Zhores Alferov

Zhores Alferov was a Russian physicist whose research on semiconductor heterostructures, layered devices combining different semiconductor materials, opened the way to far more efficient solar cells as well as laser diodes and LEDs. His heterostructure work showed how carefully engineered semiconductor layers could convert light to electricity, and electricity to light, more efficiently than the simple semiconductor junctions used before, principles that fed directly into later generations of high efficiency photovoltaic cells. Alferov received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high speed and optoelectronics, an honor he shared with Herbert Kroemer and Jack Kilby.