Dr Yi Wang BSc, MSc, PhD, Senior Member of IEEE (2012), Fellow of HEA (2012)

Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
Associate Professor in RF and Microwave Engineering
Head of Emerging Device Technology (EDT) Research Lab
Academic Lead of Engineering Cleanroom and THz VNA Facility

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 7314
Email: y.wang.1@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Wang is Head of Emerging Device Technology (EDT) Research Lab, and the Academic Lead of the Engineering Cleanroom and the THz Vector Network Analyser Facility. He is the TPC Chair of 2021 European Microwave Conference.

Dr Wang was trained in physics. He teaches electronics and electromagnetism. His research area is microwave and terahertz passive device technologies, focusing on the use of new manufacture techniques, new materials, and new circuit design methods.

His research has been mainly funded by UK EPSRC, European Space Agency, industry, and oversea research agency. He is the Associate Editor of IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation.

Qualifications

PG Cert in Higher Education, 2012
PhD in Electronic Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2005
MSc in Condensed Matter Physics, China, 2001
BSc (1st class with distinction) in Applied Physics (Non-destructive testing), China, 1998

Biography

Dr Yi Wang received his BSc and MSc in Physics from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, China, in 1998 and 2001 respectively, and his PhD degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from University of Birmingham, UK, in 2005. His career began as a research fellow at University of Birmingham from 2004, working on high-frequency devices for communications and radars using advanced materials (e.g. superconductors, ferroelectric, SU-8), novel structures (e.g. left-handed metamaterials) and micro-fabrication techniques (MEMS and micromachining). In 2011, he became a Senior Lecturer and then Reader at the University of Greenwich. In 2018, he joined Birmingham.

Dr Wang has published over 180 research papers (100+ in referred journals) in high frequency devices from microwave to terahertz frequencies. He has a breadth of knowledge and expertise in microwave circuit design, micro-fabrications, device measurements, and electronic materials. His research has benefited greatly from links with industries. He also collaborates widely with universities and institutions in the UK and aboard. Dr Wang was appointed Visiting Professor of Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (microwave materials and devices), Chinese Academy of Science in 2017.

Dr Wang leads the Emerging Device Technology (EDT) group. The group currently has 4 research fellows, 9 PhD students, and 2 facility managers. It also regularly hosts academic visitors.

Teaching

Electronic Circuits, Devices and Electromagnetics (Year 2)
Communication Systems (Year 2)
Engineering Materials (Year 1)

Postgraduate supervision

Programmable or adaptable microwave devices using liquid metals and liquid dielectrics.
3D printed microwave filters and antennas
Sub-THz passive components and front-end systems for radars and communications
Mm-wave and sub-THz antennas
Multi-functional multi-port microwave devices, the synthesis and co-design

Qualified and highly motivated students are welcome to apply for one of our Postgraduate doctoral research programmes.

Research

Research interests

Microwave, millimetre-wave and terahertz circuits, systems and their fabrication techniques for communications and sensing.

Research grants

2021-25, European Space Agency, High-power filters with novel temperature-compensation techniques and multi-domain topological co-design (PI)
2021-24, UK-EPSRC grant, Programmable Microwave Hardware Based on Liquid Wires (PI)
2020-23, Dept. for Communities & Local Government, Alternative Raw Materials with Low Impact 2 (ARLI-2), (CI)
2019-22, EU H2020-EMPIR 18SIB09, Millimetre-wave and THz power sensors for metrology (PI)
2019-23, UK-EPSRC EP/S013113/1: Towards a 3D printed terahertz circuit technology (PI)
2020-22, Industry, Highly Integrated 5G millimetre-wave front-end antennas (PI)
2020-23, European Space Agency/GSTP, Next generation temperature compensated high power filters based on novel materials (PI)
2017-23, EP/P020615/1, 10 MHz to 1.1 THz Vector Network Analyser (taking over as PI)
2017-18, NSFC research fund 61628104: Low loss terahertz waveguide structures (PI)
2015-17, UK EPSRC grant: Synthesis and new applications of multi-port filtering networks (PI)
2014-16, Industry, Synthesis of microwave multiplexers (PI)

Research areas

(1) Microwave device technology and circuit theory

5G/6G communications requires smaller, better and smarter (adaptable, reconfigurable, multi-role) microwave devices. New-generation satellites demand lighter and flexible payloads. Hospitals and patients benefit greatly from wireless sensors for remote health monitoring, non-invasive diagnostics and imaging. Dr Wang is working on:

3D printed microwave filters and antenna systems for space, and their topological optimisation
Synthesis and application of complex multi-port filtering networks (MPFNs)
Functionally integrated microwave circuits (e.g. filter-amplifier-antenna, switch-filter)
Wearable sensors and radios

(2) Mm-wave antenna systems

We have unique design capability of high-performance (80%+ efficiency) and low-profile (planar) metal-waveguide arrays, best suited for backhauls and Satcom. While we have developed our own expertise in AiP phase array, we are also working on new passive beamforming solutions.

Metal-waveguide antenna arrays
Phase arrays based on antenna-in-package (AiP)
Passive beamforming

(3) THz devices for communications and sensing

Terahertz (THz) wave is the spectrum between microwave and far-infrared light (relates to 300 GHz to 3 THz). THz wave technology holds great promise for emerging industrial and scientific applications - security screening, remote sensing, non-destructive testing, and communications. Because of immature device technologies, this part of the spectrum hasn’t been extensively utilised. The vision of Dr Wang’s research is to develop new cost-effective manufacture route for high-performance components for THz comms systems, metrology instruments and sensors, enabled by advanced micro/nano fabrication. Dr Wang is working on:

Micromachined passive circuits and antennas (DRIE, laser, micro-injection moulding)
Waveguide integration with MMIC and diodes
Low loss THz waveguides and resonators
Power sensors/detectors
Frequency selective surfaces

(4) Manufacture technologies for microwave and THz

EDT group is specialised in applying new manufacture technologies and has collaborated widely with manufacture experts in:

3D printing (also with new or unusual materials)
Photolithography (own facility with DRIE, SU8)
Soft-lithography (microfluidics)
Laser
High-precision CNC
Injection moulding
Antenna-in-package (AiP)

Other activities

Member of EPSRC Peer Review College
Regular reviewer for IEEE Transactions on MTT, AP, TST, VT, IE / Proceedings of the IEEE / IEEE MWCL / IEEE AWPL / IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation / Electronics Letters / Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering / Physica C / Superconductor Science & Technology / Sensors
Regularly serving on technical committees of international conferences: EUCAP, EUMC, LAPC, IEEE MTT-S IMWS-AMP, UCMMT, iWEM, ICMMT, CICMT, IWS, IMFW
External PhD examinations: UCL, University of Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Surrey, Kent, Lancaster, and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Nie, B, Lu, H, Skaik, T & Wang, Y 2023, 'A 3D-printed sub-terahertz metallic surface-wave Luneburg lens multi-beam antenna', IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology , pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTHZ.2023.3242227

Mahmud, RH, Jarjees, RS, Yu, Y, Nugoolcharoenlap, E, Skaik, T, Attallah, MM & Wang, Y 2023, 'A monolithically printed filtering waveguide aperture antenna', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, pp. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2023.3235275

Sun, L, Lu, Y, Xu, L, You, Y, Xu, J, Wang, Y & Huang, J 2023, 'All-Metal Phased Array with Full Polarization Reconfigurability', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2023.3244004

Skaik, T, Salek, M, Hunyor, P, Wang, H, Huggard, PG, Wilson, PF, Williams, MA & Wang, Y 2023, 'Evaluation of 3D printed monolithic G-band waveguide components', IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCPMT.2023.3243002

Wu, Y, Tang, S, Churm, J & Wang, Y 2023, 'Liquid Metal-Based Tunable Linear Phase Shifters With Low Insertion Loss, High Phase Resolution, and Low Dispersion', IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2023.3248954

Skaik, T, Wang, Y, Salek, M, Hunyor, P, Wang, H, Huggard, P, Starke, T, Attallah, M & Martinez, R 2022, 'A 3D printed 300 GHz waveguide cavity filter by micro laser sintering', IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 274-281. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTHZ.2022.3147042

Qian, L, Wang, Y, Li, S, Mohamed, AEMA, Attallah, MM, Skaik, T, Booth, P, Pambaguian, L, Espana, CM & Mart, P 2022, 'A Narrowband 3-D Printed Invar Spherical Dual-Mode Filter With High Thermal Stability for OMUXs', IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 2165-2173. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2022.3152795

Ba, X, Lin, C, Zhong, Y, Ren, G, Wang, Z & Wang, Y 2022, 'A novel polarization and DOA reliable auto-tracking antenna system', Electronics (Switzerland), vol. 11, no. 4, 557. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11040557

Bystrov, A, Wang, Y & Gardner, P 2022, 'Analysis of vector network analyzer thermal drift error', Metrology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 150-160. https://doi.org/10.3390/metrology2020010

Yu, Y, Liu, B, Wang, Y & Cheng, QS 2022, 'Automated diplexer design with key performance indicator-based objectives', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 32, no. 7, 9718119, pp. 827-830. https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2022.3150312

Mohammed, AM, Wang, Y, Skaik, T, Li, S & Attallah, M 2022, 'Conductivity measurement using 3D printed re-entrant cavity resonator', Measurement Science and Technology, vol. 33, no. 5, 055017. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ac5134

Gao, Y, Shen, F, Qiao, Y, Guo, H, Li, L, Zhang, F & Wang, Y 2022, 'Coupling matrix-based co-design of filter-oscillators', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 32, no. 6, 9712645, pp. 563-566. https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2022.3146181

Conference contribution

Yang, Q, Wang, Y & Gao, S 2022, 20 GHz dual-polarized array antenna with low cross-polarization and high gain. in 2021 51st European Microwave Conference (EuMC). European Microwave Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 538-541, 51st European Microwave Conference, EuMC 2021, London, United Kingdom, 4/04/22. https://doi.org/10.23919/EuMC50147.2022.9784323

Skaik, T, Salek, M, Wang, Y, Huggard, PG, Hunyor, P, Wang, H & Reuter, K 2022, A 300 GHz Waveguide Cavity Filter Fabricated by 3D Screen Printing Technology. in 2022 52nd European Microwave Conference (EuMC). European Microwave Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 302-305, 52nd European Microwave Conference, EuMC 2022, Milan, Italy, 27/09/22. https://doi.org/10.23919/EuMC54642.2022.9924503

Qian, L, Martinez, R, Salek, M, Attallah, M, Wang, Y & Lancaster, MJ 2022, Compact monolithic SLM 3D-printed filters using pole-generating resonant irises. in 2021 51st European Microwave Conference (EuMC)., 9784337, European Microwave Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 118-121, 51st European Microwave Conference, EuMC 2021, London, United Kingdom, 4/04/22. https://doi.org/10.23919/EuMC50147.2022.9784337

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