Dr Richard Cobley

Senior Lecturer, Electronic and Electrical Engineering

+44 (0) 1792 602066

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Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4833-8492

ResearchGate

Office - 317
Third Floor
Engineering North
Bay Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

About

Dr Cobley's research concerns the fabrication, processing, characterisation and modelling of low-dimensional materials, including metal oxide nanowires and nanosheets, and graphene. He also designs, characterises and models novel electronic devices, particularly those that make use of low-dimensional physical properties, or suffer from confinement or leakage issues due to small sizes.

Working within the Centre for Nanohealth at Swansea we are able to fabricate a wide range of nanomaterials. Our characterisation equipment includes ultra high vacuum four point probe (with in-situ scanning electron microscopy), scanning auger microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Dr Cobley has supervised many PhD, masters, and other research students on these areas – some are listed below. Interested potential students are welcome to email for a current list of vacancies.

He is the postgraduate admissions tutor for Nanotechnology. Please email him with any enquiries about research masters or PhD programmes in any areas related to nanotechnology.

Areas Of Expertise

Nanotechnology
Electrical and structural characterisation of low-dimensional materials
Metal oxide nanowires and nanosheets
Characterisation of electrostatic manipulation of graphene ripples and deformation
Scanning probe microscopy and modelling of SPM

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Dr Cobley is the undergraduate course co-ordinator for Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He co-founded the College’s Lightboard recording studio for creating engaging teaching videos.

EG-142 Instrumentation and Control

This module introduces the fundamentals of sensors, measurement, instrumentation and control in typical engineering applications.

EG-143 Digital Design

To introduce the fundamentals of logic design methods and, implement, test and compare these designs using simulators.

EGNM01 Probing at the Nanoscale

This module provides an introduction to the analysis techniques used in nanotechnology, and general surface science, including scanning probe microscopy, electron and diffraction techniques.

Award Highlights

Publications

Research Highlights

Cobley, R., Beggs, E., Crooks, E., Palmer, R., & Tucker, J. (2022). WORKSHOP REPORT: MASI Agenda Setting Workshop on Unconventional and Natural Computing
https://doi.org/10.23889/SURep.60483, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60483
Cobley, R., Teng, K., Brown, M., Wilks, S., Rees, P., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Brown, R., Cobley, R., & Rees, P. (2007). Direct real-time observation of catastrophic optical degradation in operating semiconductor lasers using scanning tunneling microscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 91(8), 081119
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2775049, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1828
Cobley, R., Rees, P., Teng, K., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Cobley, R., & Rees, P. (2010). Analyzing real-time surface modification of operating semiconductor laser diodes using cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. Journal of Applied Physics, 107(9), 094507
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3380826, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5566
Maffeis, T., Penny, M., Cobley, R., Comini, E., Sberveglieri, G., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., Maffeis, T., & Cobley, R. (2009). XPS Characterisation of Vacuum Annealed Nanocrystalline WO3 Films. e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology, 7, 319-322.
https://doi.org/10.1380/ejssnt.2009.319, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5568
Battenbo, H., Cobley, R., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., & Cobley, R. (2011). A quantitative study of the formation of breath figure templated polymer materials. Soft Matter, 7(22), 10864-10873.
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1SM06158E, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa6599

All Research

Journal Articles

Mohamed, A., Ghazali, N., Chong, H., Cobley, R., Li, L., & Kalna, K. (2020). Channel Mobility and Contact Resistance in Scaled ZnO Thin-Film Transistors. Solid-State Electronics, 172, 107867
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sse.2020.107867, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa54909
Barnett, C., McCormack, J., Deemer, E., Evans, C., Evans, J., Orbaek White, A., Dunstan, P., Chianelli, R., Cobley, R., & Barron, A. (2020). Enhancement of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes’ Electrical Conductivity Using Metal Nanoscale Copper Contacts and Its Implications for Carbon Nanotube-Enhanced Copper Conductivity. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 124(34), 18777-18783.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c05000, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa55002
Alyobi, M., Barnett, C., Muratov, C., Moroz, V., & Cobley, R. (2020). The voltage-dependent manipulation of few-layer graphene with a scanning tunneling microscopy tip. Carbon, 163, 379-384.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2020.03.046, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53851
Cobley, R., Kaya, D., & Palmer, R. (2020). Absence of non-local manipulation of oxygen atoms inserted below the Si(111)-7x7 surface. Langmuir, 36(27), 8027-8031.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c00058, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa54557
Kaya, D., Cobley, R., & Palmer, R. (2020). Combining scanning tunneling microscope (STM) imaging and local manipulation to probe the high dose oxidation structure of the Si(111)-7×7 surface. Nano Research, 13(1), 145-150.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2587-1, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53137
Barnett, C., Mourgelas, V., McGettrick, J., Maffeis, T., Barron, A., & Cobley, R. (2019). The effects of vacuum annealing on the conduction characteristics of ZnO nanorods. Materials Letters, 243, 144-147.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2019.02.005, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48830
Alyobi, M., Barnett, C., Rees, P., & Cobley, R. (2019). Modifying the electrical properties of graphene by reversible point-ripple formation. Carbon, 143, 762-768.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2018.11.076, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa46153
Barnett, C., Jackson, G., Jones, D., Lewis, A., Welsby, K., Evans, J., McGettrick, J., Watson, T., Maffeis, T., Dunstan, P., Barron, A., & Cobley, R. (2018). Investigation into the effects of surface stripping ZnO nanosheets. Nanotechnology, 29(16), 165701
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aaae5c, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa38951
Alyobi, M., Barnett, C., & Cobley, R. (2017). Effects of Thermal Annealing on the Properties of Mechanically Exfoliated Suspended and On-Substrate Few-Layer Graphene. Crystals, 7(11), 349
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst7110349, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa36726
Alyobi, M. & Cobley, R. (2017). Electron Beam Lithography and Plasma Etching To Fabricate Supports for Studying Nanomaterials. International Journal of Research in Science, 3(2), 18
https://doi.org/10.24178/ijrs.2017.3.2.18, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52760
Alyobi, M., Barnett, C., & Cobley, R. (2017). Nano-Scale Movement Induced In Graphene Ripples by Multi-Probe Microscopy. International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering, 3(2), 22
https://doi.org/10.24178/ijare.2017.3.2.22, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52761
http://dx.doi.org/10.24178/ijare.2017.3.2.22
Barnett, C., Castaing, A., Jones, D., Lewis, A., Jenkins, L., Cobley, R., & Maffeis, T. (2017). XPS investigation of titanium contact formation to ZnO nanowires. Nanotechnology, 28(8), 085301
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aa5663, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa31988
Kryvchenkova, O., Abdullah, I., Macdonald, J., Elliott, M., Anthopoulos, T., Lin, Y., Igić, P., Kalna, K., Cobley, R., & Igic, P. (2016). Nondestructive Method for Mapping Metal Contact Diffusion in In2O3 Thin-Film Transistors. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8(38), 25631-25636.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b10332, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa29930
Barnett, C., Smith, N., Jones, D., Maffeis, T., & Cobley, R. (2015). Effects of Vacuum Annealing on the Conduction Characteristics of ZnO Nanosheets. Nanoscale Research Letters, 10(1)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-015-1066-1, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23391
http://www.nanoscalereslett.com/content/10/1/368
Kryvchenkova, O., Cobley, R., Kalna, K., Cobley, R., & Kalna, K. (2015). The Current Crowding Effect in ZnO Nanowires with a Metal Contact. Materials Today: Proceedings, 2(1), 309-314.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2015.04.052, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23333
Yousef, H., Cobley, R., Davies, H., James, D., Mehmood, S., Sackett, E., Sienz, J., Davies, H., Yousef, H., Cobley, R., & Sackett, E. (2015). Establishing a quantifiable tarnish timeline for comparison of anti-tarnish processes in metals. Materials and Corrosion, 66(10), 1120-1124.
https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.201407969, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20511
Barnett, C., Kryvchenkova, O., Smith, N., Kelleher, L., Maffeis, T., & Cobley, R. (2015). The effects of surface stripping ZnO nanorods with argon bombardment. Nanotechnology, 26(41), 415701
https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/26/41/415701, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23525
Lord, A., Maffeis, T., Kryvchenkova, O., Cobley, R., Kalna, K., Kepaptsoglou, D., Ramasse, Q., Walton, A., Ward, M., Köble, J., & Wilks, S. (2015). Controlling the Electrical Transport Properties of Nanocontacts to Nanowires. Nano Letters, 15(7), 4248-4254.
https://doi.org/10.1021/nl503743t, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa22729
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl503743t
Smith, N., Lord, A., Evans, J., Barnett, C., Cobley, R., & Wilks, S. (2015). Forming reproducible non-lithographic nanocontacts to assess the effect of contact compressive strain in nanomaterials. Semiconductor Science and Technology, 30(6), 065011
https://doi.org/10.1088/0268-1242/30/6/065011, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23335
Barnett, C., Kryvchenkova, O., Wilson, L., Maffeis, T., Kalna, K., Cobley, R., Maffeis, T., Cobley, R., & Kalna, K. (2015). The role of probe oxide in local surface conductivity measurements. Journal of Applied Physics, 117(17), 174306
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4919662, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21324
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/117/17/10.1063/1.4919662
Kryvchenkova, O., Cobley, R., & Kalna, K. (2014). Self-consistent modelling of tunnelling spectroscopy on III–V semiconductors. Applied Surface Science, 295, 173-179.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.12.182, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21323
Cobley, R., Brown, R., Barnett, C., Maffeis, T., Penny, M., Maffeis, T., & Cobley, R. (2013). Quantitative analysis of annealed scanning probe tips using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 102(2), 023111
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4776705, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa14274
Battenbo, H., Cobley, R., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., & Cobley, R. (2011). A quantitative study of the formation of breath figure templated polymer materials. Soft Matter, 7(22), 10864-10873.
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1SM06158E, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa6599
Cobley, R., Rees, P., Teng, K., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Cobley, R., & Rees, P. (2010). Analyzing real-time surface modification of operating semiconductor laser diodes using cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. Journal of Applied Physics, 107(9), 094507
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3380826, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5566
Cobley, R., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Brown, R., & Rees, P. (2010). Surface defects in semiconductor lasers studied with cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. Applied Surface Science, 256(19), 5736
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.03.089, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5734
Maffeis, T., Penny, M., Cobley, R., Comini, E., Sberveglieri, G., Wilks, S., Wilks, S., Maffeis, T., & Cobley, R. (2009). XPS Characterisation of Vacuum Annealed Nanocrystalline WO3 Films. e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology, 7, 319-322.
https://doi.org/10.1380/ejssnt.2009.319, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5568
Cobley, R., Teng, K., Brown, M., Wilks, S., Rees, P., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Brown, R., Cobley, R., & Rees, P. (2007). Direct real-time observation of catastrophic optical degradation in operating semiconductor lasers using scanning tunneling microscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 91(8), 081119
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2775049, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1828
Brown, M., Rees, P., Cobley, R., Teng, K., Wilks, S., Hughes, A., Teng, V., & Brown, R. (2007). The effect of interface roughness on multilayer heterostructures. Journal of Applied Physics, 102(11), 113711
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2818108, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa12713
Cobley, R., Teng, K., Brown, M., Wilks, S., Teng, V., Brown, R., & Cobley, R. (2007). Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy of biased semiconductor lasers. Journal of Applied Physics, 102, 024306
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2757006, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1852
Maffeis, T., Yung, D., LePennec, L., Penny, M., Cobley, R., Comini, E., Sberveglieri, G., Wilks, S., & Cobley, R. (2007). STM and XPS characterisation of vacuum annealed nanocrystalline WO3 films. Surface Science, 604, 4953
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2007.08.009, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1855
Cobley, R., Teng, K., Maffeïs, T., Wilks, S., Teng, V., & Cobley, R. (2006). Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of strain in buried heterostructure lasers. Surface Science, 600, 2857-2859.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2006.05.024, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1853
Brown, M., Cobley, R., Teng, K., Rees, P., Wilks, S., Sobiesierski, A., Smowton, P., Blood, P., Teng, V., Brown, R., Cobley, R., & Rees, P. (2006). Modeling multiple quantum barrier effects and reduced electron leakage in red-emitting laser diodes. Journal of Applied Physics, 100(8), 084509
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2362906, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa6333
Teng, K., Cobley, R., Brown, M., Wilks, S., Dunstan, P., Dunstan, P., Teng, V., Brown, R., & Cobley, R. (2005). Investigation on (Al0.7Ga0.3)(0.5)In0.5P/(Al0.3Ga0.7)(0.5)In0.5P multi-quantum-barrier superlattice using cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. Journal of Applied Physics, 98, 033525
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2005375, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1854

Conference Contributions

Ennser, K., Cobley, R., Evans, G., & Gibbons, L. (2019). LIGHTBOARD VIDEO RECORDING SUITE: FROM CREATING TO DELIVERING A HIGH-QUALITY VIDEO FACILITY FOR BLENDED LEARNING. In ICERI2019 Proceedings (pp. 7811-7816).
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52861
https://library.iated.org/view/ENNSER2019LIG
Kryvchenkova, O., Kalna, K., Cobley, R., & Cobley, R. (2014). Modelling heating effects due to current crowding in ZnO nanowires with end-bonded metal contacts. (pp. 1-4).
https://doi.org/10.1109/ASDAM.2014.6998695, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20602
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6998695
Barnett, C., Brown, R., Jones, D., Tarat, A., Cobley, R., & Maffeis, T. (2012). Investigation into the initial growth parameters of hydrothermally grown zinc oxide nanowires. In 2012 12th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO) (pp. 1-4).
https://doi.org/10.1109/nano.2012.6321959, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa14277
Cobley, R. (2008). Characterisation of the influence of multi-quantum barrier reflectors within GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well lasers using near-field imaging techniques. In Applied Surface Science (pp. 649-652).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2008.07.062, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa5731
COBLEY, R. & Cobley, R. (2004). Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy of buried heterostructure lasers. In International Journal of Nanoscience (pp. 525-531).
https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219581X04002334, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa6334

Other Research Outputs

Cobley, R., Beggs, E., Crooks, E., Palmer, R., & Tucker, J. (2022). WORKSHOP REPORT: MASI Agenda Setting Workshop on Unconventional and Natural Computing
https://doi.org/10.23889/SURep.60483, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60483

Supervision

surface studies of gas sensing materials (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Thierry Maffeis
Production Methods, Electron Microscopy Investigations and Property Analysis of Nanoscale Structures (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Mr Yubiao Niu

Other supervisor: Prof Richard Palmer
Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoclusters in neuromorphic systems (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Richard Palmer
Production and analysis of nanoparticles from a matrix assembly cluster source and a sputtered atom source. (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Richard Palmer

Taught Modules

EG-142 Instrumentation and Control

This module introduces the fundamentals of sensors, measurement, instrumentation and control in typical engineering applications.

Dr Richard Cobley

Telephone number

Email address

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