Light-emitting transistor uses light to transfer an electrical signal

User rating: 4.5 / 5 after 106 vote(s)

This close-up drawing of the LET shows the ultrathin silicon junction acting as a quantum well. After recombination the electric carriers are confined into a standing wave greatly increasing the electroluminescence efficiency. Credit: Shin-ichi Saito ...
This close-up drawing of the LET shows the ultrathin silicon junction acting as a quantum well. After recombination, the electric carriers are confined into a standing wave, greatly increasing the electroluminescence efficiency. Credit: Shin-ichi Saito, et al.

In one of the early discoveries of the current "silicon electrophotonics era," scientists from Hitachi, Ltd. in Tokyo have built a light-emitting transistor (LET) that transfers, detects and controls an electrical signal all on a single nanometer-sized chip. Using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, the group could optically connect the LET to a detector, resulting in a tiny chip that may integrate a wide range of microelectronics and photonics nano devices.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for November 01, 2006
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive