COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES GLOBAL LIMITED

Their core work

CSTG is a Glasgow-based semiconductor SME specialising in the design and fabrication of compound semiconductor devices — particularly III-V materials grown on silicon substrates. Their core commercial offering is in high-frequency electronic and optoelectronic components, including resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) capable of operating at terahertz and millimetre-wave frequencies. In EU projects they have contributed semiconductor device expertise to both next-generation wireless communications (ultra-broadband terahertz transceivers) and mid-infrared photonics platforms for chemical sensing and spectroscopy. They occupy a rare niche: translating advanced III-V semiconductor physics into manufacturable, low-cost devices.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CSTG's two projects ran almost concurrently (2015 and 2016 starts), so a strong temporal shift is hard to establish from the data alone. Their entry point was terahertz wireless communications via RTD-based transceivers (iBROW), a highly specific niche at the frontier of wireless research. Overlapping with this, they joined MIRPHAB, a larger and longer-running photonics fabrication platform project, signalling an expansion from pure wireless electronics into broader photonics-for-sensing applications. The absence of keywords for MIRPHAB in the dataset limits deeper analysis, but the trajectory suggests a deliberate broadening from one application domain (wireless) toward compound semiconductor platforms that serve multiple markets.

CSTG appears to be moving from single-application wireless device work toward positioning as a compound semiconductor component supplier for multiple sensing and communications markets, which would increase their commercial optionality.

How they like to work

CSTG has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as a coordinator — across both projects, indicating they prefer to contribute deep technical expertise rather than lead administrative and management responsibilities. Their involvement in MIRPHAB, a large multi-partner photonics fabrication platform, alongside the more focused iBROW consortium, shows comfort operating in both large and mid-sized consortia. This profile is typical of a specialist SME that brings a hard-to-replicate device fabrication capability and joins projects where that capability fills a specific gap.

CSTG has collaborated with 30 unique partners across 11 countries through just two projects, indicating they joined large, well-networked consortia rather than small bilateral partnerships. Their European reach likely includes major photonics and semiconductor research institutes across Western Europe.

What sets them apart

CSTG occupies an unusually specific position: a small commercial company with hands-on fabrication and design capability in resonant tunnelling diodes — a technology that very few organisations in Europe can offer at a commercial scale. Their combination of III-V-on-silicon integration expertise with both terahertz electronics and mid-infrared photonics means they can serve wireless, sensing, and spectroscopy consortia simultaneously. For a consortium builder, they are the kind of SME that provides credible industrial grounding and proprietary device technology without competing with the academic partners for leadership roles.

Highlights from their portfolio

• iBROW
  One of the few EU-funded projects targeting terahertz-frequency transceivers for commercial wireless use, with CSTG contributing the core RTD semiconductor device technology.
• MIRPHAB
  A major Innovation Action (IA) photonics fabrication platform with a longer timeline (2016–2021) and higher EC contribution (€327,250), reflecting CSTG's role in an industrially-oriented consortium aimed at real-world photonic device manufacturing.