Mark Baker is Professor of Surface Science and Engineering at the University of Surrey. He graduated from the University of Kent, with a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemical Physics in 1985 followed by a PhD at the University of Surrey under Professor Jim Castle, working on Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) studies of localised corrosion. Subsequently, he was appointed as a Research Scientist at GEC Hirst Research Laboratories, Wembley, where he was responsible for the application of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and AES to new semiconductor materials and devices developed within the Research Centre. In 1991, he returned to the University of Surrey, working with Prof Castle on an ambitious project to develop the first prototype expert system in XPS. In the mid 1990s, he was employed as a Visiting Scientist for 6 years at the EU Institute for Advanced Materials, Ispra, Italy in the Surface Engineering Unit, where he supervised all surface chemical analysis work undertaken at the Institute on two AES/XPS instruments. During this period, he pioneered the use of exploiting chemical shifts in XPS spectra combined with use of thermodynamic equilibrium phase diagrams to determine the relative phase composition of various ternary coating systems allowing their tribological performance to be understood/predicted.

Returning to the University of Surrey (for a third time!), he was appointed as an academic in 1999 and worked for many years on applying advanced analytical techniques (e.g. XPS/XRD/TEM/AFM) to the development of new tribological and functional coatings. Much of this work was performed in collaboration with industrial partners in the UK vacuum technology sector, assisting them to develop new processes and products.

As a research scientist specialising in vacuum based characterisation techniques, he has always been acutely aware of the potential damage imparted to materials during analysis. In particular, he was concerned by the issue of chemical damage during XPS sputter depth profiling of thin films and coatings. This recently inspired him to introduce the concept of replacing sputtering with femtosecond laser ablation (fs-LA) as an alternative, non-damaging method of material removal during XPS depth profiling.

Mark standing in front of the first commercial femtosecond laser ablation XPS spectrometer with his two current PhD students, Charlie Chandler (left) and Matthew Houchell (right)

Over the last 6 years, through a collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific and UKRI funding, a prototype instrument has been constructed with results representing a significant breakthrough in the XPS field. Compared to sputter depth profiling – the industry standard for over 50 years – fs-LA XPS depth profiling offers three very important advantages: (i) retention of the true chemical composition; (ii) profiling to much greater depths; (iii) substantially faster profile acquisition times. Professor Baker owns the patent as the technique inventor and the first commercial instrument was manufactured in 2025. Following IP protection, scientific papers demonstrating the capabilities of the new technique for profiling inorganic/organic thin films, perovskite photovoltaic devices, surface treatments, thermally grown oxide scales etc are now emerging from Professor Baker’s group. This exciting innovation promises to become a key analytical tool for materials development globally in the coming years.

Visit of Prof Kai Siegbahn (Nobel prize winner) [1] to the Surface Analysis group at Surrey in 1999, led by Prof Jim Castle [2], with Mark indicated [3]

Professor Baker has published over 200 scientific papers, with >8,000 citations. He is a Chartered Scientist, Fellow of the IOM³ and currently Director of both the Surface Analysis Laboratory and Micro Structural Studies Unit at the University of Surrey. He has delivered numerous invited lectures and short courses in the UK and abroad. His leadership in the vacuum science community has been demonstrated through organising (with Dr Hayley Brown, Plasma Quest Ltd and Dr Alf Smith, Centre for Process Innovation) and chairing the IOP sponsored ‘Functional Thin Films’ symposia (2012-2019) and ‘Surface Analysis’ meetings (2017-2019) at Vacuum Symposium. He currently holds editorial roles on four scientific journals and is the Depth Profiling representative on the CII/60 BSi Surface Chemical Analysis committee. Outside interests and achievements have included captaining badminton and squash teams, reaching the semi-finals at the UK university individual and team badminton championships as a student. He then took up running/triathlon training and now enjoys spending time with his family, walking his dog in the Surrey hills and appreciating a pint (or two) of real ale!