Hiroshi Amano Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Hiroshi Amano is an electrical engineer whose work with Isamu Akasaki helped overcome two obstacles to blue light-emitting diodes: growing high-quality gallium nitride and obtaining controllable p-type semiconductor.[ref]
A low-temperature-deposited aluminium nitride buffer layer improved subsequent gallium nitride growth on sapphire. His lecture compares the resulting surfaces using scanning electron microscopy. The research also showed that low-energy electron irradiation of magnesium-doped gallium nitride could activate p-type semiconductor, enabling a p-n junction. The two results address different requirements: structural quality and the electrical activity of the semiconductor doping.[ref]
Portrait of Hiroshi Amano
. 研究振興局振興企画課; attribution: 文部科学省ホームページ. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
Masahiro Kito Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Masahiro Kito contributed to establishing p-type semiconductor behavior in magnesium-doped gallium nitride. Hiroshi Amano's account credits Kito with Hall effect measurements after low-energy electron beam treatment, providing stronger evidence for the conduction type than the initial hot-probe test.[ref]
Growth of GaN on Sapphire via Low-Temperature Deposited Buffer Layer and Realization of p-Type GaN by Mg Doping Followed by Low Energy Electron Beam Irradiation by Hiroshi Amano. §V, pp. 1135–1136: sample growth with Kito and his Hall-effect measurement; acknowledgments, p. 1137, print Masahiro Kito in full.