High-efficiency laser for silicon chips

Transistors work electrically, but data can be transmitted more quickly by using light. Scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich have now come a step closer to integrating lasers directly in silicon chips. Together with researchers from Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies in Paris and the French company STMicroelectronics as well as CEA-LETI Grenoble, they have developed a compatible semiconductor laser made of germanium and tin, whose efficiency is comparable with conventional GaAs semiconductor lasers on Si.