Wide and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Electronic and Photonic Applications
Semiconductor materials have played a tremendous role in advancing today’s technology through the electronic and photonic devices ushered in over the years. Since the 1990s, wide bandgap compound semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) have been the focus of research and development to complement and sometimes replace devices based on silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) materials. This rapid development was driven in part by society’s growing need for devices to handle higher power, higher frequency and higher temperatures. Currently, research efforts are expanding into ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors such as AlN, AlGaN, diamond, BN, Ga 2 O 3 and other oxide-based materials. In this talk, I will present some of the work we accomplished, including the first electrically pumped III-nitride photonic crystal LEDs and then focus on our more recent work on SiC Schottky barrier diodes for high temperature and high-power electronic applications. The Schottky diodes were fabricated using a variety of rectifying contacts including refractory metal diborides, Ni, Ti and Mo. I will also present results from our work on Ga 2 O 3 , where we investigated the microstructure and optical properties of the thin films deposited and processed under various conditions. The overall goal of our work has been to realize the unique advantages expected from the theoretically predicted properties of these wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor materials.
Tom Oder
Professor, Program Officer, Army Research Office on August 29, 2025 at 10:15 AM in EB2 1231
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Dr. Oder obtained his BS degree from Makerere University, Uganda and an MS degree in radiation physics from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. He completed his PhD degree in Physics at Auburn University, Alabama in 1999. Between 1999-2003, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Kansas State University working on III-nitride semiconductors. Dr. Oder then joined Youngstown State University as a faculty member, rising through the ranks to tenured full professor in Physics. Between 08/2019 and 08/2022, Dr. Oder served as Program Director of the Condensed Matter Physics program at the National Science Foundation. In August 2023, he moved to the Army Research Office where he now serves as Program Manager of the Ultra-Wide Bandgap RF Electronics Center. He was honored with several awards including the University Distinguished Professorship from Youngstown State University, the US Fulbright Scholarship, the IAEA Scholarship, 4 US patents, several research grants, and has published over 35 research papers in referred journals. His research interest is in fundamental materials physics and devices based on wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors.
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