Professor Bernard Stark
M.A.(E.T.H.Zurich), Ph.D.(Cantab.)
Current positions
Professor of Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am a member of the Electrical Energy Management Research Group and the Digital Health Engineering Group. I am interested in exploiting new energy sources and the efficient management of power from these sources. My research lies at the interface of power electronics, microelectronics, and radiofrequency engineering. Current projects include power electronics using emerging GaN and SiC power devices, where high-speed active gate driving of these has been shown to increase efficiency and reduce electromagnetic emissions (EMI), and where advances in sensing are required. Micro-renewables and wireless power transfer to medical sensors present interesting challenges for power electronics due to the variability in the power and in some cases the ultra low power levels. We have developed sensor-driven electronics, nanopower computing circuits, and power electronics with sub-µW loss.
I have worked on many collaborations with industry and other universities and am keen to continue these and to establish new links.
Current Research Projects
- 2018 - 2022: SiC and GaN power electronics, and the electromagetic quietening of power waveforms. This work is supported by this EPSRC grant.
- 2017 -2020: Reliability, Condition Monitoring and Health Management Technologies for WBG Power Modules. This work is supported by this EPSRC grant.
- 2013 - 2018: SPHERE: A Sensor Platform for Healthcare in a Residential Environment. This work is supported by this EPSRC grant.
Past Research Projects
- 2013 - 2018: High-speed active gate driving. This work was supported by these EPSRC grants: PQ, CPE.
- 2016 - 2017: Commercialisation of an ultra-low-power detector IC. This was funded through an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award.
- 2013 - 2017: Electronics that stays alive in variable, intermittent, low-power environments. This work was supported by this EPSRC grant.
- 2013 - 2014: Scaling up of low-head pico hydropower generation system. This work was funded through an EPSRC Acceleration Award.
- 2010 - 2013: Intelligent connectivity, scalability and modularity of remote pico hydropower plant. PhD student: Sam Williamson. This work was supported by Renishaw.
- 2010 - 2013: Next Generation Energy-Harvesting Electronics - holistic approach, see project website. PhD student: Plamen Proynov. This work was supported by this EPSRC grant.
- 2009 - 2012: Miniature energy harvesting in extreme environments. PhD student: Gyorgy Szarka. This work was funded by Schlumberger and GWR.
- 2009 - 2012: Design of inverters for energy conversion, research into the relationship between design and radiation (EMI). PhD student: Niall Oswald. This work was funded by EPSRC and Control Techniques Ltd.
- 2009 - 2010: Modelling and design of a low-head axial flow turbine generation system.
- 2007 - 2008: Design and scaling of remote multi-source renewable generation plant. This work was funded by EPSRC and Power Oasis.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
High-bandwidth sensing for wide-bandgap power conversion
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Department of Electrical & Electronic EngineeringDates
01/05/2022 to 30/04/2027
High-bandwidth sensing for wide-bandgap power conversion
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Department of Electrical & Electronic EngineeringDates
01/05/2022 to 30/04/2027
High-bandwidth sensing for wide-bandgap power conversion
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical EngineeringDates
01/05/2022 to 30/04/2027
8031 Quietening ultra-low-loss SiC & GaN waveforms
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Department of Electrical & Electronic EngineeringDates
17/06/2018 to 16/06/2023
8461 Quietening ultra-low-loss SiC & GaN waveforms
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical EngineeringDates
17/06/2018 to 16/06/2023
Thesis supervisions
Sub-ns Shaping of Switching Transients in GaN HEMT Bridge-legs
Supervisors
Alleviating oscillations in GaN power circuits through active gate drive control and evolutionary multi-objective optimization
Supervisors
Reliability analysis of planar and symmetrical & asymmetrical trench discrete SiC Power MOSFETs
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
08/11/2023Electrothermal Power Cycling to Failure of Discrete Planar, Symmetrical Double-Trench and Asymmetrical Trench SiC MOSFETs
IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics
Impact of Electrothermal Bias Temperature Instability Stress on Threshold Voltage Drift of GaN Cascode Power Modules
2022 IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications in Europe (WiPDA Europe)
Investigation on threshold voltage instability under sweeping and DC gate bias stressing of SiC symmetrical and asymmetrical double-trench MOSFETs
11th International Conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2022)
Positive and Negative Bias Temperature Instability on Crosstalk-Stressed Symmetrical & Asymmetrical Double-Trench SiC MOSFETs
2022 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2022
Probing Techniques for GaN Power Electronics
PCIM Europe 2022