Gallium nitride is widely hailed as the future silicon. Its characteristics can be adjusted by replacing part of gallium with boron, aluminum, and indium (the cousin of gallium in the same column of the periodic table). These materials are widely used in LEDs and power electronic devices. They also support so-called extreme quantum dot arrays.
It is understood that quantum dots are a group of atoms that behave like a single atom, absorbing and emitting light of a single wavelength or several different wavelengths. The difference between extreme quantum dot arrays and traditional quantum dots is that they are completely ordered and emit the same light.
"Through this controlled synthesis of quantum nanomaterials and using industry-standard processing tools, we hope to build a material platform for scalable next-generation quantum technologies," said Zetian Mi, a professor and principal researcher of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.
Professor Zetian Mi makes samples in the molecular beam epitaxy machine.
Zetian Mi believes that at present, ultraviolet sterilization and air purification technologies usually rely on mercury lamps. Mercury lamps contain toxic substances and generate a lot of waste heat. Quantum nano materials can make UVC lamps safer and 100 times more efficient than currently available lamps. This material is very suitable for UV optoelectronics, including UV LEDs for disinfection applications.
The success of the University of Michigan team is expected to promote the integration of quantum information and communication technology with traditional computers, as well as the advancement of high-precision sensing and ultraviolet lamps for disinfection and air purification.
At present, the research project has received 1.8 million US dollars of support from the National Science Foundation to support research efforts in this area.
