糖心TV

Biography

Dr Vishal Shah; Associate Professor, started the Shah Group at the School of Engineering at the University of 糖心TV in 2017 and is part of the PEATER group (Power Electronics Applications and Technology in Energy Research). He has been working in the wide bandgap (UWBG) materials research activity and his research interests are driven by the application-led materials development. He has over 15 years鈥� experience developing semiconductor materials and technologies for numerous application areas including power electronics, quantum technology, photovoltaics, CMOS, MEMS and sensing. He runs the materials development and characterisation activities of the group though the UK鈥檚 only Silicon Carbide (SiC) epitaxial facility at 糖心TV, and was the founder of the NanoFabrication RTP. He has written 5 patents, and published over 120 papers, five book chapters and made over 75 conference contributions, with an h-index of 21 and over 1568 citations (Google Scholar) as of Jan 2026. He is PI on a combined grant portfolio of 拢1.6M and CI on additional grants worth 拢18M.

Research Interests

4H-SiC Power devices and CVD Epitaxy: This activity is essentially based around the epitaxy of thick (>50碌m) SiC layers for high power devices, developing fundamental materials synthesis projects. PhDs within the group are available in the topic. For example:

• Ultra high voltage (>10kV layers) on my fellowship EP/P017363/1 for HVDC technology.
• and 3D 4H-SiC epitaxy (EP/W004291/1)

Use of 3C, 4H and 6H-SiC materials in "More the Moore" applications: Is the next logical step for implementing other technologies using SiC knowledge from power electronics

• such as SiC for functional coatings (Innovate UK, 10073941))
• using SiC for photoelectrochemical generation of hydrogen from water splitting (funded from EPSRC EP/X527257/1)
• developing semi-insulating SiC for GaN integration for RF applications (CSHubJFS13 through EP/P006973/1)
• using 3C SiC as a MEMS material, developing material for SiC sensors etc.

Analysis and reduction of defects in semiconductors: We are developing new techniques for the detection of, reduction and utilisation of defects. For example, together with the Diamond Light Source we are developing non-destructive X-ray Diffraction Topography of materials and devices. In addition, we are developing DLTS measurement of point defects in either for use in quantum applications, or improve the efficiency of power electronics.

HeteroEpitaxy: Integration of different materials together for either added functionality, scaling of current technologies or for cost reduction.

• 3C-SiC on Si: Is an active an ongoing piece of research, 3C-SiC has the potential to be a biological material, sensing material and high temperature electronics as well. PhDs in our group to study this topic are available!
• Si on SiC: Deposition of doped Si and Ge on SiC substrates to create layers to be used in high temperature electronics. This investigation has involved a close collaboration with P.M.Gammon and the NICHE project, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
• Si, strained-Ge on SiGe and Si: Has recently resulted in ultra-high carrier mobility structures, this research is funded by the Ge Renaissance program (EP/F031408/1) and the Si Photonics program (EP/E065317/1) and EPSRC grant EP/D034485/1.

Novel Device Fabrication Projects:

• Power Electronics Device Fabrication: The fabrication technology for SiC is a much more harsh and power intensive when compared to Si technology, requiring high temperature anneals, gas forming of 3D structures, high power etching and electrochemical etching. These techniques all need development to enable the next efficient power device!
• MEMS fabrication: This area of research is makes platforms which have a minimal volume and physically disconnected in a vacuum, meaning MEMS fabrication for suspended structures. Work from this programme has been submitted under two British patent applications: 1107574.4 and 1206913.4. This programme was funded by EPSRC grant EP/J001074/1

Device Characterisation: Utilising our state of the art device characterisation suite, we have been developing advanced Hall measurements, Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS), Lifetime measurements to aid development of power electronic devices.

Projects and Grants

• 2025-2028 CI on 拢830k EPSRC network grant ():
• 2024-2029 CI on 拢12M EPSRC grant ():
• 2021-2025 PI on 拢400k EPSRC grant ():
• 2021-2024 CI on 拢975k EPSRC grant ():
• 2021-2024 CI on 拢740k EPSRC grant ():
• 2017-2021 PI on 拢700k EPSRC Fellowship ():
• 2019 PI on 拢60k EPSRC feasibility to develop semi-insulating epitaxy for monolithic integration of GaN RF and SiC Power devices. (CSHubJFS13 through EP/P006973/1)
• 2023 PI on 拢120k Henry Royce Materials Challenge Accelerator Programme, for 鈥淒eveloping 3C-SiC for Power Electronics and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting鈥� funded from EPSRC (EP/X527257/1)
• 2023 PI on 拢60k Innovate UK funding from Semiconductor scale up (10073941) 鈥淔easibility study for SiC coatings鈥�
• 2022-2027 CI on EU Horizon Grant agreement ID: 101075709, 鈥淎dvanSiC - Advances in Cost-Effective HV SiC Power Devices for Europe鈥檚 Medium Voltage Grids"

Selected Publications

For up to date lists please consult my , or

Research Facilities

The PEATER Group is one of the leading research groups in the world focused on SiC device development, with a suite of equipment and facilities to match. This includes:

• The NanoFab-RTP, a 150 m² ISO class 6 cleanroom centre including high temperature oxidation and annealing furnaces, photolithography, etching and wet processing, metal deposition, and atomic layer deposition.
• The UK鈥檚 only industrial SiC CVD reactor in an ISO class 4 cleanroom, used for the epitaxial growth of SiC.

• Characterisation Facilities, including a Keysight B1505A power device analyser and a SemiProbe semi-automated wafer prober for device characterisation up to 10 kV, 100 A and 300 掳C.

• An ISO class-8 packaging cleanroom.

Teaching

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