Truth in Light
The age has come to exchange data between computer chips using light. Korean scientists have succeeded in developing a single-chip optical transceiver based on general silicon semiconductors.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on July 8 that it has developed a silicon chip that can be used to make a futuristic computer that exchanges data using light rather than electronic signal. The technology that builds “roads of light” in computers to communicate between or within chips using light is called “silicon photonics.” It will bring innovative changes in future data computing and communications.
The single-chip optical transceiver developed by ETRI is its own platform technology that can add the function of optical inputs and outputs (I/Os) in silicon electronic circuits.
ETRI said that the technology significantly increases integration with electronic integrated circuits and allows the practical transmission and reception of optical data between chips. The technology can be used in a wide range of industries, including high performance computing (HPC), central processing units (CPU), memory, 3D integrated circuits (3D IC), and optical components in the future.
The technology can increase existing electrical data speeds of 1 to 2 Gbps per line by tens of times. By realizing the speed of optical communications under a normal computer environment regardless of transmission distance, it can add 10 to 40 Gbps of speed per channel, fast enough to transmit a 4GB full HD movie in 0.8 seconds.
ETRI also demonstrated a prototype that realizes 20 Gbps low-power chip-level optical interconnects between silicon chips.
The research institute said that it is possible to mass produce a relatively low-priced wafer and rapidly improve the data I/O speeds and bandwidth if the technology is being used in future computer chips, including computer CPUs and memory, as a platform in the future. Accordingly, it will have a great influence on the commercialization of single electronic/optical integrated chips.
Also, a single high-performance chip with optical transceiver elements based on silicon will minimize size, lower the price, and decrease power consumption. Therefore, it is easy to commercialize the technology in optical communication parts, mobile devices, sensors, and display parts in the future, expecting a great ripple effect, said ETRI.