Dr Robert Richards

PhD, MPhys

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Lecturer in Semiconductor Materials

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Y3 & 4 Tutor

Robert Richards
Profile picture of Robert Richards
r.richards@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5148

Full contact details

Dr Robert Richards
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Profile

I studied physics at the University of Sheffield, gaining an MPhys in 2009. I then enrolled in the E-Futures Doctoral Training Centre, working on a variety of energy related projects from molecular biology through to mechanical engineering.

In late 2010 I started my PhD in Sheffield on photovoltaic characterisation, working with the Imperial College London spin-out company Quantasol.

Following the sale of Quantasol in 2011, I moved into molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and gained my PhD in the MBE growth and characterisation of dilute bismide materials in 2014.

I was awarded an EPSRC Prize Fellowship to continue this work throughout 2015 and remained in the Semiconductor Materials and Devices group as a PDRA throughout 2016.

During this time I was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering research fellowship, which started in 2017. Through this fellowship I am working on the development of MBE growth techniques for producing infrared optoelectronic devices.

The development of modern electronic devices has been driven by breakthroughs in functional materials. The realisation of gallium nitride devices gave us blue LEDs, blu-ray players, and white light LEDs; recent improvements in television technology have been triggered by the advent of organic LEDs and progress in quantum dot production.

My interest is in the development of highly mismatched alloys (HMAs) for next generation opto-electronic devices. These are devices that manipulate the interaction between photons and electrons, such as LEDs, lasers or solar cells.

HMAs are material systems wherein one of the component elements is significantly larger or smaller than the others. This mismatch makes the synthesis of these materials very challenging, but also endows them with unique opto-electronic properties.

Qualifications
  • PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, 2014, E-Futures Doctoral Training Centre, The University of Sheffield
  • MPhys in Physics, 1st class, 2009, The University of Sheffield.
Research interests
  • Dilute bismide semiconductor growth and characterisation
Publications

Journal articles

  • Harun F, Richards RD & David JPR (2025) . Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 3020.
  • Braza V, Ben T, Reyes DF, Bailey NJ, Carr MR, Richards RD & Gonzalez D (2025) . Applied Surface Science, 689, 162473-162473.
  • Flores S, Reyes DF, Braza V, Bailey NJ, Carr MR, Richards RD & Gonzalez D (2025) . Surfaces and Interfaces, 56, 105490-105490.
  • Tao X, Jin X, Gao S, Yi X, Liu Y, Rockett TBO, Bailey NJ, Harun F, Adham NA, Tan CH , Richards RD et al (2024) . ACS Photonics, 11(11), 4846-4853.
  • Flores S, Fern獺ndez D, Braza V, Bailey NJ, Carr M, Richards R & Gonzalez D (2024) .
  • Braza V, Fern獺ndez D, Ben T, Flores S, Bailey NJ, Carr M, Richards R & Gonzalez D (2024) . Nanomaterials, 14(4).
  • Gelczuk , Kopaczek J, Pucicki D, Rockett TBO, Richards RD & Kudrawiec R (2024) . Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 169, 107888-107888.
  • Sreerag SJ, Sharma AS, Rockett TBO, David JPR, Richards RD & Kini RN (2023) . Applied Physics A, 129(8).
  • Flores S, Reyes DF, Ben T, Braza V, Bailey NJ, Carr MR, Richards RD & Gonzalez D (2023) . Applied Surface Science, 607, 154966-154966.
  • Rockett TBO, Adham NA, Harun F, David JPR & Richards RD (2022) . Journal of Crystal Growth, 589.
  • Bailey NJ, Carr MR, David JPR & Richards RD (2022) . Journal of Nanomaterials, 2022.
  • Richards RD, Bailey NJ, Liu Y, Rockett TBO & Mohmad AR (2022) . physica status solidi (b), 259(2).
  • Bailey NJ, Rockett TBO, Flores S, Reyes DF, David JPR & Richards RD (2022) . Scientific Reports, 12.
  • Richards RD, Bailey NJ, Liu Y, Rockett TBO & Mohmad AR (2022) . physica status solidi (b), 259(2).
  • Okujima M, Yoshikawa K, Mori S, Yukimune M, Richards RD, Zhang B, Chen WM, Buyanova IA & Ishikawa F (2021) . Applied Physics Express, 14(11).
  • Rockett TBO, Boone NA, Richards RD & Willmott JR (2021) . Sensors, 21(18).
  • Liu Y, Yi X, Bailey NJ, Zhou Z, Rockett TBO, Lim LW, Tan CH, Richards RD & David JPR (2021) . Nature Communications, 12(1).
  • Richards RD, Harun F, Nawawi MRM, Liu Y, Rockett TBO & David JPR (2021) . Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 54(19).
  • Flores S, Reyes DF, Braza V, Richards RD, Bastiman F, Ben T, Ruiz-Mar穩n N, David JPR & Gonz獺lez D (2019) . Applied Surface Science, 485, 29-34.
  • Richards RD, Rockett TBO, Nawawi MRM, Harun F, Mellor A, Wilson T, Christou C, Chen S & David JPR (2018) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 33(9).
  • Balades N, Sales DL, Herrera M, Tan CH, Liu Y, Richards RD & Molina SI (2018) . Nanoscale Research Letters, 13.
  • Wilson T, Hylton NP, Harada Y, Pearce P, Alonso-lvarez D, Mellor A, Richards RD, David JPR & Ekins-Daukes NJ (2018) . Scientific Reports, 8(1).
  • Richards RD, Mellor A, Harun F, Cheong JS, Hylton NP, Wilson T, Thomas T, Roberts JS, Ekins-Daukes NJ & David JPR (2017) . Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 172, 238-243.
  • Gelczuk , Kopaczek J, Rockett TBO, Richards RD & Kudrawiec R (2017) . Scientific Reports, 7.
  • Balanta MAG, Kopaczek J, Orsi Gordo V, Santos BHB, Rodrigues AD, Galeti HVA, Richards RD, Bastiman F, David JPR, Kudrawiec R & Galv瓊o Gobato Y (2016) . Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 49(35).
  • Richards RD, Bastiman F, Roberts JS, Beanland R, Walker D & David JPR (2015) . Journal of Crystal Growth, 425, 237-240.
  • Richards RD, Bastiman F, Walker D, Beanland R & David JPR (2015) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 30(9), 094013-094013.
  • Mohmad AR, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Harun F, Reyes DF, Sales DL, Gonzalez D, Richards RD, David JPR & Majlis BY (2015) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 30(9), 094018-094018.
  • Kopaczek J, Linhart WM, Baranowski M, Richards RD, Bastiman F, David JPR & Kudrawiec R (2015) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 30(9), 094005-094005.
  • Zhou Z, Mendes DF, Richards RD, Bastiman F & David JPR (2015) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 30(9), 094004-094004.
  • Walther T, Richards RD & Bastiman F (2015) . Crystal Research and Technology, 50(1), 38-42.
  • Kudrawiec R, Kopaczek J, Polak MP, Scharoch P, Gladysiewicz M, Misiewicz J, Richards RD, Bastiman F & David JPR (2014) . Journal of Applied Physics, 116(23).
  • Mohmad AR, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Richards RD, Sweeney SJ, Ng JS, David JPR & Majlis BY (2014) . physica status solidi (b), 251(6), 1276-1281.
  • Sandall IC, Bastiman F, White B, Richards R, Mendes D, David JPR & Tan CH (2014) . Applied Physics Letters, 104(17), ---.
  • Richards RD, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Mendes DF, Mohmad AR, Roberts JS & David JPR (2014) . Journal of Crystal Growth, 390, 120-124.
  • Dominguez L, Reyes DF, Bastiman F, Sales DL, Richards RD, Mendes D, David JPR & Gonzalez D (2013) . Applied Physics Express, 6(11), 112601-112601.
  • Richards R, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Mohmad AR, David JPR & Ekins-Daukes N (2013) . 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 0303-0305.
  • Hunter CJ, Bastiman F, Mohmad AR, Richards R, Ng JS, Sweeney SJ & David JPR (2012) . IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 24(23), 2191-2194.
  • Mohmad AR, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Richards R, Sweeney SJ, Ng JS & David JPR (2012) . Applied Physics Letters, 101(1).
  • Harun F, Rusli JR, Richards RD, Abdul Rahman MG & David JPR () . Solid State Phenomena, 343, 99-104.

Book chapters

  • Ishikawa F, Nagashima K, Yanagida T, Richards RD & Buyanova IA (2024) , Topics in Applied Physics (pp. 109-141). Springer Nature Singapore
  • Gu Y, Richards RD, David JPR & Zhang Y (2019) , Springer Series in Materials Science (pp. 299-318). Springer Singapore

Conference proceedings

  • Harun F, Richards RD & David JPR (2023) . 2023 IEEE Regional Symposium on Micro and Nanoelectronics (RSM) (pp 40-43), 28 August 2023 - 30 August 2023.
  • Harun F, Richards RD & David JP (2022) . 2022 IEEE 8th International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications (ICSIMA) (pp 127-131), 26 September 2022 - 28 September 2022.
  • Rockett TB, Adham NA, Carr M, David JPR & Richards RD (2022) . Biomedical Spectroscopy, Microscopy, and Imaging II (pp 42-42), 3 April 2022 - 23 May 2022.
  • Becker JJ, Xu X, Woods-Robinson R, Campbell CM, Lassise M, Ager J & Zhang Y-H (2017) . 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) (pp 3410-3412), 25 June 2017 - 30 June 2017.
  • Richards RD, Harun F, Cheong JS, Mellor A, Hylton NP, Wilson T, Thomas T, Ekins-Daukes NJ & David JPR (2016) . Proceedings of the 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) 2016 (pp 1135-1137). Portland, OR, USA, 5 June 2016 - 5 June 2016.
  • Richards RD, Hunter CJ, Bastiman F, Mohmad AR & David JPR (2016) . IET Optoelectronics, Vol. 10(2) (pp 34-38)
  • Mohmad AR, Majlis BY, Bastiman F, Richards RD & David JPR (2015) . 2015 IEEE Regional Symposium on Micro and Nanoelectronics (RSM) (pp 1-3), 19 August 2015 - 21 August 2015.
  • Sandall IC, Bastiman F, White B, Richards R, David J & Chee Hing Tan (2014) . 2014 IEEE Photonics Conference (pp 356-357), 12 October 2014 - 16 October 2014.
  • Sandall IC, Bastiman F, White B, Richards RD, David J & Tan CH (2014) . SPIE Proceedings
  • Mohmad AR, Majlis BY, Bastiman F, Hunter CJ, Richards RD, Ng JS & David JPR (2014) . 2014 IEEE International Conference on Semiconductor Electronics (ICSE2014) (pp 354-357), 27 August 2014 - 29 August 2014.
  • Rockett TBO, Richards RD, Gu Y, Harun F, Liu Y, Zhou Z & David JPR () . Journal of Crystal Growth. Montpellier, France
Research group

Materials and Devices

Grants
  • 2015 - Development of InAsBi Quantum Dots as Single Photon Emitters for Quantum Technology
  • Royal Academy of Engineering research fellowship: Development of indium gallium arsenide bismide for mid-wavelength infrared applications
Teaching interests
  • EEE119 - Digital System Engineering
  • EEE380 - Individual Design Project
  • EEE381 - Individual Investigative Project
Professional activities and memberships
  • Royal Academy of Engineering Post-doctoral Research Fellow
  • UK Semiconductors Conference organising committee member
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship College mentor

Links

Semiconductor Materials and Devices Group