Light Emitting Transistor

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed the world's first light emitting transistor (LET). The hybrid device is similar to other transitors except that it produces an optical output signal in addition to the usual electrical transistor output. The squiggly line in the image above represents a infrared photon emitted from the LETs optical output port. The hybrid device should help meld electrical and optical circuitry designs with one convenient, high-speed package. The researcher team that developed the LET includes the inventor of the first practical LED (N. Holonyak, Jr.) and the developer of the world's fastest bipolar transistor (M. Feng).

Reported by: M. Feng et al., Applied Physics Letters, 5 January 2004

Associated Physics News Update