The Building Blocks of Tomorrow: Growing Bulk, High-Performance Nitride Semiconductors
A vast landscape of high-performance nitride materials remains tantalizingly out of reach. While theory predicts over 440 stable ternary nitrides, some of which with exciting properties, severe synthesis challenges mean less than half have ever been created to date. Bridging this gap is critical to unlocking future technological advances.
This seminar showcases innovative strategies to overcome these synthesis barriers using a multi-pronged approach. We will explore how advanced techniques-including the ammonothermal method and novel flux-based approaches-are enabling the bulk, single crystal growth of sought-after semiconductors across the entire band gap spectrum, from ultra-wide band gap cubic/hexagonal/rhombohedral boron nitride to gallium nitride to narrow-gap indium nitride. Furthermore, we will unveil the design and modeling of a next-generation, high-pressure (up to 100 atm) MOCVD system poised to open unprecedented access to a broader range of material compositions and unlock novel functionalities for group-III nitride devices.
Bio: Siddha Pimputkar is an associate professor and the graduate program director in materials science & engineering at Lehigh University. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental links between synthesis conditions, material defects, and the ultimate performance of next-generation (nitride) materials. An expert in crystal growth who earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara under Nobel Laureate Shuji Nakamura, his group currently develops III-Nitrides, including cubic/hexagonal/rhombohedral boron nitride, and the advanced high-pressure equipment needed for their creation. His work has attracted ~ $7 million in funding from major agencies like the NSF, DARPA, ARO, and industry, and is disseminated through over 35 invited talks, 30+ publications, and 4 patents. He has been recognized with prestigious honors and named professorships, including the NSF CAREER Award, the AACG Young Scientist Award, the Lehigh Early Career Award for Distinguished Teaching, Lehigh’s Rossin Award for Excellence in Research Scholarship and Leadership, and was named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He is also an active member of the AACG executive committee and on the Scientific Advisory Council to IKZ (Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth, Germany).