Kelabit co-invents fastest LET, LED

http://www.malaysianmirror.com/nationaldetail/6-national/1818-kelabit-co-invents-fastest-let-led

Kelabit co-invents fastest LET, LED

Thursday, 18 June 2009 14:55

KUALA LUMPUR - A young Kelabit put Malaysia on the forefront of environmental technology by co-inventing the world's fastest Light Emitting Transistor (LET) and Light Emitting Diode (LED).

Gabriel Walter, 32, who holds a bachelor and master's degree as well as a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) in the United States, scored both a national and personal breakthrough in technology by co-inventing light emitters capable of transmitting at speeds of up to 7GHz.

This translates into technology that is capable of conserving a massive amount of energy, in an age where every country is trying to come up with renewable sources and conserve whatever is available.

For more than 40 years, the scientific community believed that light devices cannot be operated at bandwidths larger than 1 GHz.

However, Walter, through collaboration between his own company Quantum Electro Opto Systems (QEOS) Sdn Bhd and a research team from his alma mater, came up with the technology that defied 40 years of scientific norm.

It took over five years of research but the QEOS-UIUC team proved that it was possible to operate LET at 4.3GHz and LED at 7GHz.

According to US-based Walter, the QEOS gigabit speed LED was unique as it was cost-efficient to make and its implementation was "as effortless as the light bulb". "It will introduce a pricing pressure and impact not seen before in the data communication and consumer electronic market. And for some fibre optic implementations, the LEDs consume 90 per cent less power compared to existing optical solutions," he said in a media release Wednesday.

He said the high-speed LEDs would enable a new class of cost-competitive "green" products that were not only environmentally friendly but aesthetically pleasing as well. "Those thick ugly cables that usually come with your high-definition television and monitors will be things of the past," he said.


Breakthrough technology


The research was funded by an agency under the United States Department of Defence for the development of new technology for use by the US military.

Walter, from Kuching, Sarawak, scored his second success when the research was selected for publication in the June 15 edition of the Applied Physics Letter, the most widely-circulated technical journals in the world. Only 52 of over 10,000 papers submitted to the Applied Physics Letter annually were selected to be on the cover.

Just how big is this achievement?

"It is a major achievement to be featured in this publication for our success of the 4.3GHz high-speed LET as the device has an additional capability to integrate optoelectronics. It will do the same to the world of optoelectronics like what transistors did to the world of electronics. The potential applications are essentially limitless," he said.

At least four important patents have been jointly filed by the QEOS-UIUC team to protect these discoveries.

QEOS is based in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, and incorporated in May 2008 through the Brain Gain Malaysia Programme, an experimental initiative under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).

Its founders include Prof Nick Holonyak Jr, recognised globally as the Father of the Optoelectronic Industry and inventor of LED and Prof Milton Feng, world-renowed microwave technology expert and current record holder for the world's fastest transistor.

Walter said it was almost a year before the founders accepted the challenge to commercialise the technology from within Malaysia. "Personally, I had to make sure that the government would be as committed as I would be to the programme. We have been very fortunate to work with dedicated people from MOSTI, MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Agency) and MDV (Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad)," he said.

Malaysian manufactured components


Walter said at least 30 per cent of the components used to manufacture the products resulting from this new achievement would be from Malaysia-based companies as they would like to help generate business activities for local suppliers.

He disclosed that the research and development (R&D) facility in Melaka would be developed and improved over the next five years to cater for work on advanced product and application development, device characterisation and analysis as well as device layout and design, among others.

"Melaka will be the QEOS headquarters for R&D. We are currently lining up the necessary investments from both local and foreign sources to make this happen," he said.

The Brain Gain Malaysia (BGM) programme encourages Malaysian scientists and researchers residing abroad and working on high-impact, commercial-ready technology, to return and help accelerate Malaysia's transformation into an innovation-led economy. - Bernama


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