James Speck

James Speck serves as Professor in the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara's College of Engineering. He holds the Seoul Optodevice Distinguished Professorship of Solid State Lighting and maintains an active research laboratory focused on wide bandgap semiconductors. His work spans over 25 years of leadership in GaN-based semiconductor materials science at UCSB.

Speck's research interests center on the relationship between epitaxial growth, microstructure, morphology, heterostructures, transport properties, and device performance in wide bandgap semiconductors. His group has made fundamental contributions to understanding growth mechanisms, defect generation, and the impact of threading dislocations in GaN systems. Over the past decade, his research has expanded to include binary oxides and emerging wide bandgap semiconductors like β-Ga₂O₃. His early work focused on epitaxial oxide films on semiconductors, ferroelectric thin films, and strain relaxation in highly mismatched epitaxial systems.

The publication record demonstrates consistent research activity in III-nitride materials, with recent focus on semipolar and nonpolar orientations for improved device performance. His work spans fundamental materials science to practical device applications, particularly in solid-state lighting and laser technologies. The research shows particular emphasis on addressing efficiency limitations in LEDs and developing novel approaches for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

• Member of National Academy of Inventors
• IEEE Photonics Society Aron Kressel Award
• Materials Research Society (Inaugural Class)
• Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Best Paper Award

Professor Speck has co-founded Soraa, a company commercializing GaN-based lighting technology. His research group has produced over 725 refereed publications, demonstrating extensive collaboration with colleagues including S. Nakamura and S.P. DenBaars. His work has received significant funding supporting fundamental materials research with applications in energy-efficient lighting and optoelectronic devices. The Speck group maintains active research facilities at UCSB focused on advanced semiconductor characterization and device development.