Applications and markets for semiconductor optoelectronic devices

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Solid-state materials for advanced technology, 1991-07, Vol.9 (1), p.1-7
• Main Author: Goodfellow, R.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-5107(91)90139-M

Semiconductor optoelectronic devices have now impacted all major areas of information technology. The functional roles of the devices can be categorized under the headings input, output, memory, processing, transmission and others. The applications exploit many physical properties and technologies, many of which have become well understood and controlled only during the last decade. The world market for optoelectronic components is currently around $3 billion per year. This serves an optoelectronic systems market currently of order $20 billion per year. Several recent optoelectronic device advances, such as optical amplifiers, surface emitting microlasers and low power optical modulators and switches will significantly impact the information technology area further. These advances were made possible by new materials capabilities in the design and preparation of multi-heterostructure group III–V materials.