Professor Xiaohang Li is the Principal Investigator of Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory of Electronic Engineering Program under CEMSE division at KAUST. He received Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with minor in Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology (PhD advisor: Prof. Russell D. Dupuis, U.S. National Medal of Technology laureate, MOCVD pioneer). Professor Li has extensive research experience in the field of wide-bandgap semiconductors, especially III-nitride semiconductors. He has conducted many research projects under the sponsorship of U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Natural Science Foundation, Chinese Natural Science Foundation, and GCC Research Program. Prof Li’s team at KAUST is now committed to the research of wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. The field is expected to bring revolutionary impacts on the future of optoelectronic and electronic industries.

Professor Li has made outstanding contributions to the cutting edge of wide bandgap semiconductor research. He is one of the pioneers of deep UV laser research: he was the first to achieve lasers below 260 nm on sapphire; he was the first to achieve low-threshold deep UV lasers on sapphire; he was the first to achieve both TE and TM semiconductor lasers on the same type of substrates; he was the first to achieve deep UV surface stimulated emission. In addition, he was the first to grow high quality AlN/sapphire templates by MOCVD without the use of epitaxial lateral overgrowth, high temperature, or precursor modulation which is important for low-cost and large-scale manufacturing. He has also demonstrated world-leading and groundbreaking results in emerging wide bandgap semiconductor research such as B-III-N and III-O. In particular, he demonstrated that the addition of boron into III-nitride can effectively elevate the conduction band, creating the largest conduction band offset known to the III-nitride community.  Also, he holds the world record of the boron composition in BAlN ternary alloys. His research results have been frequently covered and highlighted by the major wide bandgap semiconductor media in a prominent position. In addition, Professor Li has made high-impact contributions to the development of visible LED and bionic photonics.

Professor Li has published more than 110 papers in leading journals and conferences. He has been invited to deliver more than 30 talks and seminars at international conferences, universities, research institutions, and companies. His scientific research output and impact ranks high among the wide bandgap semiconductor scientists under the age of 35. He has been invited to pen a Compound Semiconductor magazine editorial and book chapters of Elsevier and Wiley related to UV optoelectronics and MOCVD. He has more than 10 approved and pending patents. He is an active journal reviewer for prestigious wide bandgap semiconductor journals such as Nature Photonics, Applied Physics Letter and Optics Express.