| NSF Org: |
DMR Division Of Materials Research |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 4, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 4, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1745826 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Miriam Deutsch
mdeutsch@nsf.gov (703)292-5360 DMR Division Of Materials Research MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $5,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $5,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
526 BRODHEAD AVE BETHLEHEM PA US 18015-3008 (610)758-3021 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
Hotel Nuuksio Espoo FI |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | ELECTRONIC/PHOTONIC MATERIALS |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
Nontechnical Description: The 10th International Workshop on Bulk Nitride Semiconductors (IWBNS-X) held in Espoo, Finland, from Sep 18. - Sep. 22, 2017 brings together researchers from around the world focused on understanding, developing, and applying semiconductor crystal growth technologies. Sharing and discussing the current state-of-the-art greatly contributes to advancing science and technology, thereby impacting society by enabling applications of these materials, such as inexpensive disinfection tools to reduce infections or energy-efficient electrical power conversion to reduce energy waste. Cross-pollination of scientific ideas across multiple specialized research fields positively impacts the scientific community in various countries. This workshop provides a unique opportunity for scientists to share and stimulate new ideas, learn new challenges and directions, and explore and promote new collaborations. The requested funding supports the participation of both junior and senior researchers from the U.S., while also increasing access for women, to enable further education as well as development of collaborations with international experts.
Technical Description: This workshop brings together internationally leading scientists and engineers who are experts, working at the frontiers of wide bandgap materials, including device research and development. Leading experts present their recent achievements in the field of bulk nitride growth, controlling their properties and integrating these materials into optoelectronic or electronic devices and applications. Specific goals of this workshop include discussions of critical scientific challenges related to enabling nitride devices, while also facilitating international collaborations. Topics discussed at the workshop include: development of bulk nitride growth methods, understanding connections between growth parameters and materials properties, controlling doping uniformity and targeting desired doping levels, defect reduction and mitigation, advances in characterization of bulk materials, implementing advanced computational growth models, (vertical) device structures, and homoepitaxial growth of nitride devices. The workshop helps advance the field by sharing results and methods, inspiring new ideas, and initiation of new collaborations - all while enhancing career development of the participants by facilitating interactions with international experts.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Group-III nitride semiconductors have a tremendous impact on society due to their wide bandgap which has enabled energy-efficient white light sources (LEDs) and efficient energy conversion for power applications. Despite these demonstrations, much remains to be improved upon and power electronic devices still need to advance to higher operating voltages. This can be achieved by improving the quality and purity of the substrate, increasing their size, and reducing their overall cost by enhancing growth rates and increasing yield. All of these metrics require a long-term commitment to further bulk, single crystal growth of the respective nitride and continuously seek fundamental scientific understanding of the growth processes.
The international community of group-III nitride bulk single crystal growers convenes every two years to discuss their advances and the state-of-the-art at the International Workshop on Bulk Nitride Semiconductors (IWBNS). As in the prior nine workshops, this 10th iteration of the workshop series was used to highlight the accomplishments in this research field while fostering further international collaborations for students, researchers, and industrial participants.
The conference took place in Espoo, Finland from Sep. 18—22, 2017 and brought together 37 participants from 9 different countries (USA, Poland, Japan, Germany, Finland, Norway, Korea, China, and Brazil). The US participants included a young faculty, a post-doctoral researcher, government laboratory researchers and industrial members. The conference was sponsored by an NSF grant (NSF-EPM 1745826) and additional industrial and educational sponsors in Finland.
The workshop featured speakers with interdisciplinary expertise including materials science, solid-state physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, computational methods, electrical engineering, theory, crystal growth, and business. Notable participants included, amongst others, Prof. Sylwester Porowski (Institute of High Pressure Physics Polish Academy of Science), Prof. Akinori Koukitu (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology), and Prof. Elke Meissner (Fraunhofer IISB). Young faculty participated in this event, including Prof. Siddha Pimputkar (Lehigh University). A healthy balance of participants was achieved: 12 faculty, 9 post-docs / researchers, 7 students, 9 industrial representatives. Of the 8 US participants, 2 were female.
A broad range of topics was discussed including bulk crystal growth of GaN for optoelectronic and power electronics using the ammonothermal and gas-based methods, AlN for UV-devices using vapor-phase growth methods, InN as the first demonstration in bulk form grown from solution and bulk ternary nitride growth, including InGaN. Additional discussions occurred on modeling of growth methods and investigating novel nitrides from first principles. Challenges pertaining to the commercialization of bulk GaN were discussed along with fundamental investigations needed to overcome catastrophic failure modes when scaling the boule size of GaN when using vapor-phase growth techniques. A general overview of the bulk GaN market was provided to help steer certain developments to aid adoption of bulk GaN substrates in industry.
A summary of important contributions presented at this conference will be provided in the coming months to the broader scientific community in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles as a special issue in the Journal of Crystal Growth. Currently, 12 manuscripts are being peer-reviewed.
Last Modified: 06/04/2018
Modified by: Siddha Pimputkar
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
