NSF grants $25m to fund new Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is giving a five-year, $25m Science and Technology Center grant to found the Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand (IMOD), a collaboration of scientists and engineers at 11 universities led by the University of Washington.

IMOD research will focus on new semiconductor materials and scalable manufacturing processes for new optoelectronic devices for applications ranging from displays and sensors to harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics.

“Can we take a quantum optics experiment that fills an entire room, and fit thousands — or even millions — of them on a chip, enabling a new revolution?” questions IMOD director David Ginger, the Alvin L. and Verla R. Kwiram Endowed Professor of Chemistry at the UW, chief scientist at the UW Clean Energy Institute and co-director of NW IMPACT. “Along the way we anticipate IMOD’s science will help with a few more familiar challenges, like improving the display of the cell phone you already have in your pocket so the battery lasts longer.”