New method from MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore paves the way for improved optoelectronic and 5G devices.
The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, has announced the successful development of a commercially viable way to manufacture integrated silicon III-V chips with high-performance III-V devices inserted into their design.
In most devices today, silicon-based CMOS chips are used for computing, but they are not efficient for illumination and communications, resulting in low efficiency and heat generation. This is why current 5G mobile devices on the market get very hot upon use and can shut down after a short time.
This is where III-V semiconductors are valuable. III-V chips are made with compounds including elements in the third and fifth columns of the periodic table, such as gallium nitride (GaN) and indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs). Due to their unique properties, they are exceptionally well-suited for optoelectronics (such as LEDs) and communications (such as 5G wireless), boosting efficiency substantially.
“By integrating III-V into silicon, we can build upon existing manufacturing capabilities and low-cost volume production techniques of silicon and include the unique optical and electronic functionality of III-V technology,” says Eugene Fitzgerald, CEO and director of SMART and the Merton C. Flemings-SMA Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. “The new chips will be at the heart of future product innovation and power the next generation of communications devices, wearables, and displays.”
Credit: “SMART develops a way to commercially manufacture integrated silicon III-V chips”, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
