Light emitting and lasing semiconductor devices and methods

• Main Authors: HOLONYAK, NICK, FENG, MILTON, WALTER, GABRIEL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.08.2011
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION; ELECTRICITY; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; NANOTECHNOLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; TRANSPORTING

A semiconductor light emitting device, including: a heterojunction bipolar light-emitting transistor having a base region between emitter and collector regions; emitter, base, and collector electrodes for coupling electrical signals with the emitter, base, and collector regions, respectively; and a quantum size region in the base region; the base region including a first base sub-region on the emitter side of the quantum size region, and a second base sub-region on the collector side of the quantum size region; and the first and second base sub- regions having asymmetrical band structures. Also disclosed is a method for producing light emission from a two-terminal semiconductor structure, including the following steps: providing a semiconductor structure that includes a first semiconductor junction between an emitter region of a first conductivity type and a base region of a second conductivity type opposite to that of the first conductivity type, and a second semiconductor junction between the base region and a drain region; providing, within the base region, a region exhibiting quantum size effects; providing an emitter electrode coupled with the emitter region; providing a base/drain electrode coupled with the base region and the drain region; and applying signals with respect to the emitter and base/drain electrodes to obtain light emission from the semiconductor structure.