Dr. Yasushi Nanishi, professor emeritus, College of Science and Engineering, received the ISPlasma Special Recognition Award at the 10th International Symposium on Advanced Plasma Science and its Applications for Nitrides and Nanomaterials (ISPlasma 2018) and the 11th International Conference on Plasma-Nano Technology & Science (IC-PLANTS2018) held this March in Nagoya.

ISPlasma/IC-PLANTS is a major international symposium that brings renowned plasma science researchers from around the world to Nagoya to discuss a wide range of topics including advanced plasma science, applications for nitride semiconductors and nanomaterials, and collaboration with industry.

This year, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of ISPlasma, Dr. Nanishi was recognized along with Professor Jeon Geon Han of Sungkyunkwan University and Professor Sumio Iijima of Meijo University for their many years of contributions to the symposium and conference.

Comment from Dr. Nanishi

This year, at the 10th anniversary ISPlasma, I was presented with the ISPlasma Special Recognition Award.

The research for which I was recognized pertains to the study of indium nitride (InN), a relative of gallium nitride (GaN), the material used in blue light emitting diodes (for which the Nobel Prize was awarded three years ago). It also shares very close connections to ISPlasma's three pillars of plasma science, nitride semiconductors, and nanomaterials. I believe I was chosen for this award based on a comprehensive assessment of my research on the following topics, as well as other contributions - including keynote speeches, invited talks and tutorial lectures I gave, and panel discussions I helped to organize and moderate:

  (1) Using plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxy to grow high-quality InN and discover the true band-gap of InN
  (2) Inventing droplet elimination by radical beam irradiation (DERI) process, which enables the reproducible growth of high-quality InN
  (3) Fabricating a multiple quantum well to produce and control the physical properties of InN quantum nanostructures

These research achievements would not have been possible without all the hard work of the students and staff of Ritsumeikan University. For 20 years, we worked together in my lab, day and night and even on weekends, so I believe this award also belongs to the students and alumni who worked with me over the years.