Si-Light Unveils Silicon LEDs

GUILDFORD, U.K. -- Si-Light Technologies' (SLT) unique and patented dislocation engineering technology enables light emission in silicon from about 1100 nm up to 1650 nm. SLT's LEDs are comparable with efficiencies achieved in conventional devices. In contrast to alternative approaches for fabricating light emitting devices in Si, SLT's devices are robust and highly reliable, are ordinary forward biased pn junctions with sub-volt turn-on voltages, requiring low drive potentials and are wavelength tunable. Furthermore, the technology is compatible with standard ULSI Si-CMOS manufacturing processes and uses standard tool sets. This offers the competitive advantage to combine monolithically CMOS electronic data processing with optical data transmission and, in principle, a new approach for realizing optical interconnects necessary in electronic ICs for the next generation computers.

In a current UK-Government's Department of Trade and Industry funded SMART feasibility project, SLT will investigate low cost applications of its highly versatile technology in suitable market sectors. Potential applications of its present technology as-available include silicon optoelectronic ICs, MOEMS, Lab-on-a-Chip, all silicon optical sensors, optocouplers, with the benefit of significantly reduced manufacturing costs compared with conventional hybrid approaches. Applications requiring a fast coherent chirp-free light source are on SLT's long-term goal list. Detectors using the same technology as the emitters are under development.

Si-Light Technologies Ltd was founded by inventing team of Dr Russell Gwilliam, Director of Technology at the EPSRC National Facility for Ion Beam Technology, Dr Kevin Homewood, Professor of Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Dr Guosheng Shao, all academics at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Si-Light Technologies is an early-stage, government funded start-up company registered in England and Wales in 2002.

The SMART feasibility project will be led by Dr. Peter W. Epperlein ([email protected]), a veteran with 20 years experience in semiconductor technologies with IBM Research, IBM/Uniphase Laser Enterprise, Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies and most recently with the start-up Essient Photonics. Si-Light Technologies Ltd.