Theodore Moustakas

Last updated
Theodore Moustakas
Moustakas-1.png
Moustakas in 2007
Born1940
Greece
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields Optoelectronics, photonics
Institutions Boston University
Thesis Transport and recombination properties of amorphous arsenic telluride thin films  (1974)
Doctoral advisor Kurt Weiser

Theodore D. Moustakas (born 1940) holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Photonics and Optoelectronics at the Boston University Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. [1] He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2014 [2] for his contributions to the epitaxial growth of nitride semiconductors. He has been granted 62 patents. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Moustakas was born in a small village in Greece. [4] In 1964, he completed a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Physics from Aristotle University. [5] Moustakas attained a doctoral degree and a M.Phil. in 1974 at Columbia University in Solid State Science and Engineering, [5] with his thesis titled Transport and recombination properties of amorphous arsenic telluride thin films. [6]

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, 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. [7] 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. [8]

Nobel prize controversy

In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura "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 were significant, there has been controversy about that he did not receive recognition and was left "in the dark" by the Nobel Committee. [9] Following the announcement, the then Managing Director of Boston University's Office of Technology Development tweeted

Nobel Committee gets it wrong on not including BU professor Ted Moustakas as co-inventor of the blue LED.

— Vinit Nijhawan (October 7, 2014) [10]

Despite this, Moustakas and some of the co-inventors remain colleagues. At the 2016 BU ECE symposium, Nakamura gave a speech about blue LEDs, also honoring Moustakas. [11] [12]

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. [13] [14] [15] [16] The patent in question is titled Highly insulating monocrystalline gallium nitride thin films (US5686738A), and was filed in 1995 and granted in 1997. [17] However, on July 25, 2018, the CAFC overturned the lower court and invalidated U.S. Patent No. 5686738 based on a lack of enablement. [18]

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. [7]

RayVio company

Moustakas and others created a company focusing on UV LED technology, called RayVio. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light-emitting diode</span> Semiconductor and solid-state light source

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 is determined by the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor. White light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the semiconductor device.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of lighting technology</span>

Artificial lighting technology began to be developed tens of thousands of years ago and continues to be refined in the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston University</span> Private university in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont, before being chartered in Boston in 1869. It is a member of the Association of American Universities and the Boston Consortium for Higher Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Holonyak</span> American engineer (1928–2022)

Nick Holonyak Jr. was an American engineer and educator. He is noted particularly for his 1962 invention and first demonstration of a semiconductor laser diode that emitted visible light. This device was the forerunner of the first generation of commercial light-emitting diodes (LEDs). He was then working at a General Electric research laboratory near Syracuse, New York. He left General Electric in 1963 and returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he later became John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallium nitride</span> Chemical compound

Gallium nitride is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate that makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without requiring nonlinear optical frequency doubling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shuji Nakamura</span> Inventor of the blue LED, 2014 Nobel laureate in physics

Shuji Nakamura is a Japanese-American electronic engineer and inventor of the blue LED, a major breakthrough in lighting technology. Nakamura specializes in the field of semiconductor technology, and he is a professor of materials science at the College of Engineering of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue laser</span> Laser which emits light with blue wavelengths

A blue laser emits electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 400 and 500 nanometers, which the human eye sees in the visible spectrum as blue or violet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfspeed</span> American semiconductor manufacturer

Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, focused on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and devices for power and radio frequency applications such as transportation, power supplies, power inverters, and wireless systems. The company was formerly named Cree, Inc.

The United States is considered to have the most favorable legal regime for inventors and patent owners in the world. Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited time from profiting from a patented technology without the consent of the patent holder. Specifically, it is the right to exclude others from: making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, inducing others to infringe, applying for an FDA approval, and/or offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent.

Nichia Corporation is a Japanese chemical engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Anan, Japan with global subsidiaries. It specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of phosphors, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, battery materials, and calcium chloride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isamu Akasaki</span> Japanese engineer (1929–2021)

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 GaN blue LED as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine</span> Private medical school in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (CAMED), formerly known as Boston University School of Medicine, is the medical school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston. It was founded in 1848. The medical school was the first institution in the world to formally educate female physicians. Originally known as the New England Female Medical College, it was subsequently renamed Boston University School of Medicine in 1873, then Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 2022. In 1864, it became the first medical school in the United States to award an M.D. degree to an African-American woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LED display</span> Display technology

A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as pixels for a video display. Their brightness allows them to be used outdoors where they are visible in the sun for store signs and billboards. In recent years, they have also become commonly used in destination signs on public transport vehicles, as well as variable-message signs on highways. LED displays are capable of providing general illumination in addition to visual display, as when used for stage lighting or other decorative purposes. LED displays can offer higher contrast ratios than a projector and are thus an alternative to traditional projection screens, and they can be used for large, uninterrupted video walls. microLED displays are LED displays with smaller LEDs, which poses significant development challenges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiroshi Amano</span> Japanese physicist, engineer and inventor

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 blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Rhines</span> American engineer and businessman (born 1946)

Walden C. "Wally" Rhines is an American engineer and businessman. Rhines is President and CEO of Cornami, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company focused on fully homomorphic encryption. Previously, he was President and CEO of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business for 23 years and Executive VP of the Semiconductor Group of Texas Instruments for 21 years. Rhines was named overall CEO of the Year by Portland Business Journal in 2012 and Oregon Technology Executive of the Year by the Technology Association of Oregon in 2003. He was named an IEEE Fellow in 2017.

Lumileds is a lighting company that develops, manufactures, and distributes LEDs, light bulbs, and related products for automotive lighting, general lighting, and specialty lighting. Lumileds operates as a private company, having funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xin Zhang (engineer)</span>

Xin Zhang is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Boston University (BU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven P. DenBaars</span> American material scientist and electrical engineer

Steven P. DenBaars is an American material scientist, electrical engineer, and academic. He is a professor of Materials and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the executive director of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also a Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and was selected as a Member of National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2012 for contributions to gallium nitride-based materials and devices for solid state lighting and displays.

Hongxing Jiang is a Chinese-American physicist and engineer working in the field of wide bandgap semiconductors and photonic devices. He is an original inventor of MicroLED. In 2000, the research team led by Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin realized the operation of the first MicroLED and passive driving MicroLED microdisplay. In 2009, he and his colleagues at III-N Technology, Inc. and Texas Tech University patented and realized the first active driving high-resolution and video-capable microLED microdisplay in VGA format via heterogeneous integration of MicroLED array with CMOS active-matrix driver and the work was published in the following years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Fred Schubert</span> American electrical engineer

Eric Fred Schubert. is an electrical engineer, researcher, educator, and inventor who made technical contributions to semiconductor devices, particularly LEDs. He has authored four books, 39 U.S. patents, and more than 300 technical papers.

References

  1. ↑ "Boston University - Profile of Theodore Moustakas". bu.edu/eng. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  2. ↑ "2014 elevated fellow". IEEE Fellows Directory.
  3. ↑ "The award-winning Greek physicist with 62 patents". ellines.com. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  4. ↑ 2011 Distinguished Scholar Award Lecture with Dr. Theodore D. Moustakas. 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2022-08-24. I was born in a small village in Greece. (9:05)
  5. 1 2 "CV - THEODORE D. MOUSTAKAS" (PDF). Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  6. ↑ Moustakas, Theodore (1974). Transport and recombination properties of amorphous arsenic telluride thin films. clio.columbia.edu (Thesis). Bibcode:1974PhDT.......230M. OCLC   83666293 . Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  7. 1 2 Stoddard, Tim (2002-12-13). "Green light on blue light: Blue light technology remains BU's intellectual property". B.U. Bridge. Vol. VI, no. 15. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  8. ↑ Landry, Lauren (2013-07-17). "BU Celebrates a New Innovator of the Year with Tech, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll". BOSTINNO. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  9. ↑ Landry, Lauren (2014-10-07). "Did the Nobel Prize Committee Just Leave a Boston University Professor in the Dark?". BOSTINNO. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  10. ↑ Nijhawan, Vinit [@vinit44] (October 7, 2014). "Nobel Committee gets it wrong on not including BU professor Ted Moustakas as co-inventor of the blue LED" (Tweet). Retrieved 2022-10-31– via Twitter.
  11. ↑ Cody, Sara (2016-12-21). "ECE Symposium Honors Career of Professor Emeritus Theodore Moustakas". MetaFilter. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  12. ↑ bolix (2021-04-02). "Isamu Akasaki, Nobel Prize winning co-Inventor of the Blue LED dies". MetaFilter. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  13. ↑ Brown, Joel (2015-12-07). "BU Wins $13 Million in Patent Infringement Suit – ENG professor's LED discovery at heart of case". BU Today. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  14. ↑ Barlow, Richard (2014-01-15). "Companies Agree to Pay to Settle Patent Infringement Suit – BU to be compensated for technology in popular electronics products". BU Today. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  15. ↑ Barlow, Rich (2013-09-24). "BU Sues Leading Tech Firms for Patent Infringement – Dispute involves popular smartphones, tablets, other devices". BU Today. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  16. ↑ Brachmann, Steve (2014-11-04). "Nobel Prize Innovation: Lighting the World with Blue LEDs". IP News. IP Watchdog.
  17. ↑ "Highly insulating monocrystalline gallium nitride thin films".
  18. ↑ Brachmann, Steve (2018-07-31). "CAFC invalidates Boston University patent claim for lack of enablement". Courts. IP Watchdog.
  19. ↑ "Boston spin-out RayVio to ramp deep-UV LED production". Optics.org. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.