INTRODUCTION:

Transistors, I was once told, "were the fastest

acting fuse known to mankind". This of course was
a reference to the fact an early transistor was
intolerant of fault conditions whereas in years
gone by, vacuum tubes (valves) would cop a lot of
abuse. Just remember that fact. [one of "murphy's
laws" - The component exists to protect the fuse]

Generally transistors fall into the category of

bipolar transistor, either the more common NPN
bipolar transistors or the less common PNP
transistor types. There is a further type known as
a FET transistor which is an inherently high input
impedance transistor with behaviour somewhat
comparable to valves. Modern field effect
transistors or FET's including JFETS and
MOSFETS now have some very rugged transistor
devices.
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00000History of Transistors
The transistor was developed at Bell Laboratories
in 1948. Large scale commercial use didn't come
until much later owing to slow development.
ansistors used in most early entertainment
equipment were the germanium types. When the
silicon transistor was developed it took off
dramatically. The first advantages of the
transistor were relatively low power consumption
at low voltage levels which made large scale
production of portable entertainment devices
feasible. Interestingly the growth of the battery
industry has paralleled the growth of the
transistor industry. In this context I include
integrated circuits which of course are simply a
collection of transistors grown on the one silicon
substrate.
TRANSISTOR+ LASER= TRANSISTOR
LASER

The transistor laser combines the functions of

both a transistor and a
laser by converting electrical input signals into
two output signals,
one electrical and one optical.

How transistor laser are made

•Bipolar Junction Transmitter (BJT),

semiconductor device uses electrons and holes to
carry the main electric current.

•Two back to back diode separated by a thin

connection layer, a base layer.

•The quantum well is a layer of Indium-gallium-

arsenide (10 nanometers thick). Inserted into the
HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) base
region.

How do transistors work?

Transistors work on the principle that certain
materials e.g. silicon, can after processing be made
to perform as "solid state" devices. Any material is
only conductive in proportion to the number of
"free" electrons that are available. Silicon crystals
for example have very few free electrons.
However if "impurities" (different atomic
structure - e.g. arsenic) are introduced in a
controlled manner then the free electrons or
conductivity is increased. By adding other
impurities such as gallium, an electron deficiency
or hole is created. As with free electrons, the
holes also encourage conductivity and the material
is called a semi-conductor. Semiconductor material
which conducts by free electrons is called n-type
material while material which conducts by virtue of
electron deficiency is called p-type material.
How do holes and electrons conduct
in transistors?
If we take a piece of the p-type material and
connect it to a piece of n-type material and apply
voltage as in figure 1 then current will flow.
Electrons will be attracted across the junction of
the p and n materials. Current flows by means of
electrons going one way and holes going in the
other direction. If the battery polarity were
reversed then current flow would cease.

WORKING OF LASER
TRANSISTOR
When voltage is applied to the base-emitter
junction, injected electrons from the emitter
diffuse across the base.

The base is thin enough that most of the electrons

can pass through to the collector before
recombining with holes in the p-type base.
The semiconductor compounds in the
transistor laser are Gallium-Arsenide
and Indium-Gallium-Phosphide.

These are direct band-gap materials, an electron

that has been excited into the conduction band can
easily fall back to the valence band through the
creation of a photon (of little momentum) whose
energy matches the band-gap energy.
So, these materials will readily produce light
(photons)….

Description of quantum well

A voltage at the emitter injects electrons in the

well, more electrons combine with holes, a process
which emits light

The light is reflected off mirrors around the

inside of the well to form a resonant cavity and
increasingly stimulated until a beam of laser light
escapes.

Electrons that don’t recombine with holes in the

well exhibits a current gain.

The device can be switched on and off rapidly

(billions of switches per second), and produces
optical and electrical signals.

-Quantum well acts as a recombination center

governs the flow of charge from the emitter to
the collector.

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0030000000000

This process decreases the current gain of the

transistor by approximately 90%.
To turn this light into a laser beam, the edges of
the transistor are modified, creating a resonant
cavity, stimulating the emission of additional
photons that are in phase with the others
generated in the region.

DIODE LASER AND TRANSISTOR

LASER

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720022d00040000002d0100000300
00000000

Injected carriers congregate in the quantum well,

where they recombine to emit radiation.
At high drive frequencies, the optical response of
the diode laser, indicated in red, does not follow
the drive-current modulation, indicated in blue (b).

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0030000000000

In the reverse-biased collector

draws electrons out of the base region,
reducing the carrier lifetime.
 The result is a much faster response which
enables transistor sources to operate at higher
data transmission rates (b).

APPLICATIONS
-Optical interconnects replaces the
wiring between components.
-As dual input, high frequency
processor.
-Offer signal mixing and switching
capabilities.
-Offer potential for Broadband
Communication.

FUTURE TRENDS

-Ultra-fast transistor lasers could

extend the modulation bandwidth
from 20 GHz to 100 GHz.

-Faster internet connections and

high definition video on cell phones.
-Used as optoelectronic interconnects –
transistor lasers facilitate faster signal
processing,

CONCLUSIONS

-Reduced carrier life time enables to operate at

high data transmission rate.

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00030000000000

-Speed can be increased by improving optical

signal intensity.