astronomy

Milton Feng

Milton Feng is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Milton Feng rather than just read about it. In short: Milton Feng co-created the first transistor laser, working with Nick Holonyak in 2004. The paper discussing their work was voted in 2006 as one of the five most important papers published by the American Institute of Physics since its founding 75 years ago.

Key takeaways

Milton Feng belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Milton Feng to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Milton Feng from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Milton Feng co-created the first transistor laser, working with Nick Holonyak in 2004. The paper discussing their work was voted in 2006 as one of the five most important papers published by the American Institute of Physics since its founding 75 years ago. In addition to the invention of transistor laser, he is also well known for inventions of other "major breakthrough" devices, including the world's fastest transistor and light-emitting transistor (LET). As of May, 2009 he is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and holds the Nick Holonyak Jr. Endowed Chair Professorship. Feng was born and raised in Taiwan.

Inventions

World's fastest transistor In 2003, Milton Feng and his graduate students Walid Hafez and Jie-Wei Lai broke the record for the world's fastest transistor. Their device, made of indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide with 25 nm thick base and 75 nm thick collector, marked a frequency of 509 GHz, which was 57 GHz faster than the previous record. In 2005, they succeeded in fabricating a device at Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory to break their own record, reaching 604 GHz. In 2006, Feng and his other graduate student William Snodgrass fabricated an indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide device with 12.5 nm thick base, operating at 765 GHz at room temperature and 845 GHz at -55 °C.

Light-emitting transistor Reported in the January 5 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters in 2004, Milton Feng and Nick Holonyak, the inventor of the first practical light-emitting diode (LED) and the first semiconductor laser to operate in the visible spectrum, made the world's first light-emitting transistor. This hybrid device, fabricated by Feng's graduate student Walid Hafez, had one electrical input and two outputs (electrical output and optical output) and operated at a frequency of 1 MHz. The device was made of indium gallium phosphide, indium gallium arsenide, and gallium arsenide, and emitted infrared photons from the base layer.

Transistor laser Described in the November 15 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters in 2004, Milton Feng, Nick Holonyak, postdoctoral research associate Gabriel Walter, and graduate research assistant Richard Chan demonstrated operation of the first heterojunction bipolar transistor laser by incorporating a quantum well in the active region of a light-emitting transistor. As with a light-emitting transistor, the transistor laser was made of indium gallium phosphide, indium gallium arsenide, and gallium arsenide, but emitted a coherent beam by stimulated emission, which differed from their previous device that only emitted incoherent photons. Despite their success, the device was not useful for practical purposes since it only operated at low temperatures – about minus 75 Celsius degrees. Within a year, though, the researchers finally fabricated a transistor laser operating at room temperature by using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), as reported in the September 26 issue of the same journal. At this time, the transistor laser had a 14-layer structure including aluminium gallium arsenide optical confining layers and indium gallium arsenide quantum wells. The emitting cavity was 2,200 nm wide and 0.85 mm long, and had continuous modes at 1,000 nm. In addition, it had a threshold current of 40 mA and direct modulation of the laser at 3 GHz.

Recognition In 2006, Transistor laser was the most popular Top 10-Science Story (rank #4) on EurekAlert by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2006, American Institute of Physics selected "Room Temperature Continuous Wave Operation of a Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Laser" as top 5 paper published in the 43 years history of Applied Physics Letters. In 2005, Discover Magazine selected Transistor Laser as top 100 most important discovery. In 2013, he received the R.W. Wood Prize from OSA, where he is also a Fellow.

See also Nick Holonyak UIUC College of Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

References

Further reading James E. Kloeppel (11 December 2006). "World's fastest transistor approaches goal of terahertz device" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-02-12. James E. Kloeppel (11 April 2005). "New material structure produces world's fastest transistor" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. James E. Kloeppel (6 November 2003). "Illinois researchers create world's fastest transistor ... again" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Josh Wolfe (4 March 2004). "Nanotech: 2003 Was A Banner Year". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2004-04-05. James E. Kloeppel (5 January 2004). "New light-emitting transistor could revolutionize electronics industry" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. http://compoundsemiconductor.net/cws/article/news/18827 "Light Emitting Transistor". Physics News Graphics (Press release). 30 December 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-01-05. James E. Kloeppel (31 May 2006). "Illinois researchers produce two most important scientific papers" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-04-15. James E. Kloeppel (26 September 2005). "Room-temperature transistor laser is step closer to commercialization" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-04-15. James E. Kloeppel (15 November 2004). "New transistor laser could lead to faster signal processing" (Press release). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Archived from the original on 2007-07-05. Harry Yeates (28 September 2005). "Practical HBT laser runs at room temp". Electronics Weekly.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)

External links High Speed Integrated Circuits Group - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory - University of Illinois Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - University of Illinois College of Engineering - University of Illinois

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Milton Feng

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Milton Feng claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Milton Feng before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Milton Feng ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Milton Feng

In research: Milton Feng appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Milton Feng in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Milton Feng is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American electrical engineers, Living people, Semiconductor physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Milton Feng outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Milton Feng in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Milton Feng means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Milton Feng out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Milton Feng in simple terms?

Why does Milton Feng matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Milton Feng?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Milton Feng.