A collaboration between Matsushita Electric Works and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering, has produced a light emitting device prototype that generates visible light by discharging electrons from a silicon device measuring 5nm or smaller into xenon gas.

The light emitting device doesn’t use an electric discharge, and so the luminance efficiency of the light can be easily enhanced.

The prototype version generates high energy electrons by applying a voltage to a ‘nanosilicon electron source’. Silicon discharges electrons when processed on the nanoscale and the prototype uses this property.

The electrons generated are discharged into xenon gas to excite the xenon molecules, which produces vacuum ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 200nm or less. The vacuum ultraviolet light collides with phosphor to be converted into visible light.

This technology is expected to find applications in high-efficiency, high-luminance lighting equipment.