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The present status of light emitters based on SiGe nanostructures is reviewed. To be commercially valuable, these light emitters should be efficient, fast, operational at room temperature, and, perhaps most importantly, compatible with the ˵main stream″ CMOS technology. Another important requirement is in the emission wavelength, which should match the optical waveguide low-loss spectral region, i.e., 1.3–1.6 μm. Among other approaches, epitaxially grown Si/SiGe quantum wells and quantum dot/quantum well complexes produce efficient photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) in the required spectral range. Until recently, the major roadblocks for practical applications of these devices were strong thermal quenching of the luminescence quantum efficiency and a long carrier radiative lifetime. The latest progress in the understanding of physics of carrier recombination in Si/SiGe nanostructures is reviewed, and a new route toward CMOS-compatible light emitters for on-chip optical interconnects is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consequently, my family pride is something inconceivable. I can't help it. I was born sneering. Our world is a material world. Everything we see, touch, taste or smell is composed of one or more materials. Even our hearing depends on the interaction of the eardrums with the gaseous form of that familiar, though invisible, material known as air. Interest in the matter that makes up our environment has grown with the realization that it can be brought under control. At the dawn of civilization this control was of a rather rudimentary type. The earliest use of such materials as stone, wood, and the bones and skin of animals involved relatively minor alterations to these substances, and they were naturally taken for granted. Just which physical phenomena led to speculation about the nature of materials remains a matter of conjecture. The stimulation probably came from observations of simple modifications of state, such as the irreversible change caused by the burning of wood and the reversible changes between the solid, liquid, and gaseous forms of substances like water. The great diversity of form and behaviour seen in the material world stems from the wide range of chemical composition. Although chalk and cheese, for example, are both composed of atoms, the atoms are of different kinds and are combined in different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the designing of logic integrated circuits (lCs) or logic chips. The number of masks required to create a logic chip varies among semiconductor manufacturers, but it can easily exceed 20, depending on the wiring levels used. The ability to produce faster logic ICs that consume and dissipate less power will continue to be a significant driver of logic design, circuit design, and silicon process design in the future. Several silicon manufacturers are investigating a new technology that integrates bipolar devices enhanced with germanium with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) for use in high-speed low-power communication applications. The resulting BiCMOS silicon germanium technology shows promise because of its incredible performance and because it can be integrated into existing CMOS manufacturing lines.

A definition of the term "Silicon-Germanium Technology" in wireless communication is presented. The technology enables the design of complex chips that integrate the functions of a cellular telephone, an e-mailbox and an Internet browser into a handheld information device with rapid data-transfer capability.

A definition of the term "semiconductor" is presented. It refers to a material that is neither a good insulator of electricity nor a good conductor. It is noted that a semiconductor has a band gap which is small enough such that its conduction band is thermally populated with electrons at room temperature. The article states that silicon and germanium are the most common semiconductors.