Shuji Nakamura

Shuji Nakamura (中村 修二 Nakamura Shūji, born May 22 1954 in Ikata, Ehime, Japan), is a professor at the Material Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Nakamura graduated from the University of Tokushima in 1977 with a degree in electronic engineering, and obtained a master's degree in the same subject two years later, after which he joined the Nichia Corporation, also based in Tokushima. It was while working for Nichia that Nakamura invented the first high brightness GaN LED whose brilliant blue light, when partially converted to yellow by a phosphor coating, is the key to white LED lighting, and which went into production in 1993.

Previously, J.I. Pankove and co-workers at RCA put in considerable effort, but did not manage to make a marketable GaN LED in the 1960s. The principal problem was the difficulty of making strongly p-type GaN. Nakamura was somewhat luckier than other workers in that another Japanese group led by Professor Isamu Akasaki published their method to make strongly p-type GaN by electron-beam irradiation of magnesium-doped GaN. However, this method was not suitable for mass production and its physics were not understood. Nakamura managed to develop a thermal annealing method which was much more suitable for mass production. In addition, he and his co-workers worked out the physics and pointed out the culprit was hydrogen, which passivated acceptors in GaN.

Nakamura was also fortunate that Nobuo Ogawa (1912-2002), the founder of Nichia, was willing to support his GaN project. At the time, many considered creating a GaN LED too difficult.

He was awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Tokushima in 1994. He left Nichia Corporation in 1999 and took a position as a professor of engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2001, Nakamura sued his former employer Nichia over his bonus for the discovery, which was originally ¥20,000 (~US$180). Although Nakamura originally won an appeal for ¥20 billion (~US$180 million), Nichia appealed the award and the parties settled in 2005 for ¥840 million (~US$7 million), at the time the largest bonus ever paid by a Japanese company.

Nakamura has also worked on green and white LEDs, and blue laser diodes, which are used in Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs.

In 2006, Nakamura was awarded Finland's Millennium Technology Prize for his continuing efforts to make cheaper and more efficient light sources, and in 2008 he won the Prince of Asturias Awards in Technical and Scientific Research.

Further reading

• Shuji Nakamura, Gerhard Fasol, Stephen J. Pearton, The Blue Laser Diode : The Complete Story, Springer; 2nd edition, October 2, 2000, (ISBN 3-540-66505-6)
• Brilliant by Bob Johnstone [2]

External links

• Professor Nakamura's home page at UCSB
• The Solid State Lighting and Display Center at UCSB
• Shuji Nakamura Wins $188.7 Million Settlement from Former Employer Nichia for Blue Spectrum Breakthrough Technology
• New York Times article on Nakamura's settlement with Nichia
• U.S. patent 6,900,465 - Nitride semiconductor light-emitting device
• Shuji Nakamura wins the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize
• Nichia's Shuji Nakamura: Dream of the Blue Laser Diode