In fact, in 2015, researchers from three US universities developed a photonic chip that can use light to transmit data, which is substantially faster than previous chips, and energy consumption is greatly reduced. Researchers claim this is the first A mature processor that uses light to transmit data. The chip can process data at speeds of up to 300Gbps per square millimeter, 10 times or even 50 times faster than existing standard processors. Researchers use 70 million transistors and 850 photonic elements ( Used to send and receive light. It consists of 2 processor cores. The entire chip is only 3 x 6 mm.
In the 1940s, the computers were as big as the rooms. Today's computers are very different from computers of that time, but they transmit data in the same way. They all transmit electronic signals in metal wires. Intel Chip companies such as IBM and others have already been researching silicon photonics (silicon photonics), but they have not been able to really use it commercially. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Berkeley, MIT, and Boulder on the University of Colorado have developed the first photonic chip. It is a major breakthrough. They predict that commercial versions of the optical processor can be tested as early as 2017.
In today's computers and smart phones, electrical signals are transmitted in wires, connecting processors, memory, networks, storage devices, USB interfaces, etc. Optical fibers are used to connect between countries and countries. Data, but its cost is too expensive.
American university researchers hope to change this. They will install electronic components directly on the chip and use it to transmit and receive light signals. Both chip-manufacturing equipment and silicon components can be produced in this way. In this way, the optical chip will It can easily spread to the computing infrastructure.
Researchers have already produced prototyping products in laboratories. If products can be brought to market, consumers will benefit greatly. Thousands of servers are installed in data centers, and silicon photonics technology can increase computing speed; on personal computers and smart phones. Silicon photonics can break the performance bottleneck without sacrificing battery life. Today's computing industry is generally faced with a problem: Can't make chips operate faster. Silicon photons don't have such problems. It doesn't require chips to run faster. On the contrary, the researchers will let the silicon chip transmit data all the time and will not idle, so as to effectively improve the overall performance.
Vladimir Stojanovic, an associate professor in charge of chip development, said that the development of the first optical chip that can communicate in the outside world is a major breakthrough. As far as commercialization is concerned, the biggest challenge lies in finding inexpensive ways to package chips. He believes that for cost reasons, light Chip technology will first be used in data centers before it can enter small devices. Stojanovic also said: 'We expect that the packaged chips will first enter the data center, and then it will become cheap enough to eventually become popular in mobile phones and PCs. '
The idea of the researchers is not a pure idea. There have been two startup companies involved in the commercialization of optical chips. One is Ayar Labs, which wants to commercialize the photonic interconnection technology, and the other is SiFive. They hope Build new business on free RISC-V chip design.
In the near future, Stojanovic expects that photons will be able to connect individual chips in the computer and connect one chip to another. In addition, silicon photonics technology can also improve the performance of Lidar, the laser of driverless cars. The performance of sensors, brain imaging and environmental sensors will be greatly improved.
Silicon photonics is expected to rewrite history and radically change the way computers are combined. Electrical signal transmission is constrained by the length of the cable. For example, when the transmission speed of a standard USB connection is increased by a factor of 10, the maximum cable length is reduced from 16 feet to 10 English. The optical connection does not have such a problem. Its speed is faster and the signal is not attenuated. The prototype chip displayed by the American University is connected with 10 meters of light. It can easily extend to kilometers.
With silicon photonics chips, computers in the data center don't have to waste time waiting for the response of another computer. Stojanovic said: 'Our light solutions allow the processor to access the network faster.'
The electrical signal is transmitted through the metal wire. The optical connection requires only a small amount of energy. The chip can supply energy by itself. This can save the cost of electricity, and there will be no problem of overheating of electronic components.
Prototype chips are made from unusual materials. They combine silicon and germanium. The manufacturing process is difficult and the cost is high. But recently, researchers have made progress. They have improved the silicon photonics technology and used them in chips. More silicon material.