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The question to answer is not when Moore’s Law will end – but what next?

Features | by Pradeep Chakraborty

CONNECTICUT, USA: POET Technologies Inc., based in Storrs Mansfield, Connecticut, USA, is the developer of an integrated circuit platform that will power the next wave of innovation in integrated circuits, by combining electronics and optics onto a single chip for massive improvements in size, power, speed and cost.

POET's current IP portfolio includes more than 34 patents and seven pending. POET's core principles have been in development by director and chief scientist, Dr. Geoff Taylor, and his team at the University of Connecticut for the past 18 years, and are now nearing readiness for commercialization opportunities. It recently managed to successfully integrate optics and electronics onto one monolithic chip.

Elaborating, Dr. Geoff Taylor, said: "POET stands for Planar Opto Electronic Technology. The POET platform is a patented semiconductor fabrication process, which provides integrated circuit devices containing both electronic and optical elements on a single chip. This has significant advantages over today's solutions in terms of density, reliability and power, at a lower cost.

"POET removes the need for retooling, while providing lower costs, power savings and increased reliability. For example, an optoelectronic device using POET technology can achieve estimated cost savings back to the manufacturer of 80 percent compared to the hybrid silicon devices that are widely used today.

"The POET platform is a flexible one that can be applied to virtually any market, including memory, digital/mobile, sensor/laser and electro-optical, among many others. The platform uses two compounds - gallium and arsenide - that will allow semiconductor manufacturers to make microchips that are faster and more energy efficient than current silicon devices, and less expensive to produce.

"The core POET research and development team has spent more than 20 years on components of the platform, including 32 patents (and six patents pending)."

Moore's Law to end next decade?
An interesting question to whom an answer is sought would be: Is silicon dead and how much more there is to Moore's Law?

According to Dr. Taylor, POET Technologies' view is that Moore's Law could come to an end within the next decade, particularly as semiconductor companies have recently highlighted difficulties in transitioning to the next generation of chipsets, or can only see two to three generations ahead.

Transistor density and its impact on product cost has been the traditional guideline for advancing computer technology because density has been accomplished by device shrinkage translating to performance improvement. Moore's Law begins to fail when performance improvement translates less and less to device shrinkage - and this is occurring now at an increasing rate.

He added: "For POET Technologies, however, the question to answer is not when Moore's Law will end - but what next. Rather than focus on how many more years we can expect Moore's Law to last - or pinpoint a specific stumbling block to achieving the next generation of chipsets, POET looks at the opportunities for new developments and solutions to continue advancements in computing.

"So, for POET Technologies, we're focusing less on existing integrated circuit materials and processes and more towards a different track with significant future runway. Our platform is a patented semiconductor fabrication process, which concentrates on delivering increases in performance at lower cost - and meets ongoing consumer appetites for faster, smaller and more power efficient computing."