Zlatko Sitar
Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor and Professor of Physics
- Email: sitar@ncsu.edu
- Office: Research Building I 217
Prof. Sitar founded the WideBandgaps research laboratory that is focusing on bulk and thin film growth, characterization, and device development in wide bandgap semiconductors: GaN, AlN, and their alloys. He has pioneered the III-nitride MBE process through the design of a unique ECR plasma source, developed, patented, and commercialized a process for growth of AlN crystals, which is currently the only commercial high-quality AlN crystal growth process in the world (commercialized by HexaTech, Inc.), developed, patented, and commercialized epi-ready wafers and device layer growth processes on AlN wafers, which are the basis for high-efficiency deep-UV lasers and light emitting diodes, invented and patented a process for growth of III-nitride lateral polar structures via MOCVD and proposed and demonstrated novel devices based on this invention, which include lateral p-n diodes, low contact-resistance field effect transistors, quasi phase matched structures for optical frequency doubling, and superjunction-based devices.
Prof. Sitar directs the Materials Research Center at NCSU and holds joint appointments in Physics Department at NCSU and Electrical Engineering at University of Nagoya, Japan. His collaborative network spans all four inhabited continents. Based on his research, he founded HexaTech, Inc., an NCSU spin-out focusing on AlN crystal growth and wafer production and Adroit Materials, Inc., who is focusing on the development of UV light emitting devices on the AlN platform and vertical devices on native GaN substrates.
Publications
- Elimination of wing tilt laterally overgrown GaN
- Almeter, J., Mita, S., Dycus, J. H., Collazo, R., Sitar, Z., & Kirste, R. (2026, January 5), Applied Physics Letters. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0295076
- On germanium doping of gallium nitride: Ion implantation vs in-situ doping during growth
- Sierakowski, K., Konczewicz, L., Kirste, L., Kawka, K., Kempisty, P., Gołyga, K., … Boćkowski, M. (2026, February 19), Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, Vol. 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2026.110540
- AlGaN based UVC LEDs on AlN with reflective contacts
- Kirste, R., Loveless, J., Almeter, J., Moody, B., Reddy, P., Rathkanthiwar, S., … Sitar, Z. (2025, March 19). , (Vol. 3). Vol. 3. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3042261
- Experimental Characterization of Impact Ionization and Projection of Critical Electric Fields in High‐Al Content AlGaN
- Zhu, Z., Reddy, P., Satapathy, Y., Cao, L., Xiong, J., Gutierrez, M., … Fay, P. (2025, June 24), Physica Status Solidi (a), Vol. 6. https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202500129
- Experimental Characterization of Impact Ionization and Projection of Critical Electric Fields in High‐Al Content AlGaN
- Zhu, Z., Reddy, P., Satapathy, Y., Cao, L., Xiong, J., Gutierrez, M., … Fay, P. (2025, December 1), Physica Status Solidi (a). https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.70202
- Mg-annealed anode contacts to reduce the on-resistance of GaN pn diodes formed via Mg implantation and ultra-high pressure annealing
- Hasan, M. A., Alessi, M., Khachariya, D., Mecouch, W., Mita, S., Reddy, P., … Pavlidis, S. (2025, August 15), Applied Physics Express, Vol. 18. https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/adfc26
- Pathway to >60% Efficiency in AlGaN‐Based Ultraviolet‐C Light‐Emitting Diodes
- Loveless, J., Almeter, J., Kirste, R., Moody, B., Reddy, P., Rathkanthiwar, S., … Sitar, Z. (2025, October 28), Physica Status Solidi (a). https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202500520
- Roles of Al-vacancy complexes on the luminescence spectra of low dislocation density Si-doped AlN grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy
- Chichibu, S. F., Kikuchi, K., Moody, B., Mita, S., Collazo, R., Sitar, Z., … Shima, K. (2025, March 1), Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 126. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0252149
- Sputtered ferroelectric aluminum scandium boron nitride (Al1−x−yBxScyN)/n-GaN heterostructures
- Skidmore, C., Nordlander, J., Hayden, J., Rice, A., Collazo, R., Sitar, Z., & Maria, J.-P. (2025, July 2), Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 138. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0250995
- Dissolution of Mg-enriched defects in implanted GaN and increased p-type dopant activation
- Huynh, K., Wang, Y., Liao, M. E., Tweedie, J., Reddy, P., Breckenridge, M. H., … Goorsky, M. S. (2024, January 11), Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 135. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0179623
