Shuji Nakamura

Shuji Nakamura is a Japanese-American engineer who developed practical bright blue light-emitting diodes using gallium nitride. His work enabled efficient white LED lighting and earned the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Gallium nitride: A semiconductor compound used in blue and ultraviolet light-emitting diodes and other electronic devices. Nakamura used gallium nitride as the material for his bright blue LEDs.
Blue light-emitting diode: A semiconductor diode that emits blue light when electrically energized. Nakamura’s high-brightness blue diode was the central device behind his recognition.
Nichia Corporation: A Japanese chemical company that became a major producer of phosphors and light-emitting diodes. Nakamura developed his breakthrough LEDs while working at Nichia.
LED lighting: Lighting that uses light-emitting diodes as its primary source of visible light. Nakamura’s blue LED made efficient solid-state white lighting practical.
Metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy: A crystal-growth method that deposits thin semiconductor layers from gaseous chemical precursors. Nakamura refined this method to grow high-quality gallium nitride layers.
Electroluminescence: The emission of light by a material in response to an electric current or electric field. An LED produces light through this broader physical effect.
Tokushima University: A national university in Tokushima, Japan, founded in 1949. Nakamura studied engineering there before joining Nichia.
Solid-state lighting: Lighting produced by semiconductor devices rather than incandescent filaments or gas discharges. His invention helped make semiconductor-based illumination a mainstream technology.
P-type semiconductor: A semiconductor in which holes act as the dominant mobile charge carriers. Creating p-type gallium nitride was a key obstacle Nakamura helped overcome.
Electron-hole recombination: The process in which an electron fills a hole in a semiconductor, releasing energy that may appear as light. This process generates the photons emitted by Nakamura’s gallium nitride LEDs.

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Tokyo Institute of TechnologyRelated: His career reflects the reach of Japanese engineering education and research.