Profiles

Professor Xiaohang Li has extensive research experience in III-nitride and III-oxide (ultra)wide bandgap semiconductors. Prior to KAUST, Li received his Bachelor degree in Applied Physics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University, U.S., and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.

Since joining KAUST, Li has advised more than 100 students, and led his Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory (ASL) in making many important and pioneering contributions to semiconductor research. Prof Li and his ASL team focus on the fundamental and applied research of ultrawide and wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, devices, physics and hardware. The ASL team aims to leverage these technologies to revolutionize the energy, communications, and health industries crucial for the sustainability of human society.

Professor Li has extensive research experience in III-nitride and III-oxide (ultra)wide bandgap semiconductors. He focuses his interdisciplinary research activities on investigating the growth, simulation, fabrication and characterization of III-nitride structures for next-generation devices. Devices of particular interest include LEDs, lasers, transistors and next-generation CMOS ICs.

Dhanu Chettri is a Ph.D. candidate at the Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory (ASL) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the mentorship of Prof. Xiaohang Li. His research focuses on ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, particularly Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3) and Aluminum Nitride (AlN). Before joining KAUST, he served as a Senior Project Fellow at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR–CEERI).

Chettri’s research primarily involves material growth, device design, fabrication, and circuit implementation of advanced semiconductor devices such as MOSFETs and bidirectional switches. He has made significant contributions to the field, as evidenced by his publications. Notably, he achieved the first demonstration of a normally OFF β-Ga2O3 bidirectional switch, featured in Applied Physics Letters, AIP along with the first demonstration of an AlN MOSFET, published in the Journal of Physics D, IOP.

His research is particularly relevant for developing technologies suited to high-temperature and extreme environment applications, demonstrating the critical role and potential of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors in modern electronics.

Dhanu's research interests include ultrawide bandgap semiconductor materials, specifically Ga2O3 and AlN. His work focuses on the fabrication and characterization of devices such as MOSFETs and FinFETs.

Mritunjay Kumar is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, under the supervision of Prof. Xiaohang Li. Before joining KAUST, he earned his Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad. His research focuses on developing advanced wide-bandgap semiconductor devices for extreme-temperature power electronics applications, addressing challenges such as threshold voltage instability and high gate leakage currents in GaN HEMTs through innovative materials and gate design techniques.

Mritunjay has made significant contributions to the field of power electronics for extreme temperature, as evidenced by publications in reputed journals such as Applied Physics Letters (APL) and Japanese Journal of Applied Physics (JJAP). His achievements include the development of a high-threshold voltage (7.4 V) enhancement-mode GaN HEMT and the implementation of bi-layer gate stacks for stable operation at temperatures up to 450°C. His work also explores heterogeneous integration, such as combining GaN HEMTs with indium oxide-based driver circuits and gallium oxide transistors, demonstrating stable operation in harsh environments.

Mritunjay’s research interest includes Optoelectronics, and III-Nitrides Power semiconductor devices.

Tingang graduated from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) majoring in electro-magnetic field and wireless technology on 2022.

Tingang focuses on ultrawide bandgap semiconductors, especially AlN and AlGaN epitaxy by MOCVD and device fabrications