Tunneling holds key to high-speed modulation of transistor and laser development
Monday, December 5, 2016 - 10:01
in Physics & Chemistry
In 2004, electrical engineering pioneers Nick Holonyak, Jr. and Milton Feng at the University of Illinois invented the transistor laser—a three-port device that incorporated quantum-wells in the base and an optical cavity—increasing its capacity to transmit data one hundred-fold. Two recent studies by the researchers are expected to significantly impact the fundamental modulation bandwidth of the transistor and the laser operation for energy-efficient high speed data transfer in optical and 5G wireless communications.