Silicon Carbide Power Conversion for Telecommunications Satellite Applications - 1=Microelectronic device technology 2 = ICT Manufacturing the future

Viren will work on the newly funded EPSRC project "Silicon Carbide Power Conversion for Telecommunications Satellite Applications", project number EP/V000543/1. The project aims to develop power electronic transistors and diodes made of wide bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide, that are capable of operating in space, where radiation can disrupt their operation. So-called radiation-hard power devices have not yet been well studied in SiC, though examples exist in silicon and gallium nitride. Viren's specific role will be in the radiation testing of the devices. Once the devices have been designed and fabricated in the cleanroom, he will work with project partners UCLouvain in Belgium to test them in their cyclotron, which can reproduce the radiation conditions they will undergo. Viren will spend part of his time (up to one year working in Belgium, the rest based in the School of Engineering at Warwick.