IBM creates first cheap, commercially viable, electronic-photonic integrated chip

[neptune]

https://www.extremetech.com/computi...commercially-viable-silicon-nanophotonic-chip

isn't this a simple optical interconnect, if no then what is the difference between it and optical interconnect ?

 

[ramuna]

Hi,
Perhaps the key phrase is : silicon chip that integrates both electrical (transistors, capacitors, resistors) and optical (modulators, photodetectors, waveguides) components. So you are right, it is an optical interconnect. The grunt work is still being done by ye olde silicon transistors. The bottleneck to having ubiquitous supercomputer speeds in personal computers and other commonplace situations is the dissipation of the heat generated as silicon transistors are sped up. That barrier still remains in place. The holy grail is having optical switches which can simultaneously run fast and cool. This IBM development is a welcome step, but, its a little hard to see how it can significantly speed things up if the silicon trannys ignore the data piling up at the front door and carry on at their own pace.

Edit: This may be of interest:
https://www.photonicsonline.com/doc/optical-transistors-the-next-step-in-quantum-computing-0001

 

[neptune]

does it increase speed of transmission ?

*I cant open the link it wants me to subscribe

 

[ramuna]

Try accessing the Google cache of this article:
**broken link removed**

 

[neptune]

Thanks
But its still very primitive, hope it succeeds

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Unfortunately this is another one of those "wait and see" things that never seems to actually materialize. Many roadblocks to overcome. We probably wont see it in many of our lifetimes. It's partly by chance though, if someone somewhere happens to discover something.