Yatton, England, United Kingdom
Experienced materials chemist with broad and advanced knowledge of a range of thin film synthetic techniques, characterisation techniques and analytical skills. Proven ability to develop work programmes to achieve milestones within projects and excellent problem solving skills. Applying my knowledge and skills across a broad range of deposition techniques critical to the semiconductor industry. Highly motivated and enjoy working both within a team and autonomously.
Team leader for development deposition group, overseeing deposition development projects and ensuring these are completed to agreed milestones. Ensuring professional development of engineers in my team to allow them to progress in their careers and achieve their goals. Providing technical knowledge for new and existing hardware and projects and challenging ideas and ways of working to ensure that Oxford Instruments maintain excellent process capabilities. Network with wider research community to understand new and developing trends in markets.
Lead in charge of new processes, hardware and technology validation for deposition (ALD, PECVD and ICPCVD) tools, ensuring Oxford Instruments is market leading. Help to define Market Requirement Specifications (MRS) and business cases for new developments and ensure these are incorporated into development projects to meet key milestones. Working with marketing to generate content for customer presentations, white papers, webinars and blogs to have accurate information for dissemination. Suggest new improvements to processes and tools to keep OIPT a leading company in plasma deposition. Support sales of new tools/systems to ensure good customer experience and highlight issues in the field. Conduct root cause analysis, such as 8D investigations, to determine reason for failures and update procedures/documentation accordingly to ensure robust solutions are implemented.
Lead process engineer on Oxford Instruments’ first purpose designed and engineered production ALD system, brought to market in 2020. Carry out process development on designated projects, liaising with process engineering, project management and technology staff to ensure completion of the projects. Carrying out research and networking with the wider technical community to ensure our plasma products are at the leading edge of development. Be primary point of contact with customers for process performance and ensure that the customer experience is the top priority.
Working as an applications engineer on atomic layer deposition processes. Responsibilities include developing ALD processes for clients needs, responding to clients requests for samples and process details, travelling to clients sites to show the process in action and attending conferences.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University College London 2015 – present ‘Sustainable Manufacturing of Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) Thin Films’ (Supervisor Prof Claire Carmalt) In collaboration with Loughborough University and industrial partners, my research has focused on the development and scale-up of aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition for the deposition of thin films of transparent conducting oxides. • Designed, built and continuously improved custom rig that resulted in dramatic improvement in the efficiency of thin film production • Extensive experience in analysis of functional thin film materials, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, physical testing (Hall effect, photocatalysis and abrasion) and thin film deposition (including chemical vapour deposition, sol-gel synthesis, dip and spin-coating) • Closely collaborate with industry partners, to share results and resolve problems together through effective communication • Excellent ability to communicate complex information at a range of different levels demonstrated through extensive experience of writing reports and publications and giving presentations to audiences such as industry partners, academic experts and students. • Presented at international conferences (both in the UK and abroad) as an invited speaker to share results of research • Designed and supervised research projects for 6 undergraduate and PhD students, providing advice, guidance and mentoring • Management of laboratory including maintaining equipment such as X-ray photoelectron spectrometer and UV/vis spectrometer, training users on equipment and analysis of data, arranging maintenance of instruments and problem solving issues on equipment • In charge of health and safety within a large laboratory of approximately 20 researchers.
‘VO2 Thin Films and Nanoparticles, from Chemical Vapour Deposition and Hydrothermal Synthesis, for Energy Efficient Applications’ (Supervisor Prof Ivan Parkin) My research focused on the synthesis of solar control coatings for use in products that improve the energy efficiency of buildings • Designed and built a custom fluidised bed chemical vapour deposition reactor to uniformly coat powders with functional materials. • Synthesised and optimised VO2 thin films and powders including root-cause analysis of reactions to determine optimum conditions for synthesis • Developed first method of synthesising VO2 nanoparticles by continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis and further developed technique to include applications in energy efficient coatings and battery materials • Extensive experience in analytical techniques including synchrotron X-ray analysis, variable temperature Raman and UV/vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. • Regular collaboration with industry partner including writing reports and presenting at quarterly meetings.
Secondary School Chemistry Teacher, Robert Pattinson School Lincoln, 2008-2011 Responsibilities included design and implementation of courses and curriculums, developing strategies to improve the performance of students and meeting a range of reporting requirements. Managed a demanding workload and consistently met grade expectations for all cohorts.