IBM has managed to get a chip to build with both optical components and electronic circuits. This is made using a standard cmos process 90nm. IBM calls its silicon nanophotonicstechnology is a breakthrough.
IBM is already more than a decade developing the technology and showed in 2010 a so-called proof-of-concept of the technology. The company has, however, now for the first time demonstrated that the integration of optical components and electronic circuits on a chip actually is practical, and that the production thereof can be carried out by a regular chipfabriek. “This breakthrough allows us to use the technology in a real production environment and this development will be for a range of applications impact,” said John E. Kelly, head of IBM Research.
IBM makes its technologies the use of optical channels, and logic for signal processing, which together with the cmos logic on a chip can be placed. According to IBM, is it possible to use optical communicatiechips to produce by chipfabrieken in a conventional manner. That would be a significant cost savings compared to traditional methods for optical interconnects.
The company has optical transceivers based on silicon nanophotonics technology demonstrates a throughput of 25Gbps per channel. In addition, the technology is able to provide multiple optical data streams in parallel through a single fiber optic cable to send with the help of the integrated hardware for golflengtemultiplexing.
IBM thinks the technology for so-called ‘big data’applications. The company is presenting this week his findings at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting.
