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Isamu Akasaki

 

 
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Isamu Akasaki
 
 
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, is a Japanese scientist
Scientist

A scientist, in the broadest sense, refers to any person that engages in a system activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy....
, best known for inventing p-n junction blue LEDs using gallium nitride (GaN
Gan

selfref|For Wikipedia's good article promotion process, see...
) in as early as 1989, first in the world.

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1929, Akasaki graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952 from Kyoto University
Kyoto University

, or is a major Japanese national university in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest university in Japan, and formerly one of the Imperial university of Japan....
. He received PhD degree in Electronics from Nagoya University
Nagoya University

, abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university headquartered in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan....
. He started his research on blue LEDs from late 1960’s . and continued his efforts persistently, improving step by step the quality of GaN crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
s and device
Electronic component

An electronic component is a basic Electronics element usually packaged in a discrete form with two or more connecting leads or metallic pads....
 structures at Matsushita, where he decided to adopt metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy(MOVPE) as the preferred growth method for GaN.






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, is a Japanese scientist
Scientist

A scientist, in the broadest sense, refers to any person that engages in a system activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy....
, best known for inventing p-n junction blue LEDs using gallium nitride (GaN
Gan

selfref|For Wikipedia's good article promotion process, see...
) in as early as 1989, first in the world.

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1929, Akasaki graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952 from Kyoto University
Kyoto University

, or is a major Japanese national university in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest university in Japan, and formerly one of the Imperial university of Japan....
. He received PhD degree in Electronics from Nagoya University
Nagoya University

, abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university headquartered in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan....
. He started his research on blue LEDs from late 1960’s . and continued his efforts persistently, improving step by step the quality of GaN crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
s and device
Electronic component

An electronic component is a basic Electronics element usually packaged in a discrete form with two or more connecting leads or metallic pads....
 structures at Matsushita, where he decided to adopt metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy(MOVPE) as the preferred growth method for GaN. In 1981 he started afresh growth of GaN by MOVPE at Nagoya University
Nagoya University

, abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university headquartered in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan....
, and in 1985 he and his group succeeded in growing a high quality single crystal
Single crystal

A single crystal, also called a monocrystal, is a crystalline solid in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries....
 GaN on sapphire
Sapphire

Sapphire refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide , when it is a color other than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby....
 substrate by a low-temperature buffer layer technology.. This high quality GaN enabled them to discover p-type GaN doping with magnesium
Magnesium

Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, atomic weight 24.3050 and common oxidation number +2.Magnesium, an alkaline earth metal, is the ninth most abundance of the chemical elements in the universe by mass....
 (Mg) by MOVPE, to control n-type
N-type

* N-type semiconductor is a key material in the manufacture of transistors and integrated circuits* N connectors are commonly used to terminate the ends of coaxial cable...
 conductivity
Conductivity

Conductivity may refer to:*Electrical conductivity, a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric current*Hydraulic conductivity, a property of a porous material's ability to transmit water...
 by silicon
Silicon

Silicon is the most common metalloid. It is a chemical element, which has the symbol Si and atomic number 14. The atomic mass is 28.0855....
 (Si) doping, and then to realize p-n junction blue LEDs in 1989., p-n junction blue/UV-LEDs

He and his group achieved stimulated emission in the ultra-violet(UV)region with optical excitation from GaN at room-temperature in 1990 and stimulated emission by current injection from nitride-based quantum well
Quantum well

A quantum well is a potential well that confines particles, which were originally free to move in three dimensions, to two dimensions, forcing them to occupy a planar region....
 diode at room-temperature in 1995.

They also verified quantum size effect and quantum confined Stark effect in nitride system, respectively,in 1991 and 1997 . Their inventions; high quality GaN, p-type doping, conductivity control of n-type nitrides , p-n junction
P-n junction

A p-n junction is a junction formed by combining P-type semiconductor and N-type semiconductor semiconductors together in very close contact.The term junction refers to the region where the two regions of the semiconductor meet....
 LEDs and stimulated emission in the UV region by current injection are epoch-making and all other researches and developments of nitride-based blue/green/white LEDs, violet lasers, optoelectronic devices in the UV region and high-speed and high-power electronic devices are based on these inventions. Those devices opened up a huge market and Professor Akasaki’s patents have been rewarded as royalties.

Nagoya University Akasaki Institute was founded in 2006 based on the royalty income to Nagoya University. The Institute consists of an LED gallery to display the history of blue LED research/developments and applications, an office for research collaboration, laboratories for innovative research, and Professor Akasaki’s office on the top 6th floor. The Institute situates in the center of the collaborative research zone in Nagoya University Higashiyama campus.

Biography

  • 1952 Bachelor of Science, Kyoto University
    Kyoto University

    , or is a major Japanese national university in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest university in Japan, and formerly one of the Imperial university of Japan....
  • 1952 Research Scientist at Kobe Kogyo Corporation
  • 1959 Research Associate, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Nagoya University
  • 1964 Doctor
    Doctorate

    A doctorate is an academic degree that in most countries represents the highest level of formal study or research in a given field. In some countries it also refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to practice in a specific profession ....
     of Engineering, Nagoya University
    Nagoya University

    , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university headquartered in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan....
  • 1964 Head of Basic Research Laboratory 4, Matsushita Research Institute Tokyo, Inc.
  • 1974 General Manager of Semiconductor Department, Matsushita Research Institute Tokyo, Inc.
  • 1981 Professor
    Professor

    The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
    , Nagoya University
  • 1987-90 JRU Project Leader of Research and Development of “GaN-based Blue Light–Emitting Diode” (JST: Japan Science and Technology Agency)
  • 1992-Present Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University, Professor, Meijo University
  • 1993-2001 JRU Project Leader of Research and Development of ” GaN-based Short- Wavelength Semiconductor Laser Diode”.
  • 1996-2001 Project Leader of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS)’s”Research for the Future Program”
  • 1996- Project Leader at High-Tech Research Center for Nitride Semiconductors, Meijo University
  • 2001- Research Fellow at the Akasaki Research Center in Nagoya University


Honors (Selected list)

  • 1989 The Japanese Association for Crystal growth
    Crystal growth

    Crystal growth is a major stage of a crystallization, after the nucleation stage. It occurs from the addition of new atoms, ions, or polymer strings into the characteristic arrangement, or lattice, of a crystal....
     (JACG) Award (Japan)
  • 1991 The Chu-nichi Cultural Prize (Japan)
  • 1995 The Heinrich Welker
    Heinrich Welker

    Heinrich Johann Welker was a Germany theoretical and applied physicist who invented the transistor. He did fundamental work in III-V compound semiconductors, and paved the way for microwave semiconductor elements and laser diodes....
     Gold Medal (International)
  • 1997 The Medal with Purple Ribbon(The Japanese Emperor)
  • 1998 The Inoue Harushige Award (The Japan Science and Technology Agency, the Japanese Government)
  • 1998 The Laudise Prize (The International Organization for Crystal Growth)
  • 1999 The IEEE Jack A. Morton Award (USA)
  • 1999 The Rank Prize (UK)
  • 2000 Honoris Causa Title (University of Montpellier
    University of Montpellier

    The University of Montpellier was a France university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Val?ry University, Montpellier III....
    ) (France)
  • 2001 The Toray Science and Technology Prize (Japan)
  • 2001 The Asahi Prize (Japan)
  • 2002 Honoris Causa Title of Linkoping University (Sweden)
  • 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award (The Japan Society of Applied Physics ([[JSAP]])) (Japan)
  • 2002 The Fujihara Prize (Japan)
  • 2002 The Order of the Rising Sun (the Japanese Government)
  • 2003 The Science Council of Japan President's Award (Japan)
  • 2004 The Person of Cultural Metrits (the Japanese Government)
  • 2006 TMS
    TMS

    TMS may be an abbreviation for:...
     John Bardeen
    John Bardeen

    John Bardeen was an American physicist and electrical engineer, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS t...
     Award (USA)
  • 2006 The Outstanding Achievement Award (JACG) (Japan)