2018/03/30
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
Keio University
Kyushu University
Key Points
It has been difficult to create a light source that can be integrated on silicon and switched on and off at high speed.
Using graphene, we have successfully created an ultrafast and ultra-compact light-emitting device on silicon. We have also succeeded in arraying the devices, operating them in the atmosphere, and demonstrating optical communication.
This is expected to lead to the realization of highly integrated optical communication devices merged with silicon integrated circuit technology.
Under JST's Strategic Basic Research Programs, a research group led by Associate Professor Hideyuki Maki of the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, has developed a high-speed graphene light-emitting device that operates on a silicon chip. They have not only demonstrated optical communication using this light-emitting device but also discovered a new mechanism that enables high-speed switching (high-speed modulation) of light on and off.
Compound semiconductors, which are currently the primary light sources, are difficult to integrate at high density on silicon chips, posing a barrier to the realization of optical integrated circuits.
This research group has succeeded in developing a new, ultra-compact light-emitting device that can be directly formed on silicon by using graphene, a carbon material that can be controlled at the nanometer scale, as a new material system. The group has experimentally demonstrated that this light-emitting device, despite being a black-body radiator, can be modulated at an ultrafast speed with a response time of 100 ps (one ten-billionth of a second, equivalent to a modulation speed of 10 GHz). They also discovered that this high-speed modulation is achieved through quantum thermal transport. Furthermore, they have demonstrated actual optical communication using this light-emitting device and have also shown that it can be arrayed (arranging multiple devices) using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and can operate in the atmosphere.
This light-emitting device, as a high-speed, ultra-compact light source that can be integrated on silicon, is expected to be applied to highly integrated optical technologies such as optical interconnects and silicon photonics.
This research was conducted in collaboration with Professor Hiroki Ago of the Global Innovation Center, Kyushu University.
The results of this research will be published in the international scientific journal "Nature Communications" on March 29, 2018 (UK time).
For the full press release, please see below.