The Ohio State University welcomed hundreds of researchers and other experts from around the world for a four-day workshop focused on a new and promising semiconductor material, gallium oxide.
The 3rd International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO-3) provided a platform across government, industry and academia to discuss recent advances related to the semiconductor system and identify scientific gaps demanding attention.
The Aug. 12 through 15 event at Ohio State’s Blackwell Inn & Conference Center marked the workshop’s U.S. debut.
“IWGO gave an opportunity for the world’s leading gallium oxide research groups to meet and discuss their newest discoveries and ideas. While these researchers are studying various aspects of gallium oxide technology, their expertise spans many technical disciplines and interests, and this breadth of expertise is what makes IWGO such a great meeting,” said Siddharth Rajan, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), as well as Materials Science and Engineering.
Rajan served as technical program co-chair with Gregg Jessen, from BAE Systems, Inc. Steven Ringel, associate vice president for research and executive director of the Institute for Materials Research (IMR), served as local arrangements chair.
A special session of the U.S. Workshop on Gallium Oxide (GOX) was held Tuesday afternoon. It highlighted U.S.-funded basic research efforts, with speakers Kelson Chabak, from the Air Force Research Laboratory; Mike Scarpulla, from the University of Utah; Michael Thompson, from Cornell University; Shin Mou, Air Force Research Laboratory; and Jim Speck, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, who co-chaired IWGO-3 with Debdeep Jena, from Cornell University.
On Tuesday night, a panel discussion on the thermal challenges associated with gallium oxide led to lively discussions on the technical challenges and future of gallium oxide technology, reduced a corner of the Blackwell Inn to standing room only.
IWGO-3 included more than 60 speakers from industry and government labs, as well as education and research institutes from the U.S., Europe and Asia. Research work was also on display during two evening poster sessions.
Two students earned awards for their research work: Riena Jinno, a doctoral student at Cornell University who is visiting from Tokyo University; and Zixuan Feng, an Ohio State ECE doctoral student and graduate research associate in ECE.
Zeng presented “MOCVD Epitaxy of Si-doped β-Ga2O3 Thin Films with Record High Electron Mobilities.” He works in the Zhao Laboratory with Ohio State ECE and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) faculty Hongping Zhao.
Early this year, Ohio State’s Nanotech West Laboratory installed a new gallium oxide-capable metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system, enabling state-of-the-art growth capabilities in the ultra-wide bandgap range. That system is utilized by Zhao, as part of a five-year Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) award sponsored by Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The project, “Gallium Oxide Materials Science and Engineering – GAME,” studies the promising wide bandgap semiconductor material and advances the material to new-generation electronic and photonic device applications. Ohio State researchers include MSE faculty Jinwoo Hwang, Rajan, Ringel and Zhao.
Along with Zeng, multiple researchers from Ohio State were selected to speak at IWGO-3.
Hemant Ghadi, a postdoctoral researcher in ECE and the Electronic Materials and Devices Laboratory, presented “Full-bandgap MOCVD-grown (010) β-Ga2O3.” He said he enjoyed the session, as well as the opportunity to present his work and receive feedback.
“I get to talk to other people who have the same issues I’m facing. It is a good thing that we are discussing this,” he said. “Now, we have more people working on the same problems, together.“
At the closing ceremony, Jena shared his excitement for students and young researchers’ luck in catching a field at its onset, and encouraged them to take advantage of the rare opportunity. He encouraged young researchers to explore the science deeper, keeping in mind that new materials take time to mature, and engineers need time to recognize their limitations and true potential.
“As your advisors and mentors, we are all very proud of the graduate students and postdoc researchers and the work you are doing. And, even though you may not know it, maybe 10 years from now at IWGO-7, you will look back — and I want you to make sure that you understand — you will really be proud of the work you are doing now, even though you don’t recognize it. You are shaping the field, right now.”
IWGO-4 is expected to be held October 2021 in Nagano, Japan, coordinators announced at the close of the workshop.
IWGO-3 was sponsored by Novel Crystal Technology, Inc., Agnitron Technology, Inc., the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, k-Space Associates, Inc., OCI Vacuum Microengineering Inc., Saint-Gobain, and IMR.
Article by Mike Huson, IMR Public Relations Coordinator
Contact: huson.4@osu.edu | Follow: @OhioStateIMR