In pursuit of sustainable technologies for a carbon-neutral future, eco-friendly semiconductor materials have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation optoelectronic devices. This talk will present recent advances in the engineering of thin-film materials for applications in light emission, detection, and energy harvesting applications.

We will explore the use of environmentally friendly semiconductors such as SiC and Si quantum dots, highlighting their roles in light-emitting and indoor photovoltaic devices, respectively. In addition, Mg₂Si thin films deposited on Si substrates have been investigated for infrared (IR) detector applications. Device performance has been significantly enhanced by optimizing sputtering and annealing conditions, which improve the interface properties.

Wide-bandgap materials such as ZnO and Eu-doped AlN will also be introduced as alternatives to InGaN-based visible light-emitting devices. Finally, we will discuss the development of all-solid-state secondary batteries based on semiconductor materials as one possible strategy for energy harvesting applications.

Dr. Hiroshi Katsumata is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics and Bioinformatics at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan. He is currently on sabbatical at the Australian National University (ANU), where he serves as an Honorary Associate Professor and conducts collaborative research with the Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group. He graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Technology, Meiji University in 1992, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering from the Graduate School of Science and Technology at Meiji University in 1994 and 1997, respectively. His Ph.D. thesis was titled “Research on the fabrication of semiconductor materials for light-emitting and light-detecting devices using ion beam processes. " His research focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of thin films and quantum dots composed of environmentally friendly silicon-based semiconductors such as SiC, Mg₂Si, and β-FeSi₂, as well as wide-bandgap semiconductors like ZnO and AlN. His current interests include energy conversion applications using these materials in devices such as LEDs, photodiodes, indoor photovoltaics, and thin-film batteries. From 1997 to 2000, he served as a lecturer in the Ion Beam Engineering Experimental Laboratory at the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan. From 2000 to 2010, he worked at the Process Research Center within the Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center of Toshiba Corporation, where he was engaged in the research and development of various semiconductor devices, including OLEDs, InGaAlP and InGaN LEDs, IGBTs, poly-Si TFTs, MRAM, NAND flash memory, and CMOS technologies. In 2010, he returned to Meiji University, where he continues to be actively involved in both research and education.