The new device could have significant applications in electronics

Nov 17, 2011 10:16 GMT  ·  By
This carrier holds a single chip containing hundreds of the Stanford low-power LEDs integrated together
   This carrier holds a single chip containing hundreds of the Stanford low-power LEDs integrated together

A group of investigators from the Stanford University School of Engineering announces the creation of a new type of nanoscale light-emitting diode (LED). The device is capable of transmitting data at extremely fast rates, all while consuming thousands of times less energy than similar tools.

Such a drastic improvement in energy consumption was reached through the innovative approach that the Stanford team took to creating the nanophotonic device. Their LED could enable significant energy saves, when compared to technologies in existence today.

The team believes that on-chip data transmission will stand to gain considerably from the new technology, once the latter is properly developed and implemented. The transfers could take place at speeds reaching 10 billion bits per second.

Details of the investigation appear on Tuesday, in the November 15 issue of the top scientific journal Nature Communications. The work was led by associate professor of electrical engineering Jelena Vuckovic and electrical engineering PhD candidate Gary Shambat, both at Stanford.

An important aspect of the new nanophotonic device is that it can easily operate at room temperature. A laser Vuckovic presented earlier this year had about the same characteristics as the new LED, but could only function at temperature of about 150 degrees Kelving (-190ºFahrenheit, -123ºCelsius).

“Low-power, electrically controlled light sources are vital for next-generation optical systems to meet the growing energy demands of the computer industry. This moves us in that direction significantly,” Vuckovic explains, adding that the device is a single-mode LED.

What this means is that it resembles a laser in its mode of operation, since it produces light that is mainly of a single wavelength. “Traditionally, engineers have thought only lasers can communicate at high data rates and ultra-low power,” Shambat explains.

“Our nanophotonic, single-mode LED can perform all the same tasks as lasers, but at much lower power,” he adds. Shambat says that the single-mode LED the team developed rely heavily on islands of indium arsenide that were placed within their very structure.

Vuckovic says that quantum dots and photonic crystals are absolutely indispensable for the creation of this type of LED. In addition, these components also contribute to making the entire diode highly energy efficient, as well as fast.

“Our device is some 2,000 times more energy efficient than best devices in use today,” the investigator concludes.