Thin Films & Coatings Materials Science Failure Analysis Product Design
Garrett Hayes, PhD
garrett@garretthayesconsulting.com
(925) 980-5677
San Francisco Bay Area
PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University (2014)
MS, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University (2014)
BS, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University (2009)
I am a PhD materials scientist who specializes in failure analysis and product design, and I have deep expertise in the realm of thin films and coatings. I use scientific, engineering, and economics principles to help clients build better products, to assess the technical and economic feasibility of proposed projects, and to understand the cause of product failures when they occur.
I’ve worked with clients big and small — from consumer electronics brands, automakers and government agencies, to seed stage startups – on topics ranging from technical feasibility and product-market fit, to PVD and CVD process issues, automotive component recalls, medical device failures, natural gas pipeline ruptures and intellectual property disputes.
I’m an avid skier, mountain biker, trumpet player and fly fisherman. I enjoy boating and boat maintenance, woodworking and renovating homes, and I am knowledgeable in residential construction methods and materials.
Capabilities
Thin film vapor deposition: evaporation, sputtering, CVD
Failure analysis
Litigation support
Materials and corrosion expertise for disputes
Intellectual property consulting
Failure modes: ductile and brittle fracture, corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, UV-damage, rot, insect damage
Medical device failure analysis
Coatings: thin film coatings, optical coatings, paint, gelcoat
Materials selection: glass and brittle materials, metals, polymers, composites, concrete and wood
Process development
Construction materials and methods
Semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, III-V materials, silicon
Lasers, LEDs, photovoltaics, laser materials processing
Automotive materials
Technical feasibility
Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, materials characterization techniques
Manufacturing process optimization
Techno-economic analysis
Technical product-market fit
Examples of Prior Engagements
Worked with a seed stage startup company to determine technical feasibility and product-market fit of a novel home energy backup system
Advised a consumer electronics company in its development of a next generation display technology
Investigated alleged fatigue failures in titanium pedicle (spinal) screws
Worked with an electronics technology company to show patent infringement by a competitor
Assisted in a case involving alleged misappropriation of trade secrets relating to semiconductor manufacturing equipment design
Investigated insulated glass unit failures (“fog” between window panes)
Assisted in the investigation of an underground chemical pipeline leak
Worked with a seed stage startup company to determine feasibility and product-market fit of a novel portable energy storage device
Supported an auto manufacturer in an investigation into tempered glass sunroof failures
Investigated manufacturing defects in composite wind turbine blades
Worked with a medical device company to determine the cause of an intermittent manufacturing defect in a polymer assembly
Assisted a utility company in its investigation of a natural gas pipeline rupture
Worked with a government agency to investigate the failure of steel boiler tubes in the HVAC system of a large government facility
Publications + Patents
Threshold fluence measurement for laser liftoff of InP thin films by selective absorption. Advanced Engineering Materials 2017. Jan A, Reeves BA, Burgt Y, Hayes GJ, Clemens BM.
Demonstrated separation of epitaxial InP layers from a single crystal InP growth substrate, with laser fluence measurements.
Laser liftoff of GaAs thin films. MRS Communications 2014. Hayes GJ, Clemens BM.
Demonstrated a novel process for separating epitaxial GaAs and other sphalerite III-V layers from a single crystal growth substrate by selective ablation of a sacrificial lattice matched layer using pulsed nanosecond irradiation, and growth substrate recovery.
Paths toward lower cost thin film solar cells. Stanford University PhD Dissertation 2014, Hayes GJ.
Expands on the works described in the papers listed here, and contains detailed descriptions of X-ray and electron diffraction techniques used to characterize crystalline materials.
Rapid liftoff of epitaxial thin films. Journal of Materials Research 2013. Hayes GJ, Clemens BM.
Demonstrated a novel process for separating epitaxial layers from a single crystal growth substrate using environmentally-assisted cracking along a heteroepitaxial interface.
Biaxial texturing of inorganic photovoltaic thin films using low energy ion beam irradiation during growth. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 2009. Groves JR, Hayes GJ, Li JB, DePaula RF, Hammond RH, Salleo A, Clemens BM.
Demonstrated a novel process for producing biaxially-textured semiconductor layers using biaxially-textured calcium fluoride growth templates formed with ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD).
Are oil prices rigged? Time Magazine 2008. Officer AJ, Hayes GJ.
Highlighted a major inefficiency in the global oil market that I believe enabled the price of oil in the physical market – the market in which the vast majority of oil the world consumes trades hands – to be easily manipulated by the much smaller oil futures market. We showed that $1 invested in a long position in the oil futures market had a leveraged weight of about $300 in the private physical oil market.
Depositing calcium fluoride template layers for solar cells. Hayes GJ, Clemens BM. US Patent #9,873,938
Process for producing biaxially-textured semiconductor layers using biaxially-textured calcium fluoride growth templates formed with ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD).
Laser liftoff of epitaxial thin films. Hayes GJ, Clemens BM. US Patent #9,698,053
Process for separating epitaxial layers from a single crystal growth substrate by ablating a sacrificial lattice matched light absorbing layer using laser irradiation.