The Henry Royce Institute
The Henry Royce Institute

The University of Leeds

Established in 1904, the University of Leeds is one of the largest universities in the UK. We’re part of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities and are renowned globally for the quality of our research and teaching.

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Royce facilities at the University of Leeds are hosted at the Bragg Centre for Materials Research within the Sir William Henry Bragg Building, a £96m development to create an integrated campus for Engineering and Physical Sciences to build on a shared interaction between these disciplines.

Located on the north-east quarter of the University campus, the 15,700m2 building enables the integration of the University disciplines of Engineering, Physics and Astronomy and Computing along with the provision of critical central teaching and social interaction spaces.

The Bragg Center for Materials Research brings together scientists and engineers across a wide range of disciplines to work on six research themes, pursuing both fundamental and applied research.

The Bragg Centre works with industry and other partners to develop new insights and solutions for innovative products, devices and applications. It also provides world-leading experimental and analytical facilities to understand and build materials from the atomic to the macro-scale.

Bragg Centre Website

Core Facilities

The Bragg Centre brings together advanced facilities for growth, fabrication, analysis and characterisation of materials. Our facilities are supported by our theoretical and modelling expertise.

Growth

We have materials growth capability from the nano to macro-scale covering an enormous range of materials and systems, underpinned by extensive materials modelling. Facilities include a semiconductor and nanotechnology cleanroom, a multi-functional materials growth facility and an advanced coatings physical vapour deposition/plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition system.
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Fabrication

Our fabrication capabilities reach from the nano to macro-scale covering an range of materials and systems. Capability includes an electron-beam lithography facility, Integrated synthetic biology facilities to support bionanotechnology and xCleanroom prototyping laboratories for glass cell processing.
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Analysis

We have extensive facilities for the analysis and testing of materials and devices including a specialism in the analysis of soft matter. We are a founding member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK National Facility in Advanced Electron Microscopy. We also link into both of the Leeds-Diamond X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Small angle X-ray spectroscopy (SAXS) facilities.
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Modelling and Simulation

Our modelling, theory and simulation capability spans the development of new methods to the study of specific materials and the simulation of full devices, with a particular focus on the material classes of soft matter, biomaterials and magnetic materials. In all cases we take a multiscale approach, including atomistic and mesoscale simulations using techniques of statistical, stochastic and finite element/difference approaches.
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"We advance our understanding of high-value materials through a combination of both fundamental scientific discovery and applied research, exploiting materials that are often engineered at the atomic or molecular level. These challenges demand that academics work across disciplines, so the Centre brings together leaders from interconnected fields to address global problems in materials research."

Prof Edmund Linfield | Director for the Bragg Centre for Materials Research

Technology Platforms

Royce Technology Platforms, which sit within our Research Framework, are groupings of cutting-edge facilities and expertise.

Multi-Chamber Deposition

The Royce Deposition System is a multi-chamber, multi-technique facility for thin film growth. Comprised of four deposition chambers connected via ultra-high vacuum transfer chambers, the System allows for different deposition techniques to be combined. This platform can create multi-layered thin film exploiting interfaces between different types of materials. These interfaces open up new physics and the possibility of new functions for devices.
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Core Research Areas

Atoms to Devices

The vision of the ‘Atoms to Devices’ (A2D) Research Area is to provide the cross- disciplinary technology platforms to facilitate the accelerated discovery and development of new device materials.

A2D is the quantum scale engineering of new technologies, that can translate into applications ranging from photonics, imaging, semiconductors and sensors, through to energy storage, biomedical materials and quantum technologies.

The research area comprises modelling, design, growth, fabrication, characterisation, and testing of electronic, spintronic and opto-electronic devices. Application examples include development of electronic materials for the energy transition, and design of bioelectronic sensors to support personalised healthcare.

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Core Research Areas

Imaging & Characterisation

The Imaging and Characterisation research area aims to provide access to the cutting-edge techniques across the entire scope of Royce’s research areas. This includes the specific expertise needed to describe and quantify the structure and properties of such a broad range of advanced materials. These techniques provide vital information to accelerate and support materials optimisation to improve performance, production, functionality and sustainability.

The applications of the Imaging and Characterisation capability across the partner institutes spans and complements the entire scope of Royce’s research areas and are vital in accelerating the development of advanced materials.

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Core Research Areas

Modelling and Simulation

Modelling and Simulation research aims to accelerate innovation in materials through physics-based modelling and computational simulation and facilitate collaboration between academia and industry.

Covering all the types of materials, numerous approaches to modelling and simulation exist across the full range of time and length scales where their behaviour is significant, from atoms and electrons to the scale of engineering components and beyond.

The Modelling and Simulation Research Area is integral to all Royce activities and serves as a key pillar of the Institute’s Materials 4.0 strategy, which drives the acceleration of materials innovation through digital methods.

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Our Equipment

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