WideBandgaps is a Research Laboratory for the Growth, Processing, and Study of Wide Bandgap Materials directed by Prof. Zlatko Sitar. The laboratory is a part of The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University and occupies space in Research Buildings I and II on NCSU's Centennial Campus. Click here for a map and directions.

What are wide bandgap materials?

Wide bandgap materials are semiconductors, just like silicon, but they feature a much wider forbidden energy region or bandgap than silicon does. Although the dividing line between the 'conventional' semiconductors and wide bandgaps is not rigid, materials with a bandgap of around or above 3 eV clearly belong into this category. Some examples of these materials are (in the order of increasing bandgap): silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), boron nitride (BN), diamond (C), and aluminum nitride (AlN). Wide bandgap semiconductors are used in extreme electronic and opto-electronic applications.

What do we do?

We synthesize and grow either bulk crystals or thin films of the above materials. The bulk crystals are grown primarily from the vapor phase (sublimation, evaporation), while thin films are grown by different chemical vapor deposition (CVD) routes. In addition to standard materials characterization methods (various microscopies and spectroscopies), we specialize in and develop new analytical techniques to gain better understanding of electronic transport, band alignments, and field emission from these materials. To learn more click on the PROJECTS and PAPERS .