Wide band gap (WBG) materials: theory, growth, characterization, and applications

WBG materials are the subject of intensive research motivated by attractive electrical properties making them promising for electronic applications. The symposium is designed to exchange recent advances in the field of growth, characterization, material properties, theoretical predictions, device fabrication, and system applications.

Wide bandgap (WBG) materials such as Ga2O3, MgO, ZnO, TiO2, GaN and high-k oxides, like ZrO2 and HfO2, have attracted much attention due to their emerging application as an active layer in thin film transistors, light-emitting diodes in the ultraviolet region and as transparent electrodes. The ability to control the physicochemical properties by adjustment of crystallographic structure, arrangement of atoms inside sample's volume and along the surface, taking into account point defects, is of crucial importance from both fundamental and applied research points of view. Extensive knowledge on electronic and optical properties of single crystals, films, nano-objects (like nanowires, nanorods, quantum dots, heterostructures etc.) including interfaces helps us to construct the informational bridge between the structural and electronic properties of materials.

Two major goals of the proposed symposium are to:

• become a forum for exchanging knowledge and ideas between physicists and materials scientists, as well as experimentalists and theoreticians;
• provide an overview and establish the current state-of-the-art in applications of such materials.

The presentations will aim to cover the topics:

• synthesis and crystal growth of single crystals and low-dimensional materials;
• band structure and lattice defects in crystal thin films and heterostructures;
• optical, mechanical and thermal properties;
• electrical properties: doping technology, and transport properties;
• properties of interface processes studied in situ: (chemical synthesis reactions, phase transitions, catalytic processes).
• dynamical properties: charge transfer, chemical reactions, etc.
• theoretical modelling and prediction of properties using, e.g., ab initio and machine learning.
• prospective applications of the WBG materials in various industrial sectors.

Prospective applications of the WBG materials in various industrial sectors will be discussed, e.g.:

• high-performance optoelectronic, ultraviolet and electronic devices.
• high-k oxides based memories
• sustainable energy and solid-state lighting.
• catalysis.
• applications in biology and medicine.

List of confirmed invited speakers:

• Alex Shluger - Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University College London;
• Andrej Kuznetsov - Dept of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway;
• Cesare Franchini - Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria;
• Chennupati Jagadish - Australian National University Canberra;
• John Buckeridge – Division of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, London South Bank University;
• Kin M. Yu - Dept of Physics & Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong;
• Marco Kirm - Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Tartu, Estonia;
• Mikko Ritala - Dept of Chemistry, University of Helsinki,  Finland;
• Tim Veal - Dept of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK;

List of scientific committee members:

• Jaan Aarik, Estonian Academy of Sciences, Estonia
• Davide Barreca, ICMATE-CNR and INSTM, Italy
• Richard Catlow, University College, UK
• Hanna Dabkowska, University of Hamilton, Canada
• Ulrike Diebold, Technishe Uinversity Vienna, Austria
• Karol Frohlich, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
• Samuel Graham, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
• Johannes Heitmann, Technical University Freiberg, Germany
• Sanjay Mathur, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Germany
• Giafranco Pacchioni, Universita' degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy
• Wojciech Paszkowicz, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
• Magdalena Skompska, Warsaw University, Poland
• Imre Miklos Szilagyi, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

Publication:

Selected papers will be published in a special issue of the journal 'Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing' (Elsevier Ltd.). Impact Factor: 2.722. Accepted papers will appear online immediately (with doi and page numbers) and subsequently be compiled in an online special issue. Submission opens from September 15 until October 17 2020. Attendance to the meeting is mandatory for the papers to be published.