Researchers at University of Washington have created the world's thinnest LED that they claim is both flexible and stackable. If the research pays off it will make a new class of handheld devices and light-driven processor chips possible.

The technology is a big step in the miniaturisation of technology. Because it is still a semiconductor, you can do almost everything with it that is possible with existing, three-dimensional silicon technologies. The LEDs are three atoms tall and made from tungsten diselenide on a silicon oxide base.

Team leader Xiaodong Xu, a UW assistant professor in physics and materials science and engineering, and his graduate student Ross, have published the technique in the latest issue of Nature Nanotechnology. They claim that the LEDs are small and powerful enough to be used in optical chips that use light instead of electricity and they can be stacked to make new thin and flexible displays.