A young Kelabit scientist has co-invented the world's fastest spontaneous Light Emitting Transistor (LET) and Light Emitting Diode (LED).

Gabriel Walter, 32, an electrical engineering doctor from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC), scored both a national and personal breakthrough in technology by co-inventing light emitters capable of transmitting at speeds of up to 7GHz.

For more than 40 years, the scientific community believed that efficient spontaneous light device 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 for the QEOS-UIUC team to prove 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 today.

He said the high-speed LEDs would enable a new class of cost-competitive "green" products that were not only environmentally fiendly 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.

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.

"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.

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.
"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.

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.

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.