News: Optoelectronics
23 May 2022
University of Glasgow appoints research associate to lead KTP with Vector Photonics
Scotland’s University of Glasgow has appointed Adam McKenzie as a research associate leading its Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project with Glasgow-based photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) firm Vector Photonics Ltd. McKenzie will analyse PCSEL reliability and failure capabilities to inform new product development and accelerate commercialization. A robust accelerated life-test (ALT) ‘burn-in’ system for PCSELs will be developed and the University of Glasgow’s Kelvin Nano-characterisation Centre (KNC) will provide the facilities for failure mode analysis.
Picture: University of Glasgow’s new research associate Adam McKenzie, leading the KTP with Vector Photonics.
“Adam brings six years industrial, semiconductor growth and characterization experience to the project, with expertise in indium phosphide (InP)- and gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based photonic devices,” says Vector Photonics’ chief technology officer Richard Taylor. “He was most recently a process engineer at Sivers Photonics, where he drove MOCVD [metal-organic chemical vapor deposition] production, development and R&D operations. His expertise extends to InP-based overgrowth processes and the development of InGaAsP and AlGaInAs epitaxy.”
McKenzie is finalizing his PhD thesis ‘MOVPE Growth for GaAs-Based PCSELs’, which has given him extensive industrial-based design and characterization knowledge of PCSEL structures and epitaxial regrowth processes. Undertaken while at Sivers Photonics, his research was funded by an Industrial Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and resulted in a research prize from the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology).
