The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Professor Isamu Akasaki from Meijo University, Professor Hiroshi Amano from Nagoya University, and Shuji Nakamura from the University of California "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources". Ahead of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony on December 10, we'll be bringing you an exclusive interview with Professor Amano.
It had been said that blue LEDs would not be realized within the 20th century due to the difficulty of making crystals out of gallium nitride. Professor Amano built an experiment device from scratch and conducted over 1,500 experiments before the team succeeded in creating gallium nitride crystals. In the interview he describes the methods he used, and how he acquired hints from failed experiments. We'll also be introducing the latest LED research that Professor Amano is involved in, and the leading-edge of LED development in Japan.