Semiconductor physics
Isamu Akasaki: inventions and patents
Known for Efficient blue light-emitting diodes using gallium nitrideNationality Born in Chiran, Japan30 January 1929 to 1 April 2021
Isamu Akasaki, born in Chiran, Japan, shared the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics with Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes. He was affiliated with Meijo University and Nagoya University at the time of the award and died in Nagoya in 2021. He is a named inventor, with Amano and others, on US Patent 5,122,845 for a substrate for growing gallium nitride semiconductor devices and light emitting diodes.1,2
Patents
US 5,122,8452Substrate for growing gallium nitride compound-semiconductor device and light emitting diode
- Filed
- 26 February 1990
- Granted
- 16 June 1992
- Assignee
- Nagoya University, Toyoda Gosei Co Ltd
- Co-inventors
- Katsuhide Manabe, Hisaki Kato, Kazumasa Hiramatsu, Hiroshi Amano
View the patent document
Inventions
- Efficient blue LED. Gallium nitride based blue light-emitting diodes, which the Nobel Foundation said enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.1
Recognition
- 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics (one third share), for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes1
Sources
- Nobel Prize Outreach, Isamu Akasaki, Facts (accessed 2026-10-27)
- Google Patents, US5122845A Substrate for growing gallium nitride compound-semiconductor device and light emitting diode (accessed 2026-10-27)