Gallium Nitride
Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a wide bandgap semiconductor material used in optoelectronic, high power and high frequency devices.
Until 1993, the only blue light emitting devices commercially available were based on Silicon carbide, which had an indirect bandgap, and so were not capable of sufficient brightness to be of wide interest.
The development of the first high brightness GaN LED by Shuji Nakamura, working for the Nichia company in Japan, completed the range of primary colors, and made possible applications such as daylight visible full color LED displays, white LEDs and blue laser devices.
Potential markets for high power/high frequency devices based on GaN include microwave radio frequency power amplifiers (such as used in high-speed wireless data transmission) and high-voltage switching devices for power grids.