Newcastle University

Background

Dr Alton Horsfall joined the department in August 1999 as a research associate on the SCEPTRE project. He previously completed his degree and Ph.D. at the physics department at the University of Durham where he investigated the effect of quantum mechanical exchange mechanisms in diluted magnetic semiconductors. Alton then worked for DERA before moving to Newcastle. He is currently involved in the design and fabrication of high temperature electronics systems, with work focusing on MESFET and BSIT devices as part of the work on Silicon Carbide.

Projects

• A detector for all seasons: towards SiC imaging arrays
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alton Horsfall
• BAE Case Studentship - Hassan Habib
• BAE Studentship 1 & 2
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alton Horsfall
• Delta Doped SiC MOSFET Optimisation
• Development of Silicon Carbide X-Ray Detectors for Remote Sensing Planetary Missions
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alton Horsfall
• High K Gas Sensors
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alton Horsfall
• IeMRC Flagship Project in Power Electronic Systems
• MOSFET
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alton Horsfall
• Platform Grant: Technologies for SiC Electronics and Sensors in Extreme Environments
  Project Leader(s): Prof. Nick Wright
• PULLNANO - Pulling the Limits of Nanoelectronics
  Project Leader(s): Prof. Anthony O'Neill
• Silicon Carbide for High Power and High Temperature Applications (SCEPTRE)
  Project Leader(s): Dr C.M. Johnson
• Silicon Carbide Sensors for Space Applications.
• Stress Evolution in Electrically Stressed Interconnect Features.

Undergraduate Teaching

EEE2005 - Fields Materials and Devices II
EEE1006 - Electrical Engineering I
EEE1007 - Electrical Engineering I
EEE3006 - Radiowave Engineering

Postgraduate Teaching

EEE8008 - Radiowave Engineering

• Nagareddy VK, Nikitina IP, Gaskill DK, Tedesco JL, Myers-Ward RL, Eddy CR, Goss JP, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. High temperature measurements of metal contacts on epitaxial graphene. Applied Physics Letters 2011, 99(7), 073506.
• Vassilevski KV, Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. 4H-SiC Schottky diodes with high on/off current ratio. In: International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2002, Tsukuba, Japan: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Blasciuc-Dimitriu C, Horsfall AB, Vassilevski KV, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. Characterisation of the high temperature performance of 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes. In: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials: 4th Euopean Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (ECSCRM). 2002, Linkoping, Sweden: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Phelps GJ, Wright NG, Chester EG, Johnson CM, O'Neill AG, Ortolland S, Horsfall AB, Vassilevski K, Gwilliam RM. Enhanced dopant diffusion effects in 4H silicon carbide. In: International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2002, Tsukuba, Japan: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. Optimisation of a 4H-SiC enhancement mode power JFET. In: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials: 4th Euopean Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (ECSCRM). 2002, Linkoping, Sweden: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Horsfall AB, Vassilevski KV, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG, Gwilliam RM. Optimisation of implanted guard-ring terminations in 4H-SiC Schottky diodes. In: International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2002, Tsukuba, Japan: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Johnson CM, Rahimo M, Wright NG, Hinchley DA, Horsfall AB, Morrison DJ. Characterisation of 4H-SiC Schottky diodes for IGBT applications. In: Industry Applications Conference 2000. Conference Record of the 2000 IEEE. 2000, Rome, Italy: Institution of Electronic and Electrical Engineers.
• Horsfall AB, Ortolland S, Wright NG, Johnson CM, Knights AP. Double implanted power MESFET technology in 4H-SiC. In: The 3rd European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2000. 2000, Kloster Banz, Germany: Trans Tech Publications.
• Wright NG, Johnson CM, O'Neill AG, Horsfall A, Ortolland S, Adachi K, Knights AP, Coleman PG. Implanted bipolar technology in 4H-SiC. In: Wide-Bandgap Electronic Devices. Symposium. 2000, San Francisco, CA, USA.
• Coleman AP, Wright NG, Johnson CM, O'Neill AG, Horsfall A, Ortolland S, Adachi K, Phelps GJ, Knights PG, Burrows CP. Physical characterization of residual implant damage in 4H-SiC double implanted bipolar technology. In: Silicon Carbide - Materials, Processing and Devices: Symposium. 2000, Boston, MA, USA: Materials Research Society.
• Vassilevski K, Nikitina I, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, Johnson CM. 3.3 kV Rated Silicon Carbide Schottky Diodes with Epitaxial Field Stop Ring. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Stevens RC, Vassilevski K, Lees JE, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. Effect of Proton Irradiation Induced Defects on 4H-SiC Schottky Diode X-ray Detectors. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Goss JP, Briddon PR, Nagareddy VK, Wright NG, Horsfall AB, Caldwell JD, Gaskill DK, Jernigan GG. Influence of intercalated silicon on the transport properties of graphene. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Furnival BJD, Vassilevski K, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. Recovery of Ohmic Contacts Formed on C-face 4H-SiC Following High Temperature Post-Processing. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Vassilevski K, Nikitina I, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, Smith AJ, Johnson CM. Silicon Carbide Vertical JFET with Self-Aligned Nickel Silicide Contacts. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Weng MN, Barker S, Mahapatra R, Furnival BJD, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. Study of the Interface Properties of TiO2/SiO2/SiC by Photocapacitance. In: Materials Science Forum: 8th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2011, Oslo, Norway: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Chen CC, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. Optimisation of Heterostructure Bipolar Transistors in SiC. Materials Science Forum 2005, 483-485, 913-916.
• Soare S, Bull SJ, Oila A, O'Neill AG, Wright N, Horsfall A, Dos Santos J. Determination of mechanical parameters for rotating MEMS structures as a function of deposition method. In: Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings: Thin Films - Stresses and Mechanical Properties X. 2003, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Materials Research Society.
• Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. Optimisation of a 4H-SiC enhancement mode power JFET. In: Materials Science Forum: 4th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2003, Linkoping, Switzerland: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Johnson CM, Rahimo M, Wright NG, Hinchley DA, Horsfall AB, Morrison DJ, Knights A. 1.6 kV 4H-SiC Schottky diodes for IGBT applications. In: Eighth International Conference on Power Electronics and Variable Speed Drives, 2000. 2000, Piscataway, USA: Institution of Electronic and Electrical Engineers.
• Morrison DJ, Wright NG, Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, O'Neill AG, Knights AP, Hilton KP, Uren MJ. Effect of post-implantation anneal on the electrical characteristics of Ni 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes terminated using self-aligned argon ion implantation. Solid-State Electronics 2000, 44(11), 1879-1885.
• Vassilevski K, Nikitina I, Horsfall A, Wright N, Johnson C. 6 kV, 10.5 mOhm·cm2 nickel silicide Schottky diodes on commercial 4H-SiC epitaxial wafers. In: Materials Science Forum: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2010, Nürnberg, Germany: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Brennan D, Miao B, Vasilevskiy K, Wright N, Horsfall A. Amplitude shift keyed radio communications for hostile environments. In: Materials Science Forum: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2010, Nürnberg, Germany: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Goss J, Briddon P, Wright N, Horsfall A. Density functional simulations of physisorbed and chemisorbed single graphene layers on 4H-SiC (0001), (0001̄) and 4H-SiC:H surface. In: Materials Science Forum: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2009. 2010, Nürnberg, Germany: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Smith S, Brockie N, Murray J, Wilson C, Horsfall A, Terry J, Stevenson J, Mount A, Walton A. Fabrication of test structures to monitor stress in SU-8 films used for MEMS applications. In: IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures. 2010, Hiroshima, Japan: IEEE.
• Vassilevski K, Nikitina I, Horsfall A, Wright N, Johnson C. Growth of few layers graphene on silicon carbide from nickel silicide supersaturated with carbon. In: Materials Science Forum: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2009. 2010, Nürnberg, Germany: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Barker S, Vassilevski KV, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. High Temperature Vibration Energy Harvester System. In: IEEE Sensors. 2010, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA: IEEE.
• Barker S, Miao B, Brennan D, Vassilevski K, Wright N, Horsfall A. Silicon carbide based energy harvesting module for hostile environments. In: Materials Science Forum: Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2009. 2010, Nürnberg, Germany: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Wright NG, Poolamai N, Vassilevski K, Horsfall AB, Johnson CM. Benefits of high-k dielectrics in 4H-SIC trench MOSFETs. In: 10th International Conferece on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2003 (ICSCRM 2003). 2004, Lyon, France: Materials Science Forum: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Soare S, Bull SJ, Oila A, O'Neill A, Wright N, Horsfall A, dos Santos J. Determination of mechanical parameters for rotating MEMS structures as a function of deposition method. In: MRS Fall Meeting 2003. 2004, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• Vassilevski K, Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, Wright NG. Edge termination of SiC Schottky diodes with guard rings formed by high energy Boron implantation. In: 10th International Conferece on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials 2003 (ICSCRM 2003). 2004, Lyon, France: Materials Science Forum: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• B-Dimitriu C, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, Johnson CM, Vassilevski KV, O'Neill AG. First principles derivation of carrier transport across metal - SiC barriers. In: Materials Science Forum: 10th International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials (ICSCRM). 2004, Lyon, France: Trans Tech Publications Ltd.
• Miao B, Mahapatra R, Jenkins R, Silvie J, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. Radiation Induced Change in Defect Density in HfO2-Based MIM Capacitors. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 2009, 56(5), 2916-2924.
• Weng M-H, Mahapatra R, Horsfall AB, Wright NG. Trap-assisted gas sensing mechanism in Pd/TiO2/SiO 2/SiC capacitors at high temperatures. IEEE Sensors Journal 2007, 7(10), 1395-1399.
• Wright NG, Horsfall AB. SiC sensors: A review. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2007, 40(20), 6345-6354.
• Wilson CJ, Horsfall AB, O'Neill AG, Wright NG, Bull SJ, Terry JG, Stevenson JTM, Walton AJ. Direct measurement of electromigration-induced stress in interconnect structures. IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability 2007, 7(2), 356-362.
• Blasciuc-Dimitriu C, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, Johnson CM, Vassilevski KV, O'Neill AG. Quantum modelling of I-V characteristics for 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes. Semiconductor Science and Technology 2005, 20(1), 10-15.
• Nikitina I, Vassilevski K, Horsfall A, Wright N, O'Neill AG, Ray SK, Zekentes K, Johnson CM. Phase composition and electrical characteristics of nickel silicide Schottky contacts formed on 4H-SiC. Semiconductor Science and Technology 2009,24 5 055006.
• Mahapatra R, Chakraborty AK, Horsfall AB, Wright NG, Beamson G, Coleman KS. Energy-band alignment of HfO₂/SiO₂/SiC gate dielectric stack. Applied Physics Letters 2008, 92(4), 042904.
• Miao B, Mahapatra R, Wright N, Horsfall A. The role of carbon contamination in voltage linearity and leakage current in high-k metal-insulator-metal capacitors. Journal of Applied Physics 2008, 104(5), 054510.
• Saha AR, Dimitriu CB, Horsfall AB, Chattopadhyay S, Wright NG, O'Neill AG, Bose C, Maiti CK. Quantum-mechanical modeling of current-voltage characteristics of Ti-silicided Schottky diodes. Journal of Applied Physics 2006, 99(11), 113707.
• dos Santos JMM, Wang K, Horsfall AB, Pina JCP, Wright NG, O'Neill AG, Soare SM, Bull SJ, Terry JG, Walton AJ, Gundlach AM, Stevenson JTM. Calibration of MEMS-based test structures for predicting thermomechanical stress in integrated circuit interconnect structures. IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability 2005, 5(4), 713-719.
• Mahapatra R, Horsfall AB, Wright NG. Forming-Free Reversible Bipolar Resistive Switching Behavior in Al-Doped HfO2 Metal-Insulator-Metal Devices. Journal of Electronic Materials 2012, 41(4), 656-659.
• Tiwari AK, Goss JP, Briddon PR, Wright NG, Horsfall AB, Jones R, Pinto H, Rayson MJ. Calculated electron affinity and stability of halogen-terminated diamond. Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) 2011, 84(24), 245305.
• Furnival BJD, Wright NG, Horsfall AB. Discriminating Gas Concentrations in Extreme Temperature Environments. In: IEEE Sensors. 2011, Limerick, Ireland: IEEE.
• Al Hinai M, Wright N, Horsfall A, Hassanien R, Horrocks B, Houlton A. Ultra-sensitive hydrogen gas sensing using DNA-templated palladium nanowires. In: IEEE Sensors. 2011, Limerick, Ireland: IEEE.
• Soare S, Bull SJ, Oila A, O'Neill AG, Wright N, Horsfall A, dos Santos J. Determination of mechanical parameters for rotating MEMS structures as a function of deposition method. In: Thin Films: Stresses and Mechanical Properties X. 2004, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Materials Research Society.
• Vassilevski KV, Horsfall AB, Johnson CM, Wright NG, O'Neill AG. 4H-SiC Schottky diodes with high on-off current ratio. In: International Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials. 2001.
• Wright NG, Johnson CM, ONeill AG, Horsfall AB, Ortoll S, Adachi K, Knights AP, Coleman PG. Implanted bipolar technology in 4H-SiC. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 2000, 622, T1.7.1-T1.7.6.
• Wright NG, Johnson CM, O'Neill AG, Horsfall A, Ortolland S, Adachi K, Phelps GJ, Knights AP, Coleman PG, Burrows CP. Physical characterization of residual implant damage in 4H-SiC double implanted bipolar technology. In: Materials Research Society Symposium - Proceedings 2000. 2000, Boston USA: Cambridge University Press.