Nobel Physics Laureate Shuji Nakamura Sheds Light on How He Invented the Blue LED

Dr. Shuji Nakamura, along with two other Japanese researchers, Dr. Isamu Akasaki and Dr. Hiroshi Amano, received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of their major breakthrough in lighting technology with the invention of efficient blue light- emitting diodes (LED), which has enabled bright, energy-saving white light sources. Dr. Nakamura is a physicist and inventor specializing in semiconductor technology. He is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara College of Engineering. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Dr. Nakamura about his career, the intellectual property legal battle he faced with his former company, Nichia Corp., and the impact of his invention on the world.

TJ: Did you ever imagine that you might receive the Nobel Prize someday?
NAKAMURA: When I was a child, no. I was born in a remote village on Shikoku Island. There were no high schools or universities. But since 1993 when I invented the high-efficiency blue LED, the mass media has come to my house every year on October 7 at midnight, [waiting for the Nobel Prize announcement] and hoping for an interview.

TJ: How was your experience at the University of Tokushima?
NAKAMURA: I was bored by general education. I only wanted to study math and science, and for the first half of the year I didn’t go to class at all. I stayed in my apart- ment studying math and science. My grades were terrible until my mother called me and begged me to please graduate. That six-month period of staying in my apartment was the most important period in my life. I started thinking about life. In high school, I followed what my teachers told me. During those six months, I realized everything they said was totally wrong and that I have to follow what I believe in. I became a totally independent person.

TJ: After you left Nichia, why did you go to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) instead of a Japanese university?
NAKAMURA: I got zero offers from Japanese universities and companies, but a lot from the U.S., including Stanford, MIT and UCSB, and UCSB was the top-ranked in my field. UCSB works in blue LED research, but Stanford doesn’t have such facilities. Stanford is very good for LSI, silicon-based semiconductors. My field is called compound semiconductor research, and UCSB is always on top in this field.

TJ: Let’s talk about blue LED. Why is blue LED so important?
NAKAMURA:Because by using blue LED, we can make white LED. White LED is used for all kinds of lighting applications. The efficiency of white LED is 10 times higher than that of conventional incandescent light bulbs and two times higher than fluorescent. By using white LED for lighting applications, we can save a lot of energy. The United States Department of Energy estimates that by 2030, we can eliminate 30 power plants by using LED lighting. For the world it’s maybe five times that, so 150 power plants could be eliminated by 2030 all over the world. That is a huge energy reduction. So LED lighting has a positive impact when considering global warming. Also, the lifetime of white LED is 50 years. If you install this energy-efficient lighting in your house, you don’t need to change a bulb until you die (laughs)!

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