Dr Jeffrey Powell BSc, PhD

Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 4348
Email: j.r.powell@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Jeff Powell is a part time Research Fellow working on terahertz systems and components under the direction of Professor Mike Lancaster.

He has over 30 journal and conference papers, two patents and patent applications, and several articles in the subjects of high frequency circuit design, high power circuits and process development, and fundamental material properties at microwave frequencies.

Jeff had been a professional engineer in industry for more than 15 years delivering hardware and research for defence, commercial and space applications.

Jeff has presented at numerous conferences and meetings in the UK, Europe and US. He has also led projects and workpackages with bidding, budgetary and customer interfacing responsibilities.

Qualifications

PhD in Physics, University of Birmingham, 1996
BSc (Hons) in Physics, University of Birmingham, 1992

Biography

Jeff Powell obtained his BSc in Physics with Electronics in 1992 from the University of Birmingham. His PhD thesis (1996) is titled, 'Microwave Surface Impedance of Thin Film High Temperature Superconductors'. The main body of work for this thesis was the use of microwave techniques to investigate a number of the fundamental physical properties of high temperature superconductors, in particular in the area of the behaviour of these materials in the presence of DC applied magnetic fields.

Following Jeff’s PhD work, as a Research Fellow his research interests became more diverse, although still largely connected with experiments at microwave frequencies. Examples of projects with which he was involved with are; the design and characterisation of electrically tuneable microwave filters, investigations of the power handling capacity of high temperature superconductors, including the use of a novel SEM technique, fabrication of microwave circuits using non-radiative dielectric waveguide structures.

As an Assistant Lecturer at The University of Birmingham in 1997/1998, he taught several lecture courses including: ‘Electromagnetics and transmission lines’, to second year undergraduate students, ‘Advanced electromagnetics-superconductivity’, to fourth year MEng undergraduate students, ‘RF and microwave circuits’, to MSc postgraduate students, and ‘The microwave response of superconductors’, to MRes postgraduate students. The department was audited as part of the Assessment of Quality in Education exercise, during which two of his lectures were assessed. The department received the maximum score of 24.

Between 2001 to 2011 Jeff Powell was a microwave design engineer in industry, specialising in the design of monolithic microwave circuits for high power and high frequency applications in the defence, space and commercial applications. Jeff was promoted to principle engineer in 2006. Since leaving permanent employment Jeff has worked as a consultant in microwave design and consultancy.

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

Terahertz frequency systems and component

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Microwave design using novel methodologies and processes

Publications

GaN Solid State Isolators - Design Considerations for a Self-Protected High Power Amplifier
Jeff Powell, William McGenn, Johannes Benedikt, Paul Tasker, Trevor Martin and Michael Uren
5th Space Agency – MOD Round Table on GaN component Technologies 2-3 Sept 2010

RF Waveform Method for the Determination of the Safe Operating Area of GaN HFET’s for Amplifiers Subjected to High Output VSWR
William McGenn, Jeff Powell, Michael Uren, Johannes Benedikt, Paul Tasker
Proceedings of the 5th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference September 2010

Micro-Raman spectroscopy as a voltage probe in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure
devices: Determination of buffer resistances
R.J.T. Simms, M.J. Uren, T. Martin, J. Powell, U. Forsberg, A. Lundskog, A. Kakanakova-Georgieva,
E. Janzén, M. Kuball
Sol State Elec. 55 2011

Demonstration of Class J Operation for a GaAs X-Band High Efficiency Broadband Amplifier MMIC
J. R. Powell, A. McLachlan, P. Tasker, J Bell, T Canning and S. C. Cripps
MTT International Microwave Symposium 2011

GaN Robust Receiver MMIC in X-Band – Process Optimisation and Circuit Results
J. R. Powell, A. R. Barnes, D. G. Hayes, H. K. Johnson, A. G. Munday, K. P. Hilton, M. J. Uren and T. Martin
ARMMS Apr 2011, Best Paper award

X-Band GaN SPDT MMIC with over 25 Watt Linear Power Handling
Jochem Janssen, Marc van Heijningen, Keith P. Hilton, Jessica O. Maclean, David J. Wallis, Jeff Powell, Michael Uren, Trevor Martin and Frank van Vliet
Proceedings of the 3rd European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference
October 2008

Performance of 94GHz receivers for passive imaging
Richard G. Humphreys*, Stephen M. Taylor, Paul A Manning, Paul D Munday and Jeff Powell
Proceedings of SPIE Vol. #6548
Wednesday 11 April 2007

MMIC and Module Design and Performance for Millimetric Transceiver Front-ends for Transport Applications
Powell, J.R.; Munday, P.D.; Tang, W.H.A.; Hunt, R.C.; Gunton, D.J.;
Microwave Symposium Digest, 2006. IEEE MTT-S International
June 2006 Page(s):1497 – 1500

Business prospects for commercial mm-wave MMICs
Powell, J.; Bannister, D.;
Microwave Magazine, IEEE
Volume 6, Issue 4, Dec 2005 Page(s):34 - 43

Making waves
Powell, J.; Bannister, D.;
Communications Engineer
Volume 3, Issue 3, June/July 2005 Page(s):38 - 39

Indium Antimonide Based Technology for RF Applications
Ashley, T.; Buckle, L.; Emeny, M.T.; Fearn, M.; Hayes, D.G.; Hilton, K.P.; Jefferies, R.; Martin, T.; Phillips, T.J.; Powell, J.; Tang, A.W.H.; Wallis, D.; Wilding, P.J.;
Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2006 IEEE
Nov. 2006 Page(s):121 - 124

Packaging and MMIC Design for Low Cost MM-Wave Modules
Powell J R and Munday P D
IET conference - RF & Microwave Network 2006

Indium Antimonide based Quantum Well FETs for Ultra-high Frequency, Low Power Dissipation Circuits
Ashley, T.; Buckle, L.; Emeny, M.T.; Fearn, M.; Hayes, D.G.; Hilton, K.P.; Jefferies, R.; Martin, T.; Phillips, T.J.; Powell, J.; Tang, A.W.H.; Wallis, D.; Wilding, P.J.;
European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference, The 1st
Sept. 2006 Page(s):29 - 30

Indium Antimonide based Quantum Well FETs for Ultra-High Speed Electronics
Ashley, T.; Buckle, L.; Emeny, M.T.; Fearn, M.; Hayes, D.G.; Hilton, K.P.; Jefferies, R.; Martin, T.; Nash, K.J.; Phillips, T.J.; Powell, J.; Tang, W.H.A.; Uren, M.J.; Wallis, D.J.; Wilding, P.J.; Datta, S.; Chau, R.;
Device Research Conference, 2006 64th
June 2006 Page(s):201 - 202

Characterisation of an experimental gallium nitride microwave Doherty amplifier
Lees, J.; Benedikt, J.; Hilton, K.P.; Powell, J.; Balmer, R.S.; Uren, M.J.; Martin, T.; Tasker, P.J.;
2005 European Microwave Conference
Volume 2, 4-6 Oct. 2005 Page(s):4 pp.

Analysis of DC-RF dispersion in AlGaN/GaN HFETs using pulsed I-V and time-domain waveform measurements
McGovern, P.; Benedikt, J.; Tasker, P.J.; Powell, J.; Hilton, K.P.; Glasper, J.L.; Balmer, R.S.; Martin, T.; Uren, M.J.;
Microwave Symposium Digest, 2005 IEEE MTT-S International
12-17 June 2005 Page(s):4 pp.

Experimental gallium nitride microwave Doherty amplifier
Lees, J.; Benedikt, J.; Hilton, K.P.; Powell, J.; Balmer, R.S.; Uren, M.J.; Martin, T.; Tasker, P.J.;
Electronics Letters
Volume 41, Issue 23, 10 Nov. 2005 Page(s):1284 - 1285

MILTRANS - Millimetric Transceivers for Transport Applications
Gunton D.J., Pirollo B.P., Brown A.C., Kumar B., Powell J., Bannister D.C.
The 5th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications, Brest France 2005

Single-tone and two-tone time-domain large signal characterization of GaN HFETs operated in class A
McGovern, P.; Williams, D.J.; Tasker, P.J.; Benedikt, J.; Powell, J.; Hilton, K.P.; Balmer, R.S.; Martin, T.; Uren, M.J.;
Microwave Symposium Digest, 2004 IEEE MTT-S International
Volume 2, 6-11 June 2004 Page(s):825 - 828 Vol.2

Non-linear microwave surface impedance of epitaxial HTS thin films in low DC magnetic fields
Kharel, A.P.; Soon, K.H.; Powell, J.R.; Porch, A.; Lancaster, M.J.; Velichko, A.V.; Humphreys, R.G.;
Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 9, Issue 2, Part 2, June 1999 Page(s):2121 – 2124

Measurements and modeling of HTS shielded dielectric resonators
Parker, N.J.; Kharel, A.P.; Powell, J.R.; Smith, P.A.; Evans, P.D.; Porch, A.;
Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 9, Issue 2, Part 2, June 1999 Page(s):1928 - 1931

The nonlinear surface impedance of YBa2Cu307-delta thin films in zero and large applied fields
JR Powell, A Porch, AP Kharel, MJ Lancaster, RG Humphreys, F Wellhofer, CE Gough.
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics,
86, 4, 2137 – 2145 1999

Laser ablated ferroelectric and superconducting thin films for microwave applications
Powell, J.R.; Porch, A.; Wellhofer, F.; Darlington, C.N.; Lancaster, M.J.; Bollmeier, T.; Stritzker, B.;
Superconducting Microwave Circuits, IEE Colloquium on
19 Apr 1996 Page(s):7/1 - 7/5

Non linear surface impedance of epitaxial HTS thin films in low dc magnetic fields
Kharel AP, Soon B, Powell JR, Porch A, Lancaster MJ, Velichko AV, Humphreys RG
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity V9(2)
pp 2121-2124 1999

The non linear surface impedance of YBCO thin films in zero and large applied magnetic fields
Powell JR, Porch A, Kharel AP, Lancaster MJ, Humphreys RG, Wellhofer F and Gough CE
Journal of Applied Physics
V86(4) pp 2137-2145 1999

Thin film ferroelectric microwave devices
M. J. Lancaster, J. Powell, A Porch
Superconductor Science and Technology
V11 pp1323-1334 1998

Field, temperature, and frequency dependence of the surface impedance of YBa2Cu3O7 thin films
JR Powell, A Porch, RG Humphreys, F Wellhofer, MJ Lancaster, CE Gough.
Physical Review B, Condensed Matter
57, 9, 5474 – 5484 1998

High Tc co-planar resonators for microwave applications and scientific studies
CE Gough, A Porch, MJ Lancaster, JR Powell, B Avenhaus*, JJ Wingfield, D Hung*, RG Humphreys*.
Physica. C, Superconductivity,
282, 1, 395 - 398. 1997

Field-dependent surface impedance of YBCO single crystals and evidence for a non-zero Hall term
JJ Wingfield, JR Powell, A Porch, CE Gough
Physica. C, Superconductivity
282, 3, 1597 - 1598. 1997

Sensitive measurement of the surface impedance of superconducting single crystals using a sapphire dielectric resonator
JJ Wingfield, JR Powell, CE Gough, A Porch
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
7, 2, 2009 – 2012 1997

Hysteretic microwave measurements of YBCO thin films in small swept applied fields
JR Powell, A Porch, MJ Lancaster, RG Humphreys, CE Gough
Institute of Physics Conference Series
158, 125 - 128. 1997

Sensitive measurement of the surface impedance of superconducting single crystals using a sapphire dielectric resonator
Wingfield, J.J.; Powell, J.R.; Gough, C.E.; Porch, A.;
Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 7, Issue 2, Part 2, June 1997 Page(s):2009 - 2012

Microwave conductivity of patterned YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ thin films
Porch, A.; Powell, J.R.; Lancaster, M.J.; Edwards, J.A.; Humphreys, R.G.;
Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 5, Issue 2, Part 2, Jun 1995 Page(s):1987 - 1990

Patent: Application Number: EP1719175
Date: 2006-11-08
Inventors: POWELL JEFFREY (GB); APPLEBY ROGER (GB); MOORE MARK (GB)
Organisation: QINETIQ LTD (GB)

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