Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Materials and Light Emitting Diodes, Lasers, and Photodetectors

Research in wide bandgap semiconductors including thin films and low dimensional structures continues to progress rapidly, providing new and exciting research opportunities for optoelectronic devices like light emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors. These devices are key components of modern information society. Ⅲ-Ⅴ nitrides (GaN, InGaN, AlGaN, AlInGaN etc.) opened a new era in LED illumination and miniature lasers during past few decays. While the demand of higher display efficiency and lower energy consumption drives researchers to seek for replaced materials such as ZnO, ZnS, diamond, Ga2O3, SnO2, perovskites and so forth. In addition, except for traditional bulk materials and thin films, low dimensional structures like micro/nano wires/sheets/walls/tubes have been paid significant attentions in optoelectronic devices owing to their abundant morphologies and controllable synthesis techniques. Moreover, the emerging two dimensional (2D) wide bandgap materials including transition metal dichalcogenides (MoS2, MoSe2, PbI2 etc.) have also proved their great potentials as active layers in optoelectronic devices. The basic physical, chemical, structural, and photoelectric conversion characteristics of these kinds of materials and structures are proposed to inspire innovative applications in future. Nowadays, the development of wide bandgap semiconductor materials and optoelectronic devices moves toward the features in flexibility, miniaturization, and integrability. This special topic will capture recent progress in wide bandgap semiconductor materials and optoelectronic devices including light emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors. Interdisciplinary research related to semiconductors (including materials science, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, etc.) will also be of special interest.

This special topic aims to collect recent progress in wide bandgap semiconductor materials and optoelectronic devices including advanced materials/devices preparation techniques, doping, heterojunctions, carrier transportation properties, metal surface plasma, and surface states. Especially, new material/device structures and extended applications are extremely important and attractive. The stability, biocompatibility, flexibility, and Si based CMOS compatibility of the devices are also seriously considered in order to meet the practical applications. Therefore, this collection will aim to help researchers to develop next generation high performance light emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors.
Topics covered include, but are not limited to:
1. Wide bandgap semiconductors
2. Materials synthesis and preparation
3. Optical, electronic and structural properties
4. Devices fabrications
5. Thin film/nanostructures fabrication, patterning, and lithography
6. Light emitting diodes and lasers
7. Photodetectors
8. Metal surface plasmon
9. Calculations and simulations
10.Atomic and electronic structures
11.New phenomena of heterostructures
12.Characterization of semiconductor materials

Dr. Qiushi Liu is now working at Frontier Semiconductor Inc. as a research engineer. This should not pose any conflict for this project, as he is also an academic and will maintain objectivity.

Dr. Qiushi Liu: Co-ordinator for the project.