Category Archives: LEDs

The latest research from the Niels Bohr Institute shows that LEDs made from nanowires will use less energy and provide better light. The researchers studied nanowires using X-ray microscopy and with this method they can pinpoint exactly how the nanowire should be designed to give the best properties. The results are published in the scientific journal, ACS Nano.

Nanowires are very small – about 2 micrometers high (1 micrometer is a thousandth of a millimetre) and 10-500 nanometers in diameter (1 nanometer is a thousandth of a micrometer). Nanowires for LEDs are made up of an inner core of gallium nitride (GaN) and a layer of indium-gallium-nitride (InGaN) on the outside, both of which are semiconducting materials.

“The light in such a diode is dependent on the mechanical strain that exists between the two materials and the strain is very dependent on how the two layers are in contact with each other. We have examined a number of nanowires using X-ray microscopy and even though the nanowires should in principle be identical, we can see that they are different and have very different structure,” explains Robert Feidenhans’l, professor and head of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

The X-ray images of each nanowire show the distribution of the scattering intensity and the mechanical strain in the core of gallium-nitride and the shell of indium-gallium-nitride. The strain shows that the shell fits perfectly with the core. Credit: Tomas Stankevic, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

The X-ray images of each nanowire show the distribution of the scattering intensity and the mechanical strain in the core of gallium-nitride and the shell of indium-gallium-nitride. The strain shows that the shell fits perfectly with the core.
Credit: Tomas Stankevic, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

Surprisingly efficient 

The studies were performed using nanoscale X-ray microscopy in the electron synchrotron at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. The method is usually very time consuming and the results are often limited to very few or even a single study subject. But here researchers have managed to measure a series of upright nanowires all at once using a special design of a nanofocused X-ray without destroying the nanowires in the process.

“We measured 20 nanowires and when we saw the images, we were very surprised because you could clearly see the details of each nanowire. You can see the structure of both the inner core and the outer layer. If there are defects in the structure or if they are slightly bent, they do not function as well. So we can identify exactly which nanowires are the best and have the most efficient core/shell structure,” explains Tomas Stankevic, a PhD student in the research group ‘Neutron and X-ray Scattering’ at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

The nanowires are produced by a company in Sweden and this new information can be used to tweak the layer structure in the nanowires. Professor Robert Feidenhans’l explains that there is great potential in such nanowires. They will provide a more natural light in LEDs and they will use much less power. In addition, they could be used in smart phones, televisions and many forms of lighting.

The researchers expect that things could go very quickly and that they may already be in use within five years.

Ultratech, Inc., a supplier of lithography, laser­-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-­brightness LEDs (HB­-LEDs), as well as atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, announced that its Cambridge NanoTech business unit, Ultratech-CNT, has shipped its 400th ALD system. The system was purchased by the University of Michigan.

Dr. Neil Dasgupta, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Michigan, whose group received the ALD equipment, said, “Ultratech-CNT’s ALD system has provided a significant boost to our research productivity, enabling us to make rapid advances in the field of surface and interfacial modification of energy conversion devices, including batteries, solar cells, and catalysts. The versatility of the ALD system to address the varied needs of our research program, coupled with the depth of knowledge of their science and engineering team, has enabled us to move very quickly towards producing high-impact research. We are happy to be part of this significant milestone in receiving the 400th system, and we look forward to developing a strong relationship with Ultratech-CNT.”

Ultratech-CNT Vice-President of Research and Engineering, Ganesh Sundaram, Ph.D., said, “It has always been about the scientist and researcher, and about making them successful in achieving their research goals.  We are extremely gratified by Professor Dasgupta’s decision to purchase our ALD system.  We have known his work since his days as a graduate student at Stanford University, and he has consistently produced noteworthy results using ALD. Looking forward, we are excited by the prospects of the breakthroughs in science that he, along with all other researchers, will be making using our instruments.  For our part, we celebrate the shipment of our 400th system and will continue our tradition of providing deep expertise combined with exciting technology.”

Ultratech-CNT’s ALD Systems: 

Savannah G2 ALD System
The Savannah G2 platform incorporates a wide range of advanced field-upgradable options intended to aid serious researchers in expanding their portfolio of available ALD films, as well as allow them to characterize the films in real time.

Phoenix G2 Batch ALD System
Engineered for high throughput, the Phoenix provides maximum uptime in any fabrication environment from pilot production to industrial-grade manufacturing. Technologists and researchers rely on the Phoenix for repeatable, highly-accurate film deposition on flat and 3-D substrates alike for batch production ALD requirements.

Fiji High-Vacuum ALD System
A modular, high-vacuum ALD system, the Fiji series accommodates a wide range of deposition modes using a flexible architecture and multiple configurations of precursors and plasma gases. The result is a next-generation ALD system capable of performing thermal and plasma-enhanced deposition.

From connectivity to globalization and sustainability, the “Law” created by Gordon Moore’s prediction for the pace of semiconductor technology advances has set the stage for global technology innovation and contribution for 50 years. The exponential advances predicted by Moore’s Law have transformed the world we live in. The ongoing innovation, invention and investment in technology and the effects that arise from it are likely to enable continued advances along this same path in the future, according to a new report from IHS Inc. Titled “Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Moore’s Law,” the report describes how the activity predicted by Moore’s Law not only drives technological change, but has also created huge economic value and driven social advancement.

In April of 1965, Fairchild Semiconductor’s Research and Development Director, Gordon Moore, who later founded Intel, penned an article that led with the observation that transistors would decrease in cost and increase in performance at an exponential rate. More specifically, Moore posited that the quantity of transistors that can be incorporated into a single chip would approximately double every 18 to 24 months. This seminal observation was later dubbed “Moore’s Law.”

“Fifty years ago today, Moore defined the trajectory of the semiconductor industry, with profound consequences that continue to touch every aspect of our day-to-day lives,” said Dale Ford, vice president and chief analyst for IHS Technology. “In fact, Moore’s Law forecast a period of explosive growth in innovation that has transformed life as we know it.”

The IHS Technology report, which is available as a free download, finds that an estimated $3 trillion of additional value has been added to the global gross domestic product (GDP), plus another $9 trillion of indirect value in the last 20 years, due to the pace of innovation predicted by Moore’s Law. The total value is more than the combined GDP of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

If the cadence of Moore’s Law had slowed to every three years, rather than two years, technology would have only advanced to 1998 levels: smart phones would be nine years away, the commercial Internet in its infancy (five years old) and social media would not yet have skyrocketed.

“Moore’s Law has proven to be the most effective predictive tool of the last half-century of technological innovation, economic advancement, and by association, social and cultural change,” Ford said. “It has implications for connectivity and the way we interact, as evidenced by the way social relationships now span the globe. It also provides insight into globalization and economic growth, as technology continues to transform entire industries and economies. Finally it reveals the importance of how sustainability affects life on Earth, as we continue to transform our physical world in both positive and negative ways.”

Moores Law full

The Moore’s Law Era: Explosive Economic and Societal Change

The consequences of Moore’s Law has fueled multifactor productivity growth. The activity forecast by the law has contributed a full percentage point to real GDP growth, including both direct and indirect impact, every year between 1995 and 2011, representing 37 percent of global economic impact.

“Not even Gordon Moore himself predicted the blistering pace of change for the modern world,” Ford said. “While it is true most people have never seen a microprocessor, every day we benefit from experiences that are all made possible by the exponential growth in technologies that underpin modern life.”

According to the “Moore’s Law Impact Report,” the repercussions of Moore’s Law have contributed to an improved quality of life, because of the advances made possible in healthcare, sustainability and other industries. The results of advanced digital technology include the following:

  • Forty percent of the world’s households now have high-speed connections, compared to less than 0.1 percent in 1991
  • Up to 150 billion incremental barrels of oil could potentially be extracted from discovered global oil fields
  • Researchers can perform 1.5 million high-speed screening tests per week (up from 180 in 1997), allowing for the development of new material, such as bio-fuels and feedstock’s for plant-based chemicals

Moore’s Law: Reflecting the Pace of Change

Moore’s Law is not a law but an unspoken agreement between the electronics industry and the world economy that inspires engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs to think about what may be possible.

“Whatever has been done, can be outdone,” said Gordon Moore. “The industry has been phenomenally creative in continuing to increase the complexity of chips. It’s hard to believe – at least it’s hard for me to believe – that now we talk in terms of billions of transistors on a chip rather than tens, hundreds or thousands.”

Moore’s observation has transformed computing from a rare, expensive capability into an affordable, pervasive and powerful force – the foundation for Internet, social media, modern data analytics and more. “Moore’s Law has helped inspire invention, giving the world more powerful computers and devices that enable us to connect to each other, to be creative, to be productive, to learn and stay informed, to manage health and finances, and to be entertained,” Ford said.

Millennials: The Stewards of Moore’s Law

From the changing shape and feel of how humans communicate to the delivery of healthcare, changing modes of transportation, cities of the future, harvesting energy resources, classroom learning and more – technology innovations that spring from Moore’s Law likely will remain a foundational force for growth into the next decade.

From data sharing, self-driving cars and drones to smart cities, smart homes and smart agriculture, Moore’s Law will enable people to continuously shrink technology and make it more power efficient, allowing creators, engineers and makers to rethink where – and in what situations – computing is possible and desirable.

Computing may disappear into the objects and spaces that we interact with – even the fabric of our clothes or ingestible tracking devices in our bodies. New devices may be created with powerful, inexpensive technology and combining this with the ability to pool and share more information, new experiences become possible.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.56 billion in orders worldwide in May 2015 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.99, according to the May EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 0.99 means that $99 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

SEMI reports that the three-month average of worldwide bookings in May 2015 was $1.56 billion. The bookings figure is 0.8 percent lower than the final April 2015 level of $1.57 billion, and is 11.0 percent higher than the May 2014 order level of $1.41 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in May 2015 was $1.57 billion. The billings figure is 3.7 percent higher than the final April 2015 level of $1.51 billion, and is 11.6 percent higher than the May 2014 billings level of $1.41 billion.

“The May book-to-bill ratio slipped below parity as billings improved and bookings dipped slightly from April’s values,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “Compared to one year ago, both bookings and billings continue to trend at higher levels.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
December 2014 

$1,395.9

$1,381.5

0.99
January 2015 

$1,279.1

$1,325.6

1.04
February 2015 

$1,280.1

$1,313.7

1.03
March 2015 

$1,265.6

$1,392.7

1.10
April 2015 (final)

$1,515.3

$1,573.7

1.04
May 2015 (prelim)

$1,571.2

$1,561.4

0.99

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), June 2015

Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs based on its Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon platform, announced today the closing of its Series B financing round and the execution of development and supply contracts with major LED buyers.

The round, totalling up to €28.4 million (approximately $31 million), includes new investments from Valeo, one of the world’s largest automobile-equipment manufacturers and the world’s second-largest supplier of car lighting systems; IKEA GreenTech AB, the venture capital arm of IKEA; and the Ecotechnologies fund of Bpifrance, the French national industrial bank. Aledia’s existing international investors – Sofinnova Partners, Braemar Energy Ventures, Demeter Partners and CEAi/ATi – also participated in the round.

“This financing round, abundantly oversubscribed, and particularly the presence of two very large potential corporate customers, testifies to the interest that our cost-disruptive nanowire LED technology is generating in the customer base, as well as in the financial community,” said Giorgio Anania, CEO, chairman and co-founder of Aledia.

Aledia is developing a new generation of LEDs that are manufactured on large-diameter silicon wafers (200mm or 8-inch), promise to be significantly less expensive than traditional “2D” LEDs, and that allow for integration of electronics into the LED. The company is also working on next-generation displays.

Anania said: “We are progressing with the development of the technology and this financing round will allow us to accelerate significantly the speed of development and the customer traction. In Valeo we have a major potential customer in the automotive LED market, generally viewed as the most profitable market segment. Simultaneously with the investment, we have signed a supply agreement with Valeo.”

Maurizio Martinelli, Valeo Visibility Business Group President, said: “We are convinced that Aledia’s 3D LED technology, together with Valeo’s expertise in automobile lighting systems, has the potential to put on the market a technological breakthrough in innovative lighting systems, perfectly in line with Valeo Lighting System’s mission to provide performance and style, and contribute to the safety of road users.”

Christian Ehrenborg, Managing Director of IKEA GreenTech AB, said: “This technology will be one important part in the IKEA Group strategy to supply high-quality, energy-saving lighting products to consumers worldwide. The low-price opportunity for residential use has the potential of faster implementation of the LED technology, leading to savings for customers. The connectivity functions of Aledia’s technology also open up new interesting possibilities to make life at home more convenient and smarter.”

Anne-Sophie Carrese, Investments Director at Bpifrance Investissement, said: “Bpifrance congratulates Aledia for its success in this operation. It proposes a breakthrough technology in a growing market and positions itself as a major actor in the smart-lighting industry. Aledia also benefits from its head start to create a French and European sector in LED, among which partnerships with prestigious industrialists such as IKEA and Valeo constitute the first stage.”

Dow Corning reported today that the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) granted a patent protecting the company’s high refractive index (RI) phenyl-based optical silicone encapsulant technology, which targets advanced LED lighting applications. Specifically, the patent protects the composition of curable organopolysiloxane chemistry used to formulate Dow Corning Optical Encapsulant products, which offer numerous high-value benefits to LED devices. These benefits include improved light output, excellent mechanical protection of LED components and enduring gas barrier properties for enhanced reliability.  The patent granted by the KIPO ensures only Dow Corning products are authorized to contain the patented technology.

“The KIPO’s decision is only the latest milestone in Dow Corning’s ongoing efforts to rigorously protect its diverse and multi-layered intellectual property family of advanced optical materials,” said Kaz Maruyama, global marketing director, Lighting Solutions, Dow Corning. “We applaud the KIPO’s action, which helps to validate prior decisions from patent offices in the European Union, the United States, Taiwan and Malaysia, as well as Japan, where we began developing this advanced technology more than a decade ago.”

Granted in early March, Patent 101499709 covers the composition of industry leading products such as Dow Corning OE-6630, OE-7620 and OE-7651N Encapsulants. All deliver high RIs in the range of 1.53 to 1.55, compared to the lower RI of 1.41 that is typical of methyl-based silicone chemistries. While seemingly small, that difference can translate into about 7 percent more light output. Achieving a comparable improvement from an LED chip would require significant investment.

In addition to higher RI, Dow Corning’s portfolio of phenyl silicone packaging materials delivers photothermal stability suitable for many middle- and high-power general lighting applications. Compared to methyl-based technology, phenyl-based silicone encapsulants generally offer a stronger gas barrier, which helps protect key LED components such as silver electrodes and phosphor against moisture deterioration and sulfur corrosion. LED electrodes double as reflective elements, and phosphor is a key element of light conversion. As a result, enhanced gas barrier protection helps maintain both light output performance and reliability of LED packages.

“Patenting these high RI phenyl-based optical silicone encapsulants in Korea is an important step for Dow Corning and for its customers, who depend on the consistent high-quality and reliable high-performance that our LED encapsulants provide,” Maruyama said. “Supply chain integrity and consistent material quality will be critical competitive benefits as LED lighting aims to offer a credible, cost-effective alternative to conventional light sources.”

Pixelligent Technologies, producer of PixClear, a producer of nanocrystal dispersions for demanding applications in LED lighting, OLED Lighting, and Optical Coatings & Films markets, announced today that it closed $3.4 million in new funding. The funds will be used to support accelerating customer growth throughout the world and to increase its manufacturing capacity to 40+ tons per year starting in 2016.

“Pixelligent continues to realize increased demand for its nanocrystal dispersions, predominantly driven by the leading LED package manufacturers and the leading OLED lighting producers. Pixelligent’s high-index and transparent zirconia nanocrystals are considered the best in the world by numerous experts and are becoming increasingly important in delivering more light from next generation Solid State Lighting as well as additional efficiencies in Display applications,” said Craig Bandes, President & CEO of Pixelligent.

To date, Pixelligent has raised over $26.0M in equity funding and has been awarded more than $12M in U.S. government grant programs.

Pixelligent Technologies is an advanced materials company that is leveraging nanotechnology to deliver the next generation of high index materials for solid-state lighting and optical components and films applications

Trans-Lux today announced the opening of a new design and production facility in Shenzhen, China to complement its existing manufacturing operations in Des Moines, IA. Additionally, the company announced the formation of new technology partnerships with LED suppliers Prismaflex International (EURONEXT PARIS: ALPRI) in Haute-Rivoire, France, and Squadrat in Schwanstetten, Germany.

“Our new design and production resources in China, and the addition of two highly renowned technology partners, further support the continued growth of Trans-Lux on a global scale,” said J.M. Allain, President and Chief Executive Officer, Trans-Lux. “Our new manufacturing facility in China complements our manufacturing capabilities here in the USA and allows us to accelerate delivery times with better quality controls. Combined with our new technology partners and expanded product LED display solutions for the Out of Home (OOH) market, Trans-Lux delivers the best value proposition for LED displays in the industry.”

The new factory in China, which has already started production of TL Vision and Prismatronic branded LED display systems, further expands and enhances the company’s portfolio of LED solutions. The new China facility also provides TransLux with complete control over mission critical processes to ensure the quality and reliability of products while reducing overall costs. By combining the resources of these two facilities, Trans-Lux will achieve greater manufacturing efficiencies which are being passed to customers in the form of more aggressive pricing. In addition to an expanded role in the manufacture of LED displays, the company’s US manufacturing facility will continue to develop new solutions for the sports scoreboard marketed under the highly popular Fair-Play by Trans-Lux brand.

Trans-Lux and Prismaflex International have joined forces to service the Americas with Prismatronic branded LED displays and BBM (Billboard Manager) software solutions for the OOH market. Trans-Lux has also entered into an alliance with Squadrat to market their powerful SX LED display content management software in the Americas. Trans-Lux will commence marketing the new software offering as epic v2.0.

Fairchild, a supplier of high-performance semiconductor solutions, today launched the FIS1100 6-axis MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the company’s first MEMS product stemming from its strategic investments in MEMS and motion tracking. The FIS1100 IMU integrates a proprietary AttitudeEngine motion processor with best-in-class 9-axis sensor fusion algorithms to provide designers with an easy to implement, system-level solution for superior user experiences with up to ten times lower processing power consumption in a wide range of motion enabled, battery-powered applications.

Fairchild's FIS1100 Intelligent IMU is an easy-to-implement, system-level motion tracking solution that can reduce processor power consumption by as much as 10x. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Fairchild’s FIS1100 Intelligent IMU is an easy-to-implement, system-level motion tracking solution that can reduce processor power consumption by as much as 10x. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“The launch of Fairchild’s first MEMS product is a key milestone for the company as we take our unique design and manufacturing expertise and apply it towards system-level solutions that go beyond power,” said Fairchild Chairman & CEO Mark Thompson. “The advanced algorithms and deep applications know-how from the Xsens acquisition position us well in enabling our customers to develop advanced motion solutions in diverse, quickly growing segments within markets such as consumer, industrial, and health.”

The FIS1100 IMU, with its built in AttitudeEngine motion processor and XKF3 senor fusion, is a low power, highly accurate system solution that provides customers with the always-on sensor technology required for a range of application such as wearable sensors for sports, fitness, and health; pedestrian navigation; autonomous robots; and virtual and augmented reality.

“Motion tracking in consumer devices has expanded rapidly from game interfaces and smartphones into many new Internet of Moving Things applications,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst, MEMS & Sensors, at IHS. “As designers look to differentiate their products with motion, the availability of an IMU with an integrated motion processor and a complete software solution, accelerates time to market while ensuring the best trade-off between competing goals such as small size, long battery life and motion tracking accuracy.”

The AttitudeEngine processes 6-axis inertial data at a high rate internally and outputs to the host processor at a lower rate matching the application needs, eliminating the necessity for high-frequency interrupts. This allows the system processor to remain in sleep-mode longer, providing consumers longer battery life without any compromises in functionality or accuracy. The bundled XKF3 high-performance 9-axis sensor fusion algorithms combine inertial sensor data from the on-chip gyroscopes and accelerometers and data from an external magnetometer. The sensor fusion also includes background auto calibration that enables excellent performance in terms of accuracy, consistency, and fluidity. When combined with the XKF3 sensor fusion algorithms, the FIS1100 is the world’s first complete consumer inertial measurement unit with orientation (quaternion) specifications, featuring pitch and roll accuracy of ±3° and yaw accuracy of ±5°.

The FIS1100 uses Fairchild’s proprietary MEMS process, designed specifically for inertial sensors. The process features several design elements for optimal performance, size and robustness. These include a 60µm device layer with high-aspect ratio, through silicon via (TSV) interconnects and vertical electrodes, as well as a single die gyroscope and accelerometer with a unique dual vacuum design.

Led by Young Duck Kim, a postdoctoral research scientist in James Hone’s group at Columbia Engineering, a team of scientists from Columbia, Seoul National University (SNU), and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) reported today that they have demonstrated — for the first time — an on-chip visible light source using graphene, an atomically thin and perfectly crystalline form of carbon, as a filament. They attached small strips of graphene to metal electrodes, suspended the strips above the substrate, and passed a current through the filaments to cause them to heat up. The study, “Bright visible light emission from graphene,” is published in the Advance Online Publication (AOP) on Nature Nanotechnology‘s website on June 15.

“We’ve created what is essentially the world’s thinnest light bulb,” says Hone, Wang Fon-Jen Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia Engineering and co-author of the study. “This new type of ‘broadband’ light emitter can be integrated into chips and will pave the way towards the realization of atomically thin, flexible, and transparent displays, and graphene-based on-chip optical communications.”

Creating light in small structures on the surface of a chip is crucial for developing fully integrated “photonic” circuits that do with light what is now done with electric currents in semiconductor integrated circuits. Researchers have developed many approaches to do this, but have not yet been able to put the oldest and simplest artificial light source — the incandescent light bulb — onto a chip. This is primarily because light bulb filaments must be extremely hot — thousands of degrees Celsius — in order to glow in the visible range and micro-scale metal wires cannot withstand such temperatures. In addition, heat transfer from the hot filament to its surroundings is extremely efficient at the microscale, making such structures impractical and leading to damage of the surrounding chip.

By measuring the spectrum of the light emitted from the graphene, the team was able to show that the graphene was reaching temperatures of above 2500 degrees Celsius, hot enough to glow brightly.

“The visible light from atomically thin graphene is so intense that it is visible even to the naked eye, without any additional magnification,” explains Young Duck Kim, first and co-lead author on the paper and postdoctoral research scientist who works in Hone’s group at Columbia Engineering.

Interestingly, the spectrum of the emitted light showed peaks at specific wavelengths, which the team discovered was due to interference between the light emitted directly from the graphene and light reflecting off the silicon substrate and passing back through the graphene. Kim notes, “This is only possible because graphene is transparent, unlike any conventional filament, and allows us to tune the emission spectrum by changing the distance to the substrate.”

The ability of graphene to achieve such high temperatures without melting the substrate or the metal electrodes is due to another interesting property: as it heats up, graphene becomes a much poorer conductor of heat. This means that the high temperatures stay confined to a small ‘hot spot’ in the center.

“At the highest temperatures, the electron temperature is much higher than that of acoustic vibrational modes of the graphene lattice, so that less energy is needed to attain temperatures needed for visible light emission,” Myung-Ho Bae, a senior researcher at KRISS and co-lead author, observes. “These unique thermal properties allow us to heat the suspended graphene up to half of temperature of the sun, and improve efficiency 1000 times, as compared to graphene on a solid substrate.”

The team also demonstrated the scalability of their technique by realizing large-scale of arrays of chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) graphene light emitters.

Yun Daniel Park, professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Seoul National University and co-lead author, notes that they are working with the same material that Thomas Edison used when he invented the incandescent light bulb: “Edison originally used carbon as a filament for his light bulb and here we are going back to the same element, but using it in its pure form — graphene — and at its ultimate size limit — one atom thick.”

The group is currently working to further characterize the performance of these devices — for example, how fast they can be turned on and off to create “bits” for optical communications — and to develop techniques for integrating them into flexible substrates.

Hone adds, “We are just starting to dream about other uses for these structures — for example, as micro-hotplates that can be heated to thousands of degrees in a fraction of a second to study high-temperature chemical reactions or catalysis.”