Gallium Nitride: Miracle Material or Blue-Light Special?

Gallium nitride recently revolutionized the market for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by making possible the first green, blue, and violet LEDs and creating a market worth over half a billion dollars a year. Now, researchers are closing in on the next stage in the commercialization of gallium nitride, which will feature blue and violet lasers, that will be at the heart of digital video consoles and optical data-storage systems. Laser printers with twice the resolution of today's models are expected to debut not long after. Finally, a little further out, are gallium-nitride transistors, which will be used in amplifiers in future high-speed wireless base stations and satellite communications terminals. Our panelists will discuss and compare the current state-of- the-art technologies in gallium nitride with that of competing technologies. They will describe the applications and challenges for GaN in the near future.