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Scientists Build Three Atom Thick LEDs

Posted by Unknown on from the smaller-better-faster dept.

minty3 tipped us to news that UW researchers have built the thinnest LEDs yet: a mere three atoms thick. Quoting El Reg: "Team leader Xiaodong Xu, a UW assistant professor in physics and materials science and engineering, and his graduate student Ross, have published the technique in the latest issue of Nature Nanotechnology. They report that the LEDs are small and powerful enough to be used in optical chips that use light instead of electricity to shuttle signals and data through a processor, or they could be stacked to make new thin and flexible displays."

12 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. I'll believe it... by Rick+in+China · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I see it!

  2. Only three atoms thick! by hey! · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately, that means they have to be several kilometers in width...

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    1. Re:Only three atoms thick! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, but it's "waffer-thin" !

  3. Insulation... by Miamicanes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And how many atoms thick does the insulating layer between adjacent photosensitive or photoemitting structures need to be to prevent light emitted by one pair's LED from unduly influencing the state of an adjacent photodiode/phototransistor?

    What, exactly, is the benefit of building a chip whose internal connections are basically all optoisolators?

    1. Re:Insulation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He is just making a couple of questions. I don't see him shitting on other people's work(whether this was his intention or not, IDK). Your too fast in to jump in conclusions. If I had an account and mod points you'd definitely get a "flamebait" -1 mod.

    2. Re:Insulation... by fisted · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What the hell, dude, his question is very justified if you even just briefly think about it.

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    3. Re:Insulation... by thevirtualcat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As other people have said, the advantage is speed.

      Of course nobody is expecting this tech to replace silicon based chips anytime soon. There's obviously a lot of R&D to be done and, let's face it, nothing may EVER come of it. That's just how science is. We don't know in advance what theories and tech will pan out.

      As for leakage between structures? I'm willing to bet we don't need perfect isolation. Just enough isolation that the interference is predictable. (Much like electrons in silicon...)

    4. Re:Insulation... by BitZtream · · Score: 3, Informative

      We've had that for years already, and no, its not all that useful in computer chips. You need very specific directed communications almost exclusively except for the clock pulse.

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  4. Didn't Stop At One? by CrankyFool · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm impressed that they didn't just build one one atom thick LED, but three of them. Was it to prove they could reproduce it?

  5. In this case, UW == Univ. of Washington by enos · · Score: 4, Informative

    To be clear, only two authors are from the University of Washington. They have many collaborators, including from Univ. of Tennessee, Oak Ridge NL, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong.

    Submitter: University of Wisconsin and University of Waterloo are also known as "UW". It's worth expanding on first use.

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    1. Re:In this case, UW == Univ. of Washington by Alomex · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to mention University of Warwick, University of Wales, University of Worcested and University of Warsaw all of which use UW to various degrees.

    2. Re:In this case, UW == Univ. of Washington by GTRacer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wouldn't be very good universities if they didn't have various degrees...

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