The History and Developments of Nitride-based Blue LEDs and Laser Diodes & Recent Breakthroughs in GaN LEDs and Laser Diodes

Abstract

[evdate 2008-09-09] IAS Distinguished Speakers Series. Abstract: The history of nitride-based blue/green/white LEDs and their applications. In particular, white LEDs have been recently used for lighting applications in order to reduce the energy consumptions due to a great concern of the global warming issues.

Prof Shuji Nakamura obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic engineering in 1977 and 1979 respectively, after which he joined the Nichia Corporation in Japan. It was while working for Nichia that Prof Nakamura invented the first high brightness GaN LED whose brilliant blue light is (when partially converted to yellow by a phosphor coating) the key to white LED lighting, and which went into production in 1993. He was awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree by the University of Tokushima in 1994. He left Nichia Corporation in 1999 and joined the University of California at Santa Barbara. Widely recognized as pioneer in light emitters based on wide-bandgap semiconductors, Prof Nakamura continues to focus on development of GaN thin film technology. He won the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize for his invention of blue and white LEDs. He was elected as a member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2003. He holds more than 100 patents and has published more than 400 papers in his field. Prof Steven DenBaars is a Professor of Materials and Co-Director of the Solid-State Lighting Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1988. From 1988-1991 Prof DenBaars was a member of the technical staff at Hewlett- Packard's Optoelectronics Division involved in the growth and fabrication of visible LEDs. He joined UCSB in 1991 and currently holds the Mitsubishi Chemical Chair in Solid State Lighting and Displays. Prof DenBaars’ research interests include growth of wide-band gap semiconductors (GaN based), and their application to Blue LEDs and lasers and energy efficient solid state lighting. This research has led to over 650 scientific publications and over 67 US patents on electronic materials and devices.

Duration: 72 min.