Zhores Ivanovich Alferov[a] (15 March 1930 – 1 March 2019) was a Russian[2][3]applied physicist who contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics. In 2000, Alferov shared theNobel Prize in Physics for the development of the semiconductorheterojunction for optoelectronics.[4] He also became a politician in his later life, serving in theState Duma as a member of theCommunist Party from 1999.
Alferov was elected a corresponding member of theAcademy of Sciences of the Soviet Union in 1972, and a full member in 1979. From 1989, he was Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences and President of itsSaint Petersburg Scientific Center.[6]
Alferov worked with a group led by Vladimir Tuchkevich, who became director of theIoffe Institute in 1967, on planar semiconductor amplifiers for use inradio receivers.[7]: 125–128 These planar semiconductor amplifiers would be referred to as transistors in the present day. His contribution included work ongermanium diodes for use as a rectifier.
In the early 1960s, Alferov organized an effort at Ioffe Institute to develop semiconductor heterostructures.Heterojunction transistors enabled higher frequency use than theirhomojunction predecessors, and this capability plays a key role in modern mobile phone and satellite communications. Alferov and colleagues worked onGaAs andAlAsIII-V heterojunctions. A particular focus was the use of heterojunctions to createsemiconductor lasers capable of lasing at room temperature. In 1963, Alferov filed a patent application proposing double-heterostructure lasers;Herbert Kroemer independently filed a US patent several months later.[8][9] In 1966, Alferov's lab created the first lasers based on heterostructures, although they did not lase continuously. Then in 1968, Alferov and coworkers produced the firstcontinuous-wave semiconductor heterojunction laser operating atroom temperature.[7]: 163–167 This achievement came a month ahead ofIzuo Hayashi andMorton Panish ofBell Labs also producing a continuous-wave room-temperature heterojunction laser.[10]
It was for this work that Alferov received the 2000Nobel Prize in Physics together with Herbert Kroemer "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics."[11][12][13]
In the 1960s and 1970s Alferov continued his work on the physics and technology of semiconductor heterostructures in his lab at the Ioffe Institute. His investigations of injection properties of semiconductors and his contributions to the development oflasers,solar cells,LEDs, andepitaxy processes led to the creation of modern heterojunction physics and electronics.[11] The development of semiconductor heterojunctions revolutionized semiconductor design, and had a range of immediate commercial applications—including LEDs,barcode readers, andCDs.[11]Hermann Grimmeiss of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards Nobel Prizes, said: "Without Alferov, it would not be possible to transfer all the information from satellites down to the Earth or to have so many telephone lines between cities."[14]
Alferov had an almost messianic conception of heterostructures, writing: "Many scientists have contributed to this remarkable progress, which not only determines in large measure the future prospects of solid state physics but in a certain sense affects the future of human society as well."[15]
In 1987, Alferov became the fifth director of the Ioffe Institute. In 1989, Alferov gained the administrative position of chairman of the Leningrad Scientific Center, now referred to as the St. Petersburg Scientific Center. In the Leningrad region, this scientific center is an overarching organization comprising 70 institutions, organizations, enterprises, and scientific societies.[7]: 196
Alferov worked to foster relationships between early educational institutions and scientific research institutions to train the next generation of scientists, citingPeter the Great's vision for theRussian Academy of Sciences to be organized with a scientific research core in close contact with a gymnasium (secondary school).[7]: 199 In 1987, Alferov and colleagues at the Ioffe Institute established a secondary school in Saint Petersburg, the School of Physics and Technology, under the umbrella of the Ioffe charter. In 1997 Alferov founded the Research and Education Center at the Ioffe Institute and in 2002, this center officially became theSaint Petersburg Academic University after gaining a charter to award masters and PhD degrees.
In the 2000s, through his role in academic administration and in parliament, Alferov advocated for and worked to advance Russia'snanotechnology sector. The primary research charter of theSaint Petersburg Academic University, which Alferov founded, was the development of nanotechnology.[16] Alferov provided a consistent voice in parliament in favor of increased scientific funding. In 2006, Prime MinisterMikhail Fradkov announced the creation of a federal agency,Rosnanotekh, to pursue nanotechnology applications.
^Hecht, Jeff (2004).City of light : the story of fiber optics (Rev. and expanded ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. pp. 151–155.ISBN9780195162554.
Zhores Alferov on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2000Double Heterostructure Concept and its Applications in Physics, Electronics and Technology
