Gallium Nitride Electronics: Providing Solutions Beyond Conventional Semiconductors

Umesh Mishra
University of California, Santa Barbara

Monday, June 2, 2008 at 1:00PM

54-134 Engineering IV Building
Refreshments Served

Abstract: The properties of Gallium Nitride (GaN) were widely recognized for decades but they became visible with the invention and commercialization of GaN based blue, green and white LEDs in the early 90s. The impact of these inventions are apparent in a vibrant and growing $7B LED market today. While LEDs and lasers are continuing to grow in importance GaN for electronics applications has emerged as a major new market. This is driven by the high current capability, high breakdown voltage and high frequency of operation offered by the AlGaN/GaN system. The applications are in microwave and mm-wave RADAR, WiMax base stations and now power electronics for motor drive and power supply applications. In a fantasy world one can even come up with GaN as providing a solution to the Si roadblock in digital applications. this talk will address these applicaions and hence will be part relaity and part fantasy

Biography: Professor and associate dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California in Santa Barbara, Umesh Mishra is a leader in developing compound semiconductor electronics and a driving force behind the rapid progress in gallium nitride (GaN)-based microwave devices and circuits. He began his career researching gallium arsenide and indium phosphide (InP) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for low noise amplifiers, which became the leading receiver technology for many space-based platforms. Dr. Mishra’s research group was the first to demonstrate that the unique wide bandgap and electron transport properties of gallium nitride could be harnessed to create devices with an unprecedented combination of high-frequency performance and microwave power output. Since then, Dr. Mishra has continued to make key advances in both the fundamental understanding and the technological exploitation of GaN/A1GaN HEMT devices. An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Mishra has a bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, a master’s from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, and a doctorate from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, all in electrical engineering.