On the morning of July 15, the Faculty of Physics & Engineering Physics, University of Science, VNU-HCM, hosted a scientific seminar featuring guest speaker Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Pham Trung Hieu. The event attracted strong participation from faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates across the faculty.
With the topic “III-Nitride Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes: Materials, Device Fabrication and Applications”, the seminar presented in-depth insights into cutting-edge research and notable applications in the field of wide and ultrawide bandgap semiconductor materials, particularly III-nitride nanowire structures. These advancements open new directions for the development of high-performance optoelectronic devices such as LEDs, lasers, photodetectors, and solar cells, with applications in lighting, full-color displays, and biomedical technologies.
A key highlight of the seminar was the presentation on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) techniques for fabricating multicolor nanowire LEDs that span nearly the entire visible spectrum. Of particular note was the research on phosphor-free white LEDs, which offer high color rendering indices and outstanding luminous efficiency - an exciting prospect for next-generation solid-state lighting.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Pham Trung Hieu is an alumnus of the Physics program (specializing in Physics and Computer Science), class of 2001, Faculty of Physics & Engineering Physics. He is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas Tech University (USA) and Director of the Wide/Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductors Laboratory.
He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University (Canada) in 2012. His research focuses on the design, epitaxial growth, fabrication, and in-depth characterization of wide and ultrawide bandgap semiconductors, aiming to advance high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, photodetectors, solar cells, transistors, and resistive random-access memory (RRAM) systems.
Assoc. Prof. Hieu has authored 3 U.S. patents, 2 edited books, 9 book chapters, approximately 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, and over 150 conference presentations. His work has been cited more than 5,000 times, with an h-index of 33 - highlighting his substantial impact on the global scientific community in the field of advanced semiconductors and devices.
As part of the 2025 VNU-HCM Visiting Professor Program, Dr. Hieu also expressed his intention to collaborate with faculty members in joint research activities and to contribute to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses related to semiconductor circuits and nano-devices at the Faculty of Physics & Engineering Physics.
