Researchers from the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed light-emitting, silicon-germanium alloys.

As a result, the development of a silicon laser capable of integration into today’s chips is within reach for the first time.

Researchers have tried to build silicon or germanium-based lasers,  but silicon normally crystallizes in a cubic crystal lattice which makes it unsuitable for converting electrons into light.

Together with colleagues from the Technical University of Munich and the universities in Jena and Linz, researchers at the Technical University of Eindhoven have now developed alloys made of germanium and silicon capable of emitting light.

The crucial step in developin alloys capable of emitting light was the ability to produce germanium and alloys from germanium and silicon with a hexagonal crystal lattice.

“This material has a direct band gap, and can therefore emit light itself,” says Prof. Jonathan Finley (pictured) Professor of Semiconductor Quantum Nanosystems at TUM, “if we can implement on-chip and inter-chip electronic communications by optical means, speeds can be increased by a factor of up to 1,000,” says Jonathan Finley. “In addition, the direct combination of optics and electronics could drastically reduce the cost of chips for laser-based radar in self-driving cars, chemical sensors for medical diagnostics, and air and food quality measurements.”