{"id":266015,"date":"2021-01-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=266015"},"modified":"2021-01-01T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T14:00:00","slug":"light-from-silicon-proclaimed-as-breakthrough-of-the-year-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/light-from-silicon-proclaimed-as-breakthrough-of-the-year-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Light from silicon proclaimed as \u2018Breakthrough of the Year 2020\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April of this year, TU\/e presented a new gamechanger in the chip world:\u00a0silicon that emits light<\/a>.\u00a0For decades it\u00a0has been regarded as the \u2018Holy Grail\u2019 in the microelectronics industry<\/a>, given that it could make computer chips faster than ever. The physics magazine\u00a0Physics World<\/em>\u00a0recognizes this revolutionary new discovery, and now deems the work of the group of TU\/e researcher Erik Bakkers to be the Breakthrough of the Year<\/a>. The work of the Eindhoven researchers joins other recent noteworthy scientific discoveries in winning the award such as the\u00a0<\/a>photo of the black hole<\/a>\u00a0(2019), the\u00a0<\/a>detection of gravitational waves<\/a>\u00a0(2017), and the\u00a0<\/a>discovery of the Higgs-particle<\/a>\u00a0(2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research leader Erik Bakkers<\/a> is very proud of the prize, which he wins together with Elham Fadaly and Alain Dijkstra from TU\/e, Jens Ren\u00e8 Suckert from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universit\u00e4t Jena in Germany, as well as an international team of collaborators: \u201cWe have been working on this for a very long time so it is very nice that we finally managed to succeed; a great achievement by the whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits: \u201cAs the board, we are extremely proud of the pioneering work of Erik Bakkers’ group. We think the recognition by\u00a0Physics World<\/em>\u00a0is entirely justified. Erik Bakkers is world-leading in the field of nanowires, and his work is fundamental and application-oriented at the same time. It will undoubtedly result in even more breakthroughs that will benefit the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driver our information-based society<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Physics World is a publication of the renowned UK\u00a0Institute of Physics<\/a>. Every year they proclaim a new physics discovery to be the \u201cBreakthrough of the Year\u201d. Jury member and editor of\u00a0Physics World<\/em>\u00a0Hamish Johnston explains why this research was crowned: \u201cSilicon devices drive our information-based society, but the material\u2019s indirect bandgap [an inherent property of the atomic structure, which prevents it from emitting light] has held it back when it comes to telecommunications and other cutting-edge optical applications. By creating a silicon-based material that emits light at telecommunications wavelengths, Bakkers\u2019 team has opened the door to a brand new world of applications for silicon devices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This finding in relation to silicon-based devices is timely given that our current technologies, which are predominantly based on electronic chips, are reaching their operational limits. The limiting factor is heat, resulting from the resistance that the electrons experience when traveling through the copper lines that connect the many millions of transistors on a chip. If we want to continue transferring more and more data on our future chips, we need a new technique that does not produce excessive heat associated with resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n