Give me an inch of GaN and I will light up the world.

Davide Priante obtained his Ph.D. and Master's degree in Electrical Engineering under the supervision of Professor Boon Ooi at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Davide received his B.Sc. degree in Material Science Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, in 2013. He joined KAUST in February 2014 as an M.S. to a Ph.D. student in Photonics Laboratory in the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) Division. He received his MSc degree in August 2015 with a thesis based on the recombination mechanism of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite. Davide is a member of OSA and SPIE and he also served as a reviewer for the Journal of Nanophotonics and the Journal of Photonics for Energy. Currently, Davide is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of New Mexico​, United States of America.

Ph.D. thesis project: Study of AlGaN nanowires light-emitting diodes
  • Demonstrated 10X enhancement optical power in UV AlGaN LEDs by developing a metal bilayer template that enables higher injection current and heat dissipation.

  • Optimized the structure design of UV AlGaN/GaN LEDs on foundry-compatible silicon substrates for improved output power by employing graded structures.

  • Analyzed the stability/reliability and the mechanisms involved in UV AlGaN LEDs degradation.

  • As a consequence of AlGaN LED degradation study: studied the junction temperature of such devices grown on metal and silicon substrated.

  • Improved injection efficiency by 15% of AlGaN LEDs.

  • Demonstrated solar-blind AlGaN photodetector grown on metal/silicon substrate.

Research Interests

Davide's research interests included Wide band-gap semiconductor Optoelectronic devices and Nanofabrication processes. His research topic focused on enhancing the performance of large bandgap ultraviolet III-nitride semiconductor nanostructured light emitters. It involved the device structure design optimization and the usage of highly conductive thin metal substrates.

Selected Publications
  • D. Priante, I. Dursun, M. S. Alias, D. Shi, V. A. Melnikov, T. K. Ng, O. F. Mohammed, O. M. Bakr, and B. S. Ooi, "The recombination mechanisms leading to amplified spontaneous emission at the true-green wavelength in CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskites", Applied Physics Letters, 106, 081902, 2015.
  • Priante Davide, Janjua Bilal et al. "Highly uniform ultraviolet-A quantum-confined AlGaN nanowire LEDs on metal/silicon with a TaN interlayer." Optical Materials Express 7.12 (2017): 4214-4224.
  • Janjua Bilal, Priante Davide et al. "Ultraviolet-A LED Based on Quantum-disks-in-AlGaN-nanowires-Optimization and Device Reliability." IEEE Photonics Journal (2018).
  • Alias, M. S., Janjua, B., Zhao, C., Priante, D., Alhamoud, A. A., Tangi, M., ... & Ng, T. K. (2017). Enhancing the Light-Extraction Efficiency of an AlGaN Nanowire Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode by Using Nitride/Air Distributed Bragg Reflector Nanogratings. IEEE Photonics Journal, 9(5), 1-8.
  • Janjua, B., Sun, H., Zhao, C., Anjum, D. H., Priante, D., Alhamoud, A. A., ... & El-Desouki, M. M. (2017). Droop-free Al x Ga 1-x N/Al y Ga 1-y N quantum-disks-in-nanowires ultraviolet LED emitting at 337 nm on metal/silicon substrates. Optics Express, 25(2), 1381-1390.
  • Bose, R., Adhikari, A., Burlakov, V. M., Liu, G., Haque, M. A., Priante, D., ... & Ng, T. K. (2018). Imaging Localized Energy States in Silicon-Doped InGaN Nanowires Using 4D Electron Microscopy. ACS Energy Letters, 3(2), 476-481.
  • Jafar I. Khan, Aniruddha Adhikari, Jingya Sun, Davide Priante, Riya Bose, Basamat S. Shaheen, Tien Khee Ng et al. "Enhanced Optoelectronic Performance of a Passivated Nanowire‐Based Device: Key Information from Real‐Space Imaging Using 4D Electron Microscopy." Small.
  • Riya Bose, Jingya Sun, Jafar I. Khan, Basamat S. Shaheen, Aniruddha Adhikari, Tien Khee Ng, Victor M. Burlakov, Manas R. Parida, Davide Priante, Alain Goriely, Boon S. Ooi, Osman M. Bakr, Omar F. Mohammed, “Spatial and Temporal Imaging of Energy Loss and Carrier Diffusion in InGaN Nanowires using Scanning Ultrafast Electron Microscopy”, Advanced Material.
  • Varadhan, P., Fu, H. C., Priante, D., Retamal, J. R. D., Zhao, C., Ebaid, M., ... & Ooi, B. S. (2017). Surface passivation of GaN nanowires for enhanced photoelectrochemical water-splitting. Nano letters, 17(3), 1520-1528.

Education Profile

  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, August 2015 - 2019.
  • M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, February 2014 - August 2015.
  • B.Sc. in Material Science & Engineering in Padova University, Padova, Italy, October 2010 - July 2013.

Professional Memberships

  • Member of OSA, KAUST student chapter (The Optical Society, association in optics and photonics).
  • Member of SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering.
  • PhD - Department of Electrical Engineering, KAUST, Thuwal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
    • Demonstrated enhanced optical power in UV AlGaN-based nanowires LEDs by developing a metal bilayer template that enables higher injection current and heat dissipation.
    • Optimized the structure design of UV AlGaN/GaN nanowires LEDs on foundry-compatible silicon substrates for improved output power by employing graded structures.
    • Analyzed the mechanisms involved in UV AlGaN-based nanowires LEDs degradation. 
    • As a consequence of AlGaN LED degradation study: studied the junction temperature of such devices grown on metal and silicon substrate. 
    • Demonstrated solar-blind AlGaN nanowires photodetector grown on metal/silicon substrate
  • MSc - Department of Electrical Engineering, KAUST, Thuwal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
    Master thesis: The recombination mechanism and true green amplified spontaneous emission in CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite
    • Demonstrated amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in perovskite-based powder between true-green wavelength dielectric Bragg reflectors, by optically pumping.
    • Studied the bulk defects and excitonic recombination in perovskite that leads to ASE
  • Internship, Department of Electrical Engineering, KAUST, Thuwal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
    • Internship researcher / Professor Boon S. Ooi’s Laboratory.
    • InGaN/GaN nanowires-based LEDs characterization
  • BSE - Department of Material Science Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
    • Undergraduate Internship / Project supervised by Professor Andrea Zambon
    • Steel productive process (INOX steel, special metal alloys), AFV Acciaierie Beltrame SpA, Vicenza, Italy