# Ashish K Sharma — Energy Materials & Devices Laboratory, Central University of Jammu

> Experimental condensed-matter physicist. Thermoelectric energy conversion and
> wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, with ion-beam defect engineering as the
> method. **Publishes under the name Ashish Kumar.** ORCID 0000-0002-5240-3472.

## Identity
- Display name: Ashish K Sharma
- Publication name: Ashish Kumar — every paper, patent and award is under this name
- Laboratory: Energy Materials & Devices Laboratory
- Position: Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomical Sciences, Central University of Jammu,
  Samba, J&K 181143, India. Professor from July 2026; joined CU Jammu 2023.
- Earlier: UPES Dehradun (2021–2023); IUAC New Delhi (2013–2021), as
  DST-INSPIRE Faculty then SERB Research Scientist
- PhD: IIT Delhi, 2013, under Prof. Rajendra Singh
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5240-3472
- Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eSKL8HgAAAAJ

## Research — six areas
1. Energy: thermoelectric power conversion. Organic (PEDOT:PSS, FeCl3-doped
   P3HT), inorganic (Bi2Te3 with Sn and Zn, CoSb3, SrTiO3, and the wide-bandgap
   route through GaN and beta-Ga2O3, beyond the narrow window in which Bi2Te3
   stays efficient), hybrid
   (PEDOT:PSS/Bi2Te3 with rGO, PVDF with Ni nanowires), flexible and printed
   devices. RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Award 2024.
2. Power semiconductor devices: SiC, GaN, beta-Ga2O3 and graphene on silicon;
   Schottky diodes, AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, photodetectors, heterostructures.
   Ruthenium passivation raised the GaN Schottky barrier from 0.78 to 0.91 eV
   and cut reverse leakage by two orders of magnitude. DRDO CARS.
3. Defects in semiconductors: native and induced (irradiation, implantation).
   DLTS 80-500 K, 1/f noise, Hall transport. In-situ DLTS under a live swift
   heavy ion beam at the IUAC 15UD Pelletron — a pioneering capability for
   real-time measurement during irradiation, first reported by the group in
   Semicond. Sci. Technol. 33, 085008 (2018).
4. A dual approach: experiment answered by theory — SRIM/TRIM, molecular
   dynamics, DFT in Quantum ATK and WIEN2k, Boltzmann transport.
5. Building infrastructure: more than five instruments designed and built in
   house, for high precision at low cost — see below.
6. New materials and applications: 2D materials (graphene, MoS2) and carbon
   nanotubes for space missions; EUV and soft X-ray multilayer optics.

## National mission alignment
India Semiconductor Mission — qualified ohmic and Schottky contacts and
radiation-tolerant devices on SiC and GaN (DRDO CARS).
National Quantum Mission — deep-level spectroscopy of the single-defect states
that govern coherence and yield in wide-bandgap and 2D platforms.
Indian space programme — EUV/X-ray multilayer mirror prototypes for
polarimetric missions and radiation-tolerant coatings (ISRO RESPOND).

## Instruments built in the group
More than five custom systems designed and commissioned by the PI: in-situ I–V, C–V and
DLTS under a live ion beam at the IUAC Pelletron; Seebeck coefficient and
resistivity, 80–650 K (Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 104901, 2019,
doi:10.1063/1.5116186 — now used by
collaborating national groups); ZT and thermal conductivity, 300–1000 K;
1/f noise; a dipstick optical cryostat. A CVD system to 1400 C is commissioned
in the Department at CU Jammu.

## Funding as Principal Investigator — Rs 204.83 L across eight grants
Active (Rs 95.38 L): ISRO RESPOND RES-URSC-2023-010, Rs 59.31 L, 2024–2027;
DRDO CARS, Rs 26.07 L, 2023–2026; IUAC UFR-76304, Rs 10.00 L, 2024–2027.
Completed: DST-INSPIRE Faculty Rs 35.00 L (2015–2020); SERB Research Scientist
Rs 14.00 L (2020–2022); UPES SEED Infra Rs 33.00 L (electrical
characterisation: impedance spectroscopy, I–V, C–V) and Rs 27.00 L
(thermoelectric transport: Seebeck and thermal conductivity);
UGC-DAE-CSR Rs 0.45 L (2022–2023). DST-FIST sanctioned to the Department 2024.

## Group
Four doctoral candidates: Muskan Verma, Ritu Rani, Satyarth Verma,
Vikas Dhiman. Three PhDs awarded: Navneet Kumar (2023), Vaishali Rathi (2025,
Best PhD Thesis, UPES), Kamal Singh (2026). About twenty M.Tech, M.Sc. and
B.Tech projects supervised.

## Honours
69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Germany (2019); SERB Research Scientist
Award (2020); DST-INSPIRE Faculty Award (2015); RSC Advances Outstanding
Student Paper Award (2024); DST–IST Visiting Fellowship, Valladolid (2017).

## Teaching
Condensed Matter Physics; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Modern Physics;
Thermal and Statistical Physics — Central University of Jammu.

## Pages
- Home: https://dr-aks.github.io/
- Research, projects and instruments: https://dr-aks.github.io/research.html
- Publications, patents and talks (searchable, live from ORCID): https://dr-aks.github.io/publications.html
- People, collaborators and open positions: https://dr-aks.github.io/people.html
- News and gallery: https://dr-aks.github.io/news.html
- Curated resources for students and researchers: https://dr-aks.github.io/resources.html
- Teaching, mentors, service and contact: https://dr-aks.github.io/about.html

## Contact
ashish.phy@cujammu.ac.in
Room 120F, First Floor, Aryabhatta Bhawan (Science Block),
Department of Physics & Astronomical Sciences, Central University of Jammu,
Rahya-Suchani, Samba, Jammu & Kashmir 181143, India