Dr Richard Smith

PhD, BSc (Hons)

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Senior Lecturer in GaN Materials and Devices

Centre for GaN Materials and Devices

Headshot of Richard Smith
Profile picture of Headshot of Richard Smith
richard.smith@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5179

Full contact details

Dr Richard Smith
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Profile

I graduated with a BSc in Physics from the University of Sheffield in 2009 and continued in Sheffield to gain my PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering developing novel III-nitride/organic hybrid LEDs.

I joined the department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering as a postdoctoral research fellow to strengthen the growing III-nitride activity within the university and was appointed to my current position as lecturer in GaN materials and Devices in 2015.

My research is focused on fabricating and characterizing novel semiconductor materials and devices for future optoelectronics such as LEDs, lasers, sensors and displays.

In particular, I have a strong interest in developing new additive manufacturing fabrication techniques, allowing the manufacture of new types of semiconductor devices, or devices in new application areas.

By utilising these additive manufacturing techniques it is possible to combine different semiconductor materials such as III-nitrides, organic semiconductors and colloidal semiconductor quantum dots into novel devices, combining the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses of each individual material.

I am currently working on utilising transfer printing processes to fabricate hybrid LEDs and lasers that exploit strong coupling effects in optical microcavities to enable higher efficiency light emitting optoelectronic devices emitting across the full visible spectrum.

I am also investigating employing non-standard epitaxy processes such as sputtering to grow III-nitride semiconductor materials such as AlN, AlInN and BN.

Qualifications
  • PhD (EEE), University of Sheffield 2014
  • BSc(Hons) (Physics), University of Sheffield 2009
Research interests
  • GaN Photonics - LEDs, Lasers, Photonic circuits
  • Additive manufacturing processes in semiconductor device fabrication
  • Transfer printing of semiconductor devices
  • Hybrid organic/inorganic optoelectronics
  • Non-radiative energy transfer processes in hybrid GaN/organic interfaces
  • Optical characterisation of III-nitride materials and devices
Publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

Teaching activities
  • Lecturer in GaN materials and devices
  • Module leader EEE6395 – compound semiconductor device manufacture
  • Contributing lecturer EEE6216 – Energy Efficient Semiconductors
Professional activities and memberships
  • Admissions tutor – MSc Semiconductor photonics and electronics
  • Department Laser Safety Officer
Research students

Dr Rick Smith is currently supervising 9 students, within the field of Semiconductor Materials & Devices.