light-producing semiconductor tagged posts

A microlaser comprised of a cylinder of indium gallium arsenide phosphide (red) on silicon (blue) could enable integrated optical circuits. Credit: © 2016 A*STAR Data Storage Institute

Combining silicon with a light-producing semiconductor may help develop micrometer-scale lasers, shows Doris Keh-Ting Ng and her colleagues from A*STAR Data Storage Institute. Silicon has revolutionized the manufacture of electrical devices. Electronic engineers would like to further expand the functionality of these integrated circuits by enabling them to create, manipulate and detect light. These optoelectronic devices could speed up processing of digital information, and lead to micrometer-scale lasers, for use in barcode scanners for example.

The problem, however, is that silicon is not an efficient lig...