Looking for a PhD project at the interection of semiconductors and quantum technology, in collaboration with several partners across Europe? We offer a PhD position at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) on the newly-funded EU project QuSPARC.

The project
QuSPARC, involving 9 partners including two companies (ST Microelectronics and Duality Quantum Photonics) will develop a scalable quantum architecture in silicon carbide, a semiconductor widely used by the power electronics industry. Silicon carbide uniquely enables to integrate different functionalities (spintronic, photonic, electronic) on the same chip.
The project capitalises on our previous work on single vanadium centres in SiC (e.g. Nature Comms 2023) and large-scale fabrication of photonic structures (e.g. Appl Phys Lett 2023). Your role will be to develop SiC opto-electronic devices integrating electronic and photonic functionalities, with embedded single spin centres for spin-photon interfacing, together with other researchers in our group, and with our partners across the EU.

Candidate requirements
You should have, or expect to obtain, a strong undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in Physics, Materials Science or Electronic Engineering. You should be self-motivated, with the drive required to pursue experimental work at the frontier of science, and able to work well both independently and as part of a team. The ideal candidate has a good knowledge of optics/photonics, and some experience of laboratory work is expected.

We offer:
- Excellent supervision, a supportive environment with a team of friendly researcher and state-of-the-art facilities to help you grow and excel (see https://qpl.eps.hw.ac.uk/ for more information about our group).
- the possibility to collaborate with excellent European research groups (Vienna, Dresden, Groningen, Budapest, etc) and with some of the main players in the SiC industry, such as ST Microelectronics.
- a thriving community at Heriot-Watt University working on quantum technology. Heriot-Watt leads the UK “Integrated Quantum Networks” hub, and is a partner in 4 out of the 5 Quantum Technology hubs. Physics at Heriot-Watt University was ranked top in the UK for its world-leading research outputs in the latest Research Excellence Framework.
- Access to enhanced training opportunities via the SUPA Graduate School.
- Award-winning green campus on the outskirts of Edinburgh, with excellent transport links to the centre of one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the UK.

How to apply: If you are interested, please contact Prof Cristian Bonato ([email protected]) as soon as possible – applications will be processed as they come in (so do not wait for the deadline).

Start date: The EU project will start on 1st April 2025.