QinetiQ

QinetiQ was formed as a private company in July 2001 from the majority of the the UK MoD’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). QinetiQ is the largest science and technology provider in Europe with 8,500 employees and an annual turnover in excess of €1.2Billion. QinetiQ operates to the ISO9001 quality standard and has a long history of interacting with other organisations, including universities and SMEs, and in transferring technology to industry.

The Optronic Technologies Centre, has 450 staff and provides state-of-the-art expertise across a wide range of optical and electronic technologies including MEMS, advanced displays, optical signal processing, telecoms components, novel optical materials, compound semiconductor devices, sensor systems and remote sensing. QinetiQ has the largest MEMS group in the UK with 60 multidisciplinary staff covering design and prototyping of MEMS devices using a 450m2 dedicated Silicon Cleanroom, based on well-engineered fabrication processes compatible with on-chip electronics. These processes are now offered through a Europractice project, INTEGRAM, led by QinetiQ. The Advanced Microsystems Engineering (AME) Group has a long track record of working in European projects and is currently leading a workpackage in the FP6 Network of Excellence PATENT-DfMM (Design for Micro and Nano Manufacture).

AME is based in Malvern, Worcestershire, UK and offers silicon-based MEMS consultancy, design, prototyping and low volume production. Processing is conducted in a dedicated  400m2 class 100/1000 Silicon Cleanroom (ballroom style) with a 50m2 class 10 lithography area. The equipment is all production-grade in order to generate industry-like processes and to enable smooth technology transfer to industry. The group has been successful in demonstrating MEMS devices across the full spectrum of MEMS applications. These include guidance (microinertial and heading sensors), environmental sensing (acoustic, ultrasonic, pressure and strain sensors), infrared (microheaters), optical and RF communications (microswitches, filters and micromirrors) and biomedical (microfluidics) fields. This gives QinetiQ a unique breadth of experience to draw upon in problem solving for product development. QinetiQ also has extensive facilities and expertise in III-V materials growth and device processing for IR imaging, nanoelectronics and photonics applications, including 6 MBE, CBE and MOCVD reactors and a 400m2 III-V Cleanroom.