Team Develops High-Efficiency Laser Placed on Silicon Chips

Scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich are one step closer to integrating lasers directly on silicon chips, allowing data to be transferred more quickly. Together with researchers from Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N) in Paris, the French company STMicroelectronics, and 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. Optical data transfer permits much higher data rates and ranges than current electronic processes while also using less energy. Computation and data centers default to optical fiber whenever cables exceed a length of about 1 m. The researchers predict that in the...