P3EP (Pre-packaged Power Devices for PCB Embedded Power Electronics), a £3.4 million project funded by Innovate UK, set out to solve this challenge by delivering the world’s first complete supply chain for embedded power electronics products based on pre-packaged high-voltage (HV) gallium nitride (GaN) devices—enabling UK power semiconductor companies to enter new markets.
QFoundry aimed to deliver a national open-access quantum semiconductor device foundry. It created the foundations for robust, scalable component manufacture in the UK to enable the scaling of a quantum technology system industry.
The Qudits project developed a demonstrator platform to showcase the feasibility of developing quantum communication systems using qudits (a multi-level quantum computational unit). This would have the potential to increase bandwidth, create faster access to networks, and transmit more data using less energy.
Responsible Electronics and Circular Technologies Centre (REACT) is a £5.5m project funded by UKRI to establish the UK’s first sustainable electronics centre in Scotland. REACT will drive the transition to Net Zero electronics, addressing both the environmental and economic challenges faced by the industry. The centre aims to promote the adoption of green technologies—often neglected by the electronics industry—through collaboration between academia, industry, and policymakers.
The Secure 5G project built a flexible platform that enabled companies to roll out and maintain their own quantum-safe private networks, with targeted applications for Industry 4.0, mobile edge computing (MEC), the Internet of Things (IoT) and highly secure environments such as defence. 5G Open-RAN (open radio access networks ) offer more open and accessible network architecture, which will improve the UK’s competitiveness, network flexibility and reduce costs.
Clusters are vital to bringing industry and academia together to drive the compound semiconductor industry forward. CSconnected is the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster, with 13 partners, including the Catapult, and is recognised as a world-leading centre of excellence in compound semiconductor research, innovation and manufacturing.
In 2022, the Catapult expanded its radio frequency (RF) testing capabilities to cover characterisation and verification of devices spanning frequencies up to 67 GHz, covering 5G bands, both sub 6 GHz and mmWave, and resilient communications frequencies.
The Catapult is playing a critical role in the development of supply chains for electric vehicles in the UK and across the globe. That market comprises power electronics, machines, and drives (PEMD).
The vision for this project was to develop and provide a supply chain for high temperature operation Hall effect sensors. These detectors can measure high frequency electromagnetic field switching for electric motors and drives, using a completely innovative Hall sensor element made from graphene.
This project, with partners API Capacitors and Integral Powertrain, developed a UK manufacturing capability for readily scalable - in terms of capacitance and shape - thin film capacitors capable of operating at sustained temperatures of approximately 125°C. The Catapult carried out durability testing and data modelling on the new prototype design at temperatures and currents which are beyond the capability of standard technologies, and we used data modelling techniques that effectively simulate years of operation in an EV.
