Extreme Bandgap Semiconductors
The last two decades witnessed revolutionary advances in electronics and photonics by moving from ~1 electron Volt gap semiconductors (Silicon, Gallium Arsenide) to ~3 electron Volt Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide. This enabled energy-efficient light emitting diodes as replacement of incandescent bulbs, high-voltage transistors that are cutting down wasted energy in electrical devices and machinery, and significantly expanded our fundamental knowledge of the materials science of semiconductors. Similar major advances are expected by aiming at extreme-bandgap semiconductors with energy gaps almost twice of that of the wide-bandgap semiconductors. In addition to the new science, such materials should enable advances in healthcare and monitoring by creating deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes and lasers, and by significantly improving the efficiency and capability of semiconductors for electrical power conversion. The proposed project will result in the training of graduate students in a fascinating emerging field of extreme bandgap semiconductor material science, with their many fundamental electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties. In addition to expanding existing outreach programs, new activities with a special focus on high-school students and underrepresented groups via Research Experiences for Teachers programs and direct visits for in-class demonstrations are proposed. That the team is distributed between Cornell, Michigan, and Stanford with complementary expertise will be exploited by regular exchange of graduate students for experiments, as well as theory and modeling work, to foster a truly collaborative mindset in the project. The dissemination of research by journal publications, presentations at conferences, its inclusion in courses taught by the invsetigators, and online (e.g. nanoHub) will make possible the outreach of the research results to the widest possible audience.
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