The speed of multicore microprocessors, already used by high-performance computers, does not depend so much on the speed of a single core, but on time required for data transfer between the various cores. The copper interconnections used in today’s microprocessors cannot maintain the progress of the communication’s performance. Leading companies in the semiconductor industry such as IBM, Intel, and HP are currently investing billions of dollars for the shift to photonics. Electron substitution with photons means that large amounts of data can be transferred between the processor cores almost instantly, which means that the processor’s performance will be almost proportional to the number of cores.

Current interests are in silicon photonic technology and optical processing, designing and testing fully integrated photonic chips that will soon receive information with a data transfer rate of over 25 Gb/s per channel. This will soon allow the production of 100-gigabit optical transmitters per second. In addition, it will allow the creation of data centers with higher data transmission speeds and a considerable bandwidth for cloud computing and Big Data applications for the next industry 4.0 (and 5.0).

In optoelectronic packaging, there is an enormous potential to capitalize on the evolution of 5G and expand the ability to connect multiple devices. IoT is expected to be a major driver of growth over the next years.

At OFC, the semiconductor industry will get to see these kinds of products!

Cheers

Link:

A New Way for Photonic Chips 
October 25, 2019 Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio

https://www.eetimes.eu/a-new-way-for-photonic-chips/