Intel Builds First Silicon Based Laser

Finding another use for the material that has built its industry, Intel researchers have developed the world's first laser out of silicon.

Intel says it etched a "waveguide" into silicon's crystalline structure, which amplifies light that passes through it. The amplification has been dubbed the Raman effect.

Initial efforts failed to produce a continuous light stream due to electron buildup, but Intel discovered that it could move the excess electrons away from the light's path by integrating a semiconductor structure called a PIN device.

Intel's findings were published this week in the journal Nature.

"Fundamentally, we have demonstrated for the first time that standard silicon can be used to build devices that amplify light," said Dr. Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's Photonics Technology Lab. "The use of high-quality photonic devices has been limited because they are expensive to manufacture, assemble and package."

Although any commercial application is far off, Intel says the ability of silicon to produce a high-quality laser beam could lead to inexpensive optical devices in computers that transmit data at the speed of light.

"This research is a major step toward bringing the benefits of low-cost, high-bandwidth silicon based optical devices to the mass market," said Paniccia.