RENA joins UK Government-funded consortium to strengthen national semiconductor metrology capabilities

RENA Technologies is proud to be a key industrial partner in a new 1.3 million euro government-funded project led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and supported by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The initiative will establish critical new metrology capabilities to strengthen the UK’s semiconductor innovation infrastructure and accelerate the development and adoption of next-generation semiconductor materials and processes.

This strategic investment underlines the UK’s commitment to maintaining global competitiveness in semiconductors, helping to attract private investment, strengthen supply chains, and support long-term economic growth. Advanced semiconductor materials arecentral to technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, 5G communications and advanced electronics. It’s increasingly important that these developments are accompanied by robust measurement, verification and standards.
The project brings together a broad consortium spanning industry and academia. Together, the partners cover the full innovation landscape, from materials research and process development to device fabrication and performance verification.

Peter Schneidewind, CEO of RENA Technologies, commented:
“At RENA, we develop advanced wet processing and surface treatment solutions that are critical in the manufacturing of compound semiconductors and emerging materials. Through this collaboration, RENA will contribute industrial insight and process expertise to ensure that new measurement and testing capabilities are closely aligned with real manufacturing challenges.”

While silicon remains the foundation of much of today’s semiconductor industry, many high-growth applications increasingly depend on advanced materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SiC), and indium phosphide (InP). These materials offer superior performance in high-power, high-frequency and optoelectronic applications, but they also introduce new complexities in processing, characterization and quality assurance. Reliable standards and independent measurement methods are therefore essential to derisk innovation and support scale-up.

Through this project, consortium partners will work with NPL to:

• Develop new UK measurement and test capabilities for advanced semiconductor materials by combining academic research excellence with world-leading metrology expertise.

• Apply these capabilities to critical industry challenges, including assessing material integrity, verifying RF performance, and testing device reliability under demanding operating conditions.

• Share the resulting capabilities openly with industry, helping to build national consensus and strengthen the UK’s influence in international standards development for novel semiconductor technologies.

Following extensive consultation the consortium has identified three priority application areas where the UK can have the greatest global impact: power electronics, RF-communications, and optoelectronics. These areas align closely with RENA’s customer base and technology roadmap, particularly in power and compound semiconductor manufacturing.

By participating in this program, RENA reinforces its commitment to supporting the UK semiconductor ecosystem with industrially relevant innovation, enabling customers to adopt advanced materials with confidence, and helping position the UK as a global leader in next-generation semiconductor technologies.

About NPL

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the UK's National Metrology Institute (NMI), developing and maintaining the national primary measurement standards, as well as collaborating with other NMIs to maintain the international system of measurement. As a public sector research establishment, it delivers extraordinary impact by providing the measurement capability that underpins the UK's prosperity and quality of life. NPL develops the metrology required to ensure the timely and successful deployment of new technologies and work with organizations as they develop and test new products and processes.