Zachary Engel has won the Best Student Oral Prize at the 2022 International Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (ICMBE). Engel is a Ph.D. candidate in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and is part of ECE’s Advanced Semiconductor Technology Facility (ASTF) directed by Professor Alan Doolittle.

ICMBE recognized Engel for the quality of his work and presentation excellence on "Demonstration of Sc0.2Al0.8N HEMT structures with a sheet resistance of 150 Ω/□ and a sheet charge of 5.9x1013 cm-2 with phase pure, metal rich growth.”

The research presents new semiconductor chemistries that allow for improved semiconductor quality as demonstrated by a record sheet charge and channel resistance in a next generation replacement for the current champion of power and RF transistors, AlGaN/GaN transistors. This new device will allow 2.5 times higher current than present technologies. In principle, it can be integrated with ASTF’s groundbreaking aluminum nitride-based semiconductor, which previous demonstrations have shown to be the largest voltage semiconductor ever created.

This year’s ICMBE was held in Sheffield, United Kingdom from September 4-9. The conference began in 1978 in Paris, France and provides a prominent international forum for reporting new developments in the areas of fundamental and applied molecular beam epitaxy research, including advances in the technique, synthesis of new materials, discovery of new physical properties, formation of novel heterostructures, and the development of innovative devices.