PNP light emitting transistor and method
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsGabriel Walter, Nick Holonyak, Jr., Milton Feng, Richard Chan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A semiconductor light-emitting transistor device, including: a bipolar pnp transistor structure having a p-type collector, an n-type base, and a p-type emitter; a first tunnel junction coupled with the collector, and a second tunnel junction coupled with the emitter; and a collector contact coupled with the first tunnel junction, an emitter contact coupled with the second tunnel junction, and a base contact coupled with the base; whereby, signals applied with respect to the collector, base, and emitter contacts causes light emission from the base by radiative recombination in the base.
Claims15
A method for producing light modulated with an input electrical signal, comprising the steps of:
- providing a bipolar transistor device that includes a p-type collector, an n-type base, and a p-type emitter;
- providing a first tunnel junction coupled with said collector, and a second tunnel junction coupled with said emitter;
- providing a collector contact coupled with said first tunnel junction, and providing an emitter contact coupled with said second tunnel junction, and providing a base contact coupled with said base;
- said step of providing a first tunnel junction comprises providing a layered n+/p+ region with the n+ layer of said n+/p+ region being coupled with said collector contact and the p+ layer of said n+/p+ region being coupled with said collector;
- applying electrical signals with respect to said collector, base, and emitter contacts to cause light emission by radiative recombination in the base region;
- and
- controlling the base current of said transistor device with said input electrical signal to modulate the light emission from said transistor device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.