Solid-State Materials & Devices

Associated faculty: Bellotti, Dal Negro, Moustakas, Paiella

Ted Moustakas leads a large research program in the more advanced family of nitride semiconductors, an area for which the group is recognized as one of the leading organizations in the world. The research is a combination of theoretical/modeling work in parallel with experimental studies of these advanced materials and corresponding devices. Intellectual property derived from this work has been licensed by BU to major U.S. and Japanese companies producing blue LEDs and blue lasers. Roberto Paiella is involved in applications of the nitrides to long-wavelength devices, including quantum cascade lasers, and Enrico Bellotti pursues world class, and well funded, research in numerical modeling of semiconductor materials and devices.

The group is funded by the DOE (for applications in solid state lighting), DARPA and NASA (for the development of UV lasers and LEDs for identification of biological and chemical agents), the Air Force (development of transistors for high power and high frequency applications), and ARL (development of quantum cascade lasers). Fundamental work is supported by NSF, ONR and AFOSR-MURI. The group collaborates closely with members of the Physics Department. The most recent addition to this group is Luca Dal Negro, who has developed a laboratory in silicon light sources.