Thom Harris-Lee
How and why did you join the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride?
In my PhD, I was lucky enough to get experience across almost every stage of photoelectrode development for light-driven water splitting application. This involved synthesising new and bespoke inorganic precursors, depositing them using atomic layer deposition and aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition, and electrochemically characterising the resulting photoelectrodes. Working in such an interdisciplinary environment made me realise how much I enjoy learning and new challenges, so I wanted to broaden my experience in materials science further and explore other applications of semiconductor technology.
When I was looking for postdoctoral positions, I came across this role in Cambridge and it felt like a really natural fit. It brought together areas I was already familiar with, particularly electrochemistry and materials science, while giving me the opportunity to develop my understanding of semiconductor physics and the highly controlled epitaxial growth of nitride films. I was also really interested in applying electrochemistry in a very different environment from the systems I had worked with previously. I really enjoyed the deposition work I did during my PhD, so the opportunity to learn MOVPE and work on nitride growth was particularly exciting. GaN is notoriously difficult to grow well, and I was really keen to take on that challenge and develop a new area of expertise.
What is your role in the GaN group?
I am a postdoctoral research associate primarily working on the electrochemical etching of GaN and AlGaN. Alongside my own research, I also lead the day-to-day activities of the porous nitride subgroup within the Centre for Gallium Nitride. This involves, among other things, supporting postdocs, collaborators, and students through discussions of their work, practical lab assistance, and help with report, paper, and grant writing.
Describe a typical day in your working life.
My days can vary a lot, so there is rarely a typical day. I usually spend a significant part of each day helping students, whether that’s discussing their work, helping them overcome problems, or assisting with more complicated experiments. I fit my own research around this, as well as usually having at least one paper manuscript on the go for when equipment is booked up. I often have meetings with group members and external collaborators to discuss ongoing work or develop new projects, and also work on more administrative activities such as safety forms and, of course, managing this website!
What do you like best about working in the group?
There is a really great culture within the group. Everyone is very friendly and great to chat with and be around, and people are always happy to help each other out. The broad range of research occurring across the group also means that there is a lot of different expertise, so I try to make the most of the opportunity to learn new skills and understanding from the world class experts around me. It is a really nice environment to come into every day.
Where do you see nitrides in future?
Nitrides are already very well established in society, with nitride-based technologies being widely commercialised, which means there is a high barrier to changing the way these materials are processed and used. I think there are two main ways of pushing the field forward: expanding nitrides into completely new applications, and finding ways to improve the performance of existing technologies enough that industry has to take notice. I believe porous nitrides have the potential to do both. They can introduce new functionality and applications, while also providing new ways of engineering the properties of existing nitride devices. I think we are only beginning to understand what we can achieve with porous nitrides, and ultimately, I would love to see electrochemical porosification become a standard and well-known processing step for nitride materials, in the same way that other established processing techniques are today.