Electronic and Electrical Engineering: Fully Funded Swansea University PhD Scholarship: Gate-oxide reliability of wide bandgap power MOSFETs: offline prediction of lifetime and online monitoring of degradation

4 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Swansea University

Department

Central

Research Field

Engineering » Electrical engineering
Engineering » Electronic engineering
Engineering

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

United Kingdom

Application Deadline

1 May 2024 - 23:59 (Europe/London)

Type of Contract

Other

Job Status

Full-time

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Funding providers: Swansea University

Subject areas: Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Project start date: 

• 1 July 2024 (Enrolment open from mid-June)
• 1 October 2024 (Enrolment open from mid-September) 

Supervisors:

• Dr Mohammad Monfared ([email protected] )
• Professor Mike Jennings

Aligned programme of study: PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Mode of study: Full-time 

Project description: 

The wide bandgap (WBG) power MOSFET is more prone to early failure than its Si counterparts despite its recent success. One of the most significant contributing factors to the overall reliability of these devices is degradation or even complete failure of the gate oxide. Specifically, gate threshold voltages shift from their original value with prolonged application, mainly due to gate oxide thickness reduction and high electric fields.

Reliability refers to a product's performance remaining within specifications for a specific period of time. According to the semiconductor industry, after 10 years of operation under nominal conditions, at most 100 devices per million can fail from oxide breakdown.

The goal of this project is to a) study and examine the failure mechanisms of WBG (particularly gallium nitride) devices, b) compare different methodologies for predicting or modelling the gate-oxide reliability of WBG power MOSFETs and identify the gap for both offline reliability and lifetime estimation and possible online condition monitoring from transistor signals, c) design, simulate and practically implement the required circuit configuration and the final multi-channel test rig for concurrent reliability testing and examining the failure mechanisms, d) develop conventional statistical approaches and artificial intelligence (AI) models from data provided by testing a large number of samples under controlled conditions to validate and generalise the research findings and e) recommend future work to implement the realised improvements.

This PhD project aims to create a meaningful impact through the collaboration between EPRG (Engineering and Power Research Group) at Swansea University and Vishay Intertechnology.

Requirements

Research Field

Engineering

Education Level

Bachelor Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Candidates must hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level in Engineering or similar relevant science discipline. If you are eligible to apply for the scholarship (i.e. a student who is eligible to pay the UK rate of tuition fees) but do not hold a UK degree, you can check our comparison entry requirements. Please note that you may need to provide evidence of your English Language proficiency. 

Specific Requirements

Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA regulations . 

Additional Information
Benefits

This scholarship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees and an annual stipend at UKRI rate (currently £18,622 for 2023/24).

Additional research expenses will also be available.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates must hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level in Engineering or similar relevant science discipline. If you are eligible to apply for the scholarship (i.e. a student who is eligible to pay the UK rate of tuition fees) but do not hold a UK degree, you can check our comparison entry requirements. Please note that you may need to provide evidence of your English Language proficiency. 

Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA regulations . 

Selection process

Please visit our website for more information.

Website for additional job details

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/electronic-electri…

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Swansea University

Country

United Kingdom

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/electronic-electri…

Contact

State/Province

Swansea

City

Swansea

Website

http://www.swansea.ac.uk

Street

Singleton Park

Postal Code

SA2 8PP

STATUS: EXPIRED