STMicroelectronics Sets Silicon Light-Emission Record

GENEVA, Oct. 28 -- Semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics announced today its researchers have developed a new technology that allows silicon-based light emitters to match the efficiency of traditional light-emitting compound semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide.
The company said the technology sets a world record for efficiency and opens up many potential applications in which optical and electrical functions are combined on a single silicon chip.
One of the first applications of the new technology is to build power control devices in which the control circuitry is electrically isolated from the power switching transistors, STMicroelectronics said. The company is also investigating integrated optical data-transmission systems for use in advanced CMOS circuits where clock signals are distributed through the chip at the speed of light, as well as low-cost integrated devices for dense wavelength division multiplexing fiber optic communication.
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