Amazing- A 2D LED invented!!!

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Amazing- A 2D LED invented!!!
by \| 11-03-2014 05:28 0
Most modern electronics, from flat-screen TVs and smartphones to computer monitors, use tiny light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. These LEDs are made of semiconductors that emit light with the movement of electrons. As devices get smaller and faster, there is more demand for such semiconductors that are tinier, stronger and more energy efficient. University of Washington scientists have built the thinnest-known LED that can be used as a source of light energy in electronics. The LED is made of flexible semiconductors that are so thin that it would make sense to call them two dimensional, making it possible to stack or use in much smaller and more diverse applications than current technology allows. These LEDs are the thinnest possible ones and are only three atoms thick but have an impressive mechanical strength and high tensile strength.They are not only slim but flexible enough to be folded and are critical for nanotechnology inspired future electronic devices. Most consumer electronics use three-dimensional LEDs, but these are 10 to 20 times thicker than these special LEDs. They are 10,000 times thinner than an average human hair yet the light they emit can be detected by standard measuring equipment. Also, since it is a semiconductor (it is made of tungsten diselenide) it can be implemented in any equipment that use the existing three dimensional silicon technologies. Researchers use regular adhesive tape to extract a single sheet of this material from thick, layered pieces in a method inspired by the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to the University of Manchester for isolating one-atom-thick flakes of carbon, called graphene, from a piece of graphite. In addition to light-emitting applications, this technology could open doors for using light as interconnects to run nano-scale computer chips instead of standard devices that operate off the movement of electrons, or electricity. The latter process creates a lot of heat and wastes power, whereas sending light through a chip to achieve the same purpose would be highly energy efficient. This invention is indeed a major breakthrough and can take us miles on the road to an energy efficient planet.

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