MS&E Seminar: Professor Yuji Zhao

Speaker: Yuji Zhao, Assistant Professor

Affiliation: Arizona State University

 

GaN Materials in Power Electronics, Space Missions, and Quantum Photonics

More than two decades after the first demonstration, gallium nitride (GaN) wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors are revolutionizing an increasing number of applications from power electronics, RF communications, to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, photovoltaic solar cells, integrated nanophotonics, and more. For example, GaN WBG materials are presently making a significant impact on energy efficiency and on transforming the electric grid from a passive one to an actively controlled physical-cyber system. This impact is not only economic (over $40B in annual electricity savings), or environmental (equivalent of 300 coal fired power plants worth of energy), but critical for new device concepts and system architectures, which will radically change the way people generate, distribute, and consume electricity every day. At the heart of all these exciting applications is the GaN WBG materials, the unique electronic and optical properties of which have enabled and will continue to enable new paradigms in electronic and photonic technologies. In this talk, I will review our progress on GaN materials research, and discuss their applications in kV-class power transistors (supported by APRAe), high temperature solar cells for space missions (supported by NASA), and integrated photonics for quantum information and biochemical sensing applications (supported by SFAz and ARO). Additionally, I will also discuss the research challenges and opportunities of emerging ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) materials, including Ga2O3, diamond, and AlN, which represent the next frontier in electronic and optical materials.

 

About the Speaker

Yuji Zhao is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University (ASU) and leads the MOCVD GaN Laboratory. He received the Ph.D degree from University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2012 under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Professor Shuji Nakamura. Dr. Zhao’s research interests are centered around materials science of GaN-based WBG semiconductors, including materials epitaxy and device engineering of GaN hetero- and nano- structures to electronic and photonic devices. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 journal and conference publications, 2 book chapters, and over 10 patents. His research achievements include the demonstration of the first “low droop” semipolar InGaN blue LEDs (reported by Science, May 2012), elucidating the basic growth modes and defect generation for “green gap” InGaN LEDs and lasers (reported by Nature Photonics, July 2013), demonstration of the first nonpolar InGaN solar cells with high carrier collection efficiency (reported by Semiconductor Today, May 2017), and the first AlN power diode with over 1 kV breakdown voltage (reported by Semiconductor Today, August 2017). Dr. Zhao is the recipient of the 2017 ASU Fulton Outstanding Assistant Professor Award, the 2016 DTRA Young Investigator Award, the 2015 NASA Early Career Faculty Award, the 2015 SFAz Bisgrove Scholar Faculty Award, and the 2010–2013 UCSB SSLEC Outstanding Research Award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Oct 12, 2018
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Location:
2101 Engineering V
420 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles CA 90095