Background

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad received his Master of Science (M. Sc.) degree from Govt. College Lahore and ranked first in the state. He completed his master’s and doctoral programs from Texas Tech University in 2003 and 2005, respectively, in the field of wide bandgap semiconductors. He has gone through post-doctoral training at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, in the growth processes involving molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) techniques. He joined the University of South Carolina as a post-doctoral fellow in 2007 and later worked as a research assistant professor. His research focus was the growth and characterization of wide bandgap semiconductors-based materials and devices. Dr. Ahmad worked for the industry as a Senior Scientist from 2010 to 2018, where he developed high-quality ultra-wide bandgap materials for ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs).

Dr. Ahmad joined the University of South Carolina in 2018 as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor to establish his research is ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors. His research involves traditional III-nitride-based semiconductors like AlGaN and recently emerging semiconductor materials like boron nitride and gallium oxides. The research focuses on exploring the novel approaches to MOCVD growth of emerging materials and their application in the devices based on traditional III-nitrides.

Representative Publications

• Samiul Hasan, Abdullah Mamun, Kamal Hussain, Mikhail Gaevski, Iftikhar Ahmad & Asif Khan, Growth evolution of high-quality MOCVD aluminum nitride using nitrogen as carrier gas on the sapphire substrate, Journal of Materials Research, invited Article (2021)
• Samiul Hasan, Abdullah Mamun, Kamal Hussain, Dhruvinkumar Patel, Mikhail Gaevski, Iftikhar Ahmad & Asif Khan, Investigation of MOCVD grown crack-free 4 μm thick aluminum nitride using nitrogen as a carrier gas, MRS Advances 6, 456, (2021)
• Shahab Mollah, Kamal Hussain, Richard Floyd, Abdullah Mamun, Mikhail Gaevski, MVS Chandrashekhar, Iftikhar Ahmad, Grigory Simin, Virginia Wheeler, Charles Eddy, Asif Khan, High-Temperature Operation of AlxGa1xN (x > 0.4) Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors with High-k Atomic Layer Deposited Gate Oxides, 207, physica status solidi (a) (2020)
• Shahab Mollah, Mikhail Gaevski, MVS Chandrashekhar, Xuhong Hu, Virginia Wheeler, Kamal Hussain, Abdullah Mamun, Richard Floyd, Iftikhar Ahmad, Grigory Simin, Charles Eddy, Asif Khan, Ultra-wide bandgap AlGaN metal oxide, semiconductor heterostructure field effect transistors with high-k ALD ZrO2 dielectric, Semiconductor Science and Technology, 34, 125001 (2019)
• K Balakrishnan, M Lachab, HC Chen, MA Khan, D Blom, V Adivarahan, I Ahmad, Q Fareed, MOCVD growth of semipolar Al {sub x} Ga {sub 1-x} N on m-plane sapphire for applications in deep-ultraviolet light emitters, Physica Status Solidi. A, Applications and Materials Science, 208 (2014)
• Iftikhar Ahmad, Balakrishnan Krishnan, Bin Zhang, Qhalid Fareed, Mohamed Lachab, Joseph Dion, Asif Khan, Dislocation reduction in high Al‐content AlGaN films for deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes, physica status solidi (a), 208, 1501 (2011)
• I Ahmad, V Avrutin, H Morkoç, JC Moore, AA Baski, Effect of temperature on the growth of InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown on a strained GaAs layer, Journal of nanoscience and nanotechnology, 8, 2889 (2007)
• I Ahmad, V Kasisomayajula, M Holtz, JM Berg, SR Kurtz, CP Tigges, A. A. Allerman, AG Baca, Self-heating study of an AlGaN/GaN -based heterostructure field-effect transistor using ultraviolet micro-Raman scattering, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 86, 173503 (2005)
• M. Holtz, I. Ahmad, V. V. Kuryatkov,  B. A. Borisov, G. D. Kipshidze, A. Chandolu, S. A. Nikishin, and H. Temkin, Optical Properties of AlN/AlGa(In)N Short Period Superlattices – Deep UV Light Emitting Diodes, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 798 (2004) 

Patent

• Vinod Adivarahan, Asif Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad, Bin Zhang, Alexander Lunev, Semiconductor and template for growing semiconductors, Pat. # 9859457 (2018)

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Microelectronics – ELCT 363
  • F2018, S2019, F2019, S2020, F2021
• Advanced Semiconductor Materials – ELCT 874
  • F2020