Theodore D. Moustakas (born ) is a
materials physicist. He holds the title of ''Distinguished Professor of Photonics and Optoelectronics'' at the
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He was named a
(IEEE) in 2014 for his contributions to the
epitaxial
Epitaxy refers to a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations with respect to the crystalline seed layer. The deposited crystalline film is called an epit ...
growth of
nitride
In chemistry, a nitride is an inorganic compound of nitrogen. The "nitride" anion, N3- ion, is very elusive but compounds of nitride are numerous, although rarely naturally occuring. Some nitrides have a find applications, such as wear-resistant ...
semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
s. He has been granted 62 patents.
Biography
Moustakas was born in a small village in Greece.
In 1964, he completed a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Physics from Aristotle University.
[
] Moustakas attained a doctoral degree in 1974 at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, with his thesis titled ''Transport and recombination properties of amorphous arsenic telluride thin films''.
[
]
Co-inventor of blue LED
Role
In August 1991, Moustakas published details on a buffer-layer process for growing high-purity GaN on a substrate using a two-step MOCVD process. Several months later,
Shuji Nakamura
is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is regar ...
, then a doctoral student at the
Nichia Corporation, published similar results in a different journal and later used the process to create a blue LED.
[
] Moustakas had also filed a patent (the so-called ''buffer-layer patent'') at the time of his discovery. As the process Moustakas developed is indispensable in creating blue LEDs, and since he was the first to come up with the process, he is considered to have co-invented the blue LED.
[
]
Nobel prize controversy
In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
Isamu Akasaki
was a Japanese engineer and physicist, specializing in the field of semiconductor technology and Nobel Prize laureate, best known for inventing the bright gallium nitride (GaN) p-n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness G ...
,
Hiroshi Amano
is a Japanese physicist, engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology. For his work he was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura for "the invention of efficient b ...
, and
Shuji Nakamura
is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is regar ...
"for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources". However, as Moustakas' role in discovering the blue LED are significant, there has been controversy about that he did not receive recognition and was left "in the dark" by the Nobel Committee.
[
] Following the announcement, then Managing Director of Boston University's Office of Technology Development Tweeted
Despite this Moustakas and some of the co-inventors remain colleagues, and at the 2016 BU ECE symposium Nakamura gave a speech about blue LEDs, also honoring Moustakas.
[
][
]
Patent infringement lawsuits
2015
In 2015, Boston University won 13 million dollars in a patent infringement suit, where it was found that three companies had infringed on one of Moustakas' patents related to blue LEDs, used in various cell phones, tablets, laptops, and lighting products. The patent in question is titled ''Highly insulating monocrystalline gallium nitride thin films'' (US5686738A), and was filed in 1995 and granted in 1997.
2002
In 2002, Boston University was involved in a legal dispute with
Nichia Corporation, centered around some of Moustakas' patents related to a GaN synthesis process for blue LEDs.
Cree Lighting, Inc., a North Caroline company, had exclusively licensed some of these patents. Nichia had alleged that Cree was involved in trade secret theft, to which Cree and BU jointly sued Nichia for infringing on Moustakas' so-called buffer-layer patent. In the same year on November 13, the companies entered into a patent cross-license agreement, and a settlement.
RayVio company
Moustakas and others created a company focusing on UV LED technology, called RayVio.
[
]
See also
*
GaN
The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to:
Places
*Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden"
China
* Gan River (Jiangxi)
* Gan River (Inner Mongolia),
* Gan County, in Jiangxi province
* Gansu, abbreviated ''G� ...
*
Blue LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...
References
Fellow Members of the IEEE
Living people
21st-century American engineers
Year of birth missing (living people)
American electrical engineers
Boston University faculty
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