Clark School Alumnus Kub Honored for LED Material Innovation

Clark School Alumnus Kub Honored for LED Material Innovation

Clark School Alumnus Kub Honored for LED Material Innovation


University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering alumnus Dr. Fritz Kub will be honored for his technology innovations related to gallium nitride (GaN) light emitting diodes (LED) and microwave transistors at the annual Innovation Hall of Fame induction ceremony on November 25, 2014.

The event will begin at 4:00 pm in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, and will be immediately followed by the White Symposium. The event is open to the University of Maryland community and guests can register here: http://ter.ps/IHOFKub

A 1985 Ph.D. graduate in Electrical Engineering, Kub currently serves as Head of the Power Electronics Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory. His thesis advisor at UMD was Professor Hung C. “Jimmy” Lin (1919-2009), a prolific inventor and university benefactor whose innovative spirit was shared by his former advisee. Lin was awarded more than 60 U.S. patents over the course of his lifetime.

Kub’s innovations in novel wafer bonded substrate technology for GaN LED and microwave transistors include a method to implement large diameter GaN engineered substrates, a process to implement an ultrathin silicon body layer for fully-depleted, strained silicon-on-insulator (SOI) circuits, and a technique to integrate an insulating substrate with silicon microwave integrated circuits.

The approach for the GaN engineered substrate for LEDs uses wafer bonding of a thin silicon single-crystal layer to the surface of a large diameter, thermal expansion matched aluminum nitride polycrystalline substrate. The thermal expansion matching is a key property that enables thick, epitaxial GaN layers to be grown on the engineered substrate without cracking, enabling improvements in the yield and performance of LEDs. The approach allows large diameter GaN engineer substrates (to 300 mm) that are advantageous to reduce the cost of LEDs for lighting applications.

This engineered substrate has advantages compared to alternate substrate approaches in the thickness of the GaN material, and the ability to implement large diameter and low cost substrates. The polycrystalline substrates also have high thermal conductivity and can be insulating for microwave applications. The large diameter engineered substrates have application for GaN LEDs, GaN microwave transistors, and GaN power switches.

Kub received a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from South Dakota State University in 1972 and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1976, before earning his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. From 1974 to 1985, he was an Engineer and Fellow Engineer at Westinghouse. Kub joined the Naval Research Laboratory in 1985.

He has played key technical and leadership roles in research and development of microelectronic devices such as: wafer bonded materials and devices, GaN power transistors, integration of diamond with GaN power transistor, silicon carbide power transistors, neutron detectors, and analog CMOS circuits. He has more than 150 journal publications and 52 U.S. patents.

In 2011, Kub was designated a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and received the Distinguished Engineer Award from South Dakota State University in 2010. He has received two Naval Research Laboratory Best Publication Awards and five Naval Research Laboratory Technology Transfer Awards. He was also co-author on a paper that received the Japan Society of Applied Physics 2014 Outstanding Paper Award and was co-author on a paper that received the Best Poster Paper award for 14th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition. 

The Innovation Hall of Fame recognizes Clark School alumni, faculty and associates who have pioneered many of the most significant engineering advances in the past century. Inductees include Robert Briskman, the co-founder of Sirius Satellite Radio, George Laurer, inventor of the Universal Product Code, and Brian Hinman, the innovator behind the Polycom SoundStation conference call device. For more information, visit www.eng.umd.edu/ihof. The 2014 White Symposium on the topic of LED Innovation will be held immediately following the Innovation Hall of Fame induction ceremony. For more information, visit www.eng.umd.edu.

Related Articles:
Alumnus Adly Appointed Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
ECE Alumni Veeraraghavan, Zheng Elected IEEE Fellows
Alumnus Matthew Stamm Named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 of 2021 List
Alumna Rose Faghih Joins NYU Faculty
Jill Goldstein Named to Terrapin Club 30 under 30 Class of 2022
Alumnus David Bader Named Association for Computing Machinery Fellow
Ultra-Broadband Microcombs Opens Door to Opportunities for Optical Frequency Synthesis
$1.14M from the State of Maryland will Match Private Donation to Establish Two Brendan Iribe Endowed Professorships in ECE and CS at UMD
Alumna Dana Wiggins’ Startup Seize Named to Techstars Seattle’s 13th Cohort
Professor Espy-Wilson Named IEEE Fellow

October 28, 2014


Prev   Next

Current Headlines

Two BIOE Students Receive MPower Graduate Fellowships

Three UMD Students Receive SAMPE Leadership Awards

International Energy Cooperation Center Established at University of Maryland

Maryland Researchers Awarded $1.5 Million to Pioneer Batteries for Electric Rail and Maritime Transportation

Researcher’s Pacific Dive Spurred Innovations in Robotics with Machine Intelligence to Create Biodegradable Plastic Substitutes

UMD Professor and Alum Among 2024 VFS Awardees

Agents of Positive Change: Highlighting Women Maryland Engineers

Celebrating Women in Aerospace Engineering: Christine Hartzell

News Resources

Return to Newsroom

Search News

Archived News

Events Resources

Events Calendar