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Germanium Diodes Mean Progress Toward Silicon-Chip Lasers

Posted by timothy on from the everyone-make-lasery-noises-now dept.

David Orenstein writes "Teams at Stanford and MIT have each reported getting strong light signals from germanium-based diodes on silicon at room temperature. Engineers have long sought to do this because, with further refinement into lasers, such diodes would allow for optical interconnects on chips. Optical interconnects could operate much faster and with less power than electrical (metal) ones that are becoming bottlenecks on current chips."

4 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. And it's organic by cheebie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow, plant-based electronics! This will surely usher in a new age of biological computers that will be able to . . .

    What? It's not a geranium diode?

    Uh, how 'bout that new version of Firefox? Pretty snazzy, eh.

  2. Re:I thought they already existed by ThreeGigs · · Score: 3, Funny

    The news is that they've found a way to grow 'em on silicon, which lends itself well to chip production.

  3. Re:I thought they already existed by ulski · · Score: 2, Funny

    well - they do know how to use the title tag - they actually used the title "Untitled Document"

  4. German dildos do what?! by bazorg · · Score: 2, Funny

    that was my WTF moment for today. I'll get some coffee now. sorry for the interruption.