for vehicles is currently hampered by a lack of earth-abundant, stable, non-toxic semiconductor materials that can be fabricated by scalable methods. This project aims to develop the first scalable solution synthesis methods for a new class of earth-abundant Zn-based nitride semiconductor nanocrystals that h ....Nitride materials: In the “bond ionicity Goldilocks zone” for solar energy. Progress towards commercial devices for solar-driven hydrogen generation as well as in-situ electricity generation for vehicles is currently hampered by a lack of earth-abundant, stable, non-toxic semiconductor materials that can be fabricated by scalable methods. This project aims to develop the first scalable solution synthesis methods for a new class of earth-abundant Zn-based nitride semiconductor nanocrystals that have favourable bond ionicity and establish their optoelectronic properties for renewable energy devices for the first time. Flexible solution processing methods will be exploited to tune surface composition, remove defects and create devices to achieve optimised performance in these challenging new nitride material systems.Read moreRead less
Generating Highly Entangled Photons from Nonlinear Monolayer Domes. This project aims to investigate novel monolayer domes for the development of high-performance quantum photon sources. This research expects to expand our understanding of fundamental physics of photon pair generation in nonlinear optical materials. Such monolayer domes have ultra-high optical nonlinearity, which gives rise to strong light-matter interactions and enables high-efficiency photon pair generation. The expected outco ....Generating Highly Entangled Photons from Nonlinear Monolayer Domes. This project aims to investigate novel monolayer domes for the development of high-performance quantum photon sources. This research expects to expand our understanding of fundamental physics of photon pair generation in nonlinear optical materials. Such monolayer domes have ultra-high optical nonlinearity, which gives rise to strong light-matter interactions and enables high-efficiency photon pair generation. The expected outcome is demonstration of a prototype light-weight and intense quantum photon source based on novel materials, which can be readily integrated with photonic circuits for quantum communication technologies. This research could strengthen the development of new industries and lead to job creation.Read moreRead less