Institute of High Pressure Physics

The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) has awarded the Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS funding to develop the Centre for Physics and Technology of Nitride Semiconductors “GaN-Unipress.” The International Research Agendas Programme (IRAP FENG) focuses on industrial research and experimental development (basic research is not funded).

Leadership and structure
Project integrates the full spectrum of activities "from material to specific device" in one dedicated center. The IRAP Director is Prof. Michał Boćkowski (IHPP PAS), who also leads WP3. Work-package leaders are: Dr Robert Kucharski (WP1), Dr Tomasz Sochacki (WP2), and Assoc. Prof. Paweł Kempisty (WP4).

The project encompasses four research areas, forming a complete value chain – from material to device and design algorithms:

• WP1: Ammonothermal GaN crystal growth and high-quality substrates (targeting 4-inch GaN).
• WP2: GaN-on-GaN power diodes (p-n, p-i-n, Schottky/JBS) with low losses and high breakdown voltages.
• WP3: Rare-earth-doped GaN as a platform for single-photon sources and quantum sensors, leveraging the proprietary ion implantation + ultra-high-pressure annealing (I/I+UHPA) route.
• WP4: Materials informatics — AI/ML for growth, device design and diagnostics.

Key partnerships
The project will be supported by strong partnerships. WP3 will be developed with the Solid-State Physics Division, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, while WP4 is supported by the AI and Computational Methods Division, Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology. Our strategic international partner is CNR-IMM, Italy (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi), including the team of Dr Fabrizio Roccaforte.

Impact
By integrating state-of-the-art GaN materials and devices with AI-driven optimisation, “GaN-Unipress” will accelerate advances in power electronics and quantum technologies with strong pathways to commercialisation, strengthening Poland’s position on the global map of nitride semiconductor research.

Find out more about the IRA Programme and Call 2/2025 results.

The Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS organized and led the inauguration of the 2025/2026 academic year of Warsaw-4-PhD - the Warsaw PhD School in Natural and BioMedical Sciences.

The ceremony took place on October 1, 2025 and it was kindly hosted free of charge in the auditorium of the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS at Kasprzaka 44/52 in Warsaw.

Inauguration was opened by Prof. Michał Boćkowski, Director of the Institute of High Pressure Physics. The highlights included PhD student presentations, the inaugural lecture by Prof. Sylwester Porowski, and the doctoral oath.

We thank IChF PAS for their hospitality and all attendees for joining us.

We have launched work on the European WBG Pilot Line project - a joint “lab-to-fab” pilot line for wide-bandgap semiconductors (SiC, GaN, and UWBG) designed to strengthen the entire European value chain and accelerate industrial deployments in high value-added applications.

Our Institute contributes unique ammonothermal GaN substrates to the consortium and is developing manufacturing technologies for power and RF structures on 4-inch and larger GaN substrates as part of the Polish node of the pilot line.

The project is based on the infrastructure of partners from Italy, Poland, Sweden, Finland, France, Austria, and Germany, and is closely linked to the Chips for Europe initiative. More details under this link.

In the latest paper "Deep-level point defects at Ga sites in dilute Al_xGa_1−xN alloys" our colleague, Dr. Piotr Kruszewski, along with collaborators, presented new evidence indicating that the electron trap E1 in Al_xGa_1−xN layers - and likely also in GaN - is associated with a point defect located in the gallium sublattice, rather than the nitrogen sublattice, as was commonly believed. Additionally, based on theoretical calculations (Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof - HSE), it was proposed that the donor responsible for the electronic level of the E1 trap is either carbon or molybdenum, corresponding to C_Ga(0/+) or Mo_Ga(0/+), respectively.

The paper has been highlighted as the Applied Physics Letters Editor's Pick and is available here: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0272389