Technical Insight
Nakamura is first holder of Cree Chair (LED News)
Shuji Nakamura has been named as the inaugural recipient of the Cree Chair of Solid State Lighting and Displays at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Late last year, Cree pledged $1.2 million to the College of Engineering at UCSB toward the endowment of the Cree Chair, and to support research in the field of GaN-based electronic materials and devices (see Compound Semiconductor Dec 2000/Jan 2001, p22). Nakamura is famed for his work on GaN-based LEDs and blue lasers at Nichia, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Honda Prize, the MRS Medal and the Rank Prize. In late 1999, Nakamura left Nichia and is now a materials professor at UCSB and director of the Center for Solid State Lighting and Displays. He has authored 170 scientific papers and three books, and also consults for Cree. "We are very pleased to support UCSB s commitment to GaN-based research and are excited that Shuji Nakamura has been named the recipient of the Cree Chair," said Cree s chairman, Neal Hunter. "Shuji Nakamura has been widely recognized for his work on GaN-based LEDs. Energy-efficient white LEDs [based on GaN emitters] are being targeted as replacements for incandescent lights, and are expected to use significantly less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs. We believe a large number of white-light applications will emerge as solid-state illumination technology continues to evolve." "I am honored to be the first holder of the Cree Chair in Solid State Lighting and Displays," said Shuji Nakamura. "Cree is recognized worldwide as a leader in solid-state lighting and as a key pioneering company in the development of the compound semiconductor technology that uses GaN-on-SiC. Cree financially supported the Solid State Lighting and Displays Center here at UCSB from the beginning, and we are grateful for that support." Cree Asia-Pacific has opened a Southeast Asian sales office in Kowloon, Hong Kong, to facilitate business transactions and act as a liaison between Cree s customers in the region and its corporate headquarters in Durham, NC.
