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PDI has announced a collaboration with scientific technology company Bizmuth MBE Ltd. to integrate intelligent automation into the growth of semiconductor materials. The six-month partnership, running from June to December 2025, is one of the first initiatives in Europe to apply large language models (LLMs) and multimodal AI to the autonomous control of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

A new study by researchers at the Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik (PDI), published in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, demonstrates a major advancement in the growth of high-quality indium gallium nitride (InₓGa₁₋ₓN) layers using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

PDI researchers are out in force this summer, sharing their latest findings at conferences and workshops around the world. This is where you can meet them in June and July 2025.

Researchers at the Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics, in collaboration with institutions in Berlin, London, Oxford, and Hamburg, report the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with room-temperature electron mobility values up to 119 cm²/Vs at the interface between epitaxial layers of BaSnO₃ (BSO) and LaInO₃ (LIO). This mobility represents the highest value reported to date for a 2DEG in perovskite oxide systems at room temperature.

A collaborative research effort by scientists from PDI in Berlin, the Pennsylvania State University, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology has demonstrated the successful growth of high-quality indium selenide (InSe) thin films on semi-insulating gallium arsenide GaAs(111)B substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. This result addresses a very timely challenge in synthesizing InSe with controlled crystalline quality and integrating it with the compound semiconductor platform GaAs, thus opening up new possibilities for high-performance optoelectronic devices, including photodetectors and solar cells.

Dr. Alexander Kuznetsov, a scientist in the Semiconductor Spectroscopy Department at PDI and a member of the Core Research Area Control of Elementary Excitations by Acoustic Fields, has been invited to deliver talks at two internationally recognized conferences in 2025.

Dr. Markus Wagner, head of PDI’s Semiconductor Spectroscopy Department, has been invited to speak at Phononics 2025 in Seoul. The conference brings together international experts to explore cutting-edge developments in phononic materials, phonon transport, and topological phononics.

We're delighted to announce that Master’s student Adriano Notarangelo successfully completed his degree in Solid State Physics and Quantum Technologies, graduating with top honors (110/110 cum laude). Adriano conducted his thesis research at PDI from July 2024 to March 2025, working under the supervision of PDI scientist Philipp John and long-time PDI collaborator Stefano Carlo Cecchi.

We’re pleased to announce that Francisca Marín Largo has successfully completed her PhD at PDI, defending her dissertation “Charge Carrier Dynamics Under the Influence of Extreme Strain Gradients Realized in Bent Semiconductor Nanowires.”

Our researchers are regularly invited to speak at top international events. Here’s where you can catch them in April.