Underpinning Power Electronics 2012: Devices Theme

Every time you switch on a laptop, charge an electric car, or draw power from a solar panel, semiconductor components inside the system must convert, control, and manage that electrical energy. This programme tackles the fundamental building blocks of those systems—the semiconductor devices themselves—to make them far more efficient and reliable than today’s versions. Current power electronics lose significant energy as heat and can fail unpredictably under stress. The research aims to understand exactly why these semiconductor components break down, building predictive models of their failure and creating compact models that engineers can use to design better systems. Without this deeper theoretical insight, manufacturers are limited to incremental improvements. If successful, the work will directly support UK manufacturing industries that produce power electronics for electric vehicles, renewable energy grids, industrial motors, and consumer electronics. More efficient power conversion means less wasted electricity, smaller cooling systems, and longer-lasting equipment. The programme also feeds into the broader centre’s work on integrated components, converters, and drives—so its impact ripples across the entire field. This is applied fundamental science: it advances theoretical understanding of device physics while simultaneously enabling new commercial technology.