The new academic year has started but that has not slowed down REWIRE's progress. Here is our latest update on our mission to transform next-generation power electronics!
REWIRE Annual Showcase - book your place!
Our 2025 annual showcase is less than a month away! Taking place on 18th November 2025 at the Slate on the University of Warwick campus, the day will feature a series of keynote talks, including remarks from:
Dinesh Ramanathan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy of onsemi and REWIRE Advisory Board Member
Rt Hon Greg Clark, Executive Chair of the University of Warwick’s Innovation District
The showcase will bring together academia, industry and policymakers spanning power semiconductors and will highlight the successes of the IKC over the past year. The showcase offers a unique opportunity to exchange ideas, input and help shape REWIRE’s research agenda, share experiences, and explore potential collaborations with peers from diverse fields.
Your expertise and perspective will contribute significantly to the conversation. If you haven't already signed up to attend, make sure you RSVP through the link below.
Back in September in Bristol, REWIRE hosted an All-Partner Event, bringing together the academics, researchers and students from our three consortium universities to create a sense of belonging to the REWIRE mission, to reflect on our achievements so far, and to provide opportunities for ECRs and PhDs to build connectivity across the network. Joined by industry partners Vishay, Toshiba and RAM Innovations, we also used this as an opportunity to launch our peer-to-peer support network aimed at creating fertile ground for connection, skill development, and belonging for PhDs and ECRs. A fantastic day for all who attended.
REWIRE news and blogs
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest news and updates going on across REWIRE and our partners.
It has been a very busy few months for the REWIRE team. Attending trade shows, presenting at conferences, hosting events - you name it, we have done it.
BI Foresight Power Semiconductor - Future Mobility Critical Tech Convergence Series
We have plenty more webinars in the pipeline too - keep an eye on our website for more details!
If you want to engage with future workshops or webinars, including contributing to them, please get in touch with the REWIRE operational team.
Conferences and external events
National showcases like Microelectronics UK overviewing the present and the future for the UK semiconductor sector. International conferences like ICSCRM 2025 in South Korea, focusing on all thinks silicon carbide, extremely well attended by our Warwick contingent. Regional events like ChipStart UK Forming, Storming, Norming & Performing, highlighting Bristol's emergence as a critical hub for UK deep tech and semiconductor development. The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity for the REWIRE team - some visual highlights are below!
Where will you see REWIRE over the next few months?
UK Semiconductor Centre (UKSC) workshops - the UKSC is hosting sessions across the UK between now and December 2025 to gain feedback from stakeholders on the UKSC's priorities, discuss technology roadmaps, identify infrastructure needs and requirements and allow them to feed into the UKSC’s activities. You can register your interest to attend one of the workshops here.
ECPE Tutorials and Workshops - REWIRE academics are participating in ECPE-led workshops and tutorials in November 2025, including on Ultra-High-Voltage Power Electronics and GaN-based Power Electronics. If you are interested in learning more make sure to sign up!
Funding opportunities
The REWIRE team continue to keep a close eye on future calls and funding opportunities, both national and international.
Relevant active funding opportunities are listed below:
Eureka GlobalStarsJapan 2026 - UK organisations can apply for funding to collaborate on industrial research projects with partners in Eureka member countries and Japan on innovative products, technology-based applications and services, including in semiconductors.
UK–Taiwan Innovative Industries Programme (I²P) 2025 - This unique initiative offers bi-directional research placement opportunities for UK and TW researchers, fostering innovation through international R&D collaboration.
We are keen to build consortia around specific calls of relevance to leverage additional funding and help transform the next generation of power electronics. If you want to be part of these consortia and co-develop future grant applications, please get in touch with the REWIRE operations team to facilitate this.
Key sector and policy updates
UK Unveils £10M Semiconductor Innovation Fund to Accelerate Chip Development - In September 2025, the UK government launched a £10 million fund through Innovate UK to support up to 40 domestic companies in advancing semiconductor technologies. The funding aims to boost national resilience, attract global investment, and help the UK compete in a market projected to grow 75% by 2030.
Microelectronics UK Showcases UK’s Electronics Leadership - The first iteration of Microelectronics UK brought together over 4,000 industry leaders, researchers, and innovators to spotlight the UK’s growing strength in semiconductors, photonics, and embedded systems. Highlights included the previously outlined Innovate UK funding announcement, global collaboration talks, and a strong focus on workforce development and diversity. The event reinforced the UK’s ambition to lead in advanced electronics, with plans already in place for a return in 2026. The REWIRE team is already looking forward to it!
The UK Semiconductor Centre has announced its newly formed Interim Steering Group and agreed the physical location of the Centre office will be in the Knowledge Quarter of Kings Cross, London – an internationally accessible location with strong transport links. The Interim Steering Group is made up of leading experts from across industry and academia, and will guide the strategic direction of the Centre, ensuring activities are closely aligned to sector priorities, with ongoing dialogue with a range of sector stakeholders.
Each issue, we like to highlight one of our new partners that we are really excited about working with over the coming years.
ipTEST is a UK-based company specialising in high-speed, high-reliability test systems for discrete power semiconductors and modules. Now part of Microtest group, ipTEST is known for its Mostrak series of testers - the fastest, most powerful and complete production line testers for power discrete MOSFET, IGBT, SiC, GaN and bipolar devices.
We are excited to be collaborating with ipTEST, using their newest Lab Characterisation systems (see above) to test dozens of power devices for one of our use case projects. Working with ipTEST will dramatically reduce the time required to gather data for the development of our WBG reliability and robustness database for REWIRE partners to engage with.
Each issue we will be highlighting a recent publication from our amazing academics across Bristol, Cambridge and Warwick.
REWIRE researchers at Bristol have demonstrated high-voltage trench Schottky barrier diodes (TSBDs) made from β-Ga₂O₃, achieving a record 4 kV breakdown voltage and a strong power performance metric. These devices were subjected to reverse voltage stress tests, revealing that while they maintained stability up to 2.25 kV, a 13% increase in on-resistance occurred at 3 kV. Importantly, this degradation was temporary and fully recovered after a few hours.
Figures: (a) Cross-sectional schematic of β-Ga₂O₃ TSBD. (b) Top view and cross-sectional SEM view of the TSBD.
The study identified that the performance drop was due to negative charge trapping near the trench corners, which reduced the conductive area during operation. Simulations confirmed this mechanism, suggesting that improving trench design and dielectric properties could enhance reliability. This work provides valuable insights into the stress behaviour of ultra-wide bandgap materials and supports the potential of β-Ga₂O₃ for future high-voltage power electronics.
We want your input - we'd love to hear about what the key challenges for the power electronics and power semiconductors sector are going to be over the coming years and what activities you believe REWIRE should deliver and that you want to engage with.
.png?upscale=true&width=278&upscale=true&name=UoB_RGB_24%20(1).png)
