Intel develops fast, cheap optical links on silicon

Intel is claiming "world record" performance in optical communications using silicon photonics, in a development announced in the journal Nature Photonics.

Intel silicon photonics

(Credit: Intel)

Silicon photonics-based photo dectors are used to send and receive optical information, particularly in very high-bandwidth applications like supercomputers. Intel says silicon photonics is essential for "ultra-fast transfer of data (in) future computers powered by many processor cores."

The development is significant because it is based on silicon--a readily available, low-cost material used in semicondutor chips today--and outperforms more exotic, pricier materials. To date, Silicon photonics technology, using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) techniques, has suffered from performance shortcomings.

"This research result is another example of how silicon can be used to create very high-performing optical devices," Mario Paniccia, an Intel Fellow and director of the company's Photonics Technology Lab, said in a statement. The development can be used not only in optical communications but areas such as sensing, imaging, quantum cryptography, and biological applications, Paniccia said.

A team led by Intel researchers created a silicon-based Avalanche Photodiode (APD) to achieve a "gain-bandwidth product" of 340 GHz. Intel claims this is "the best result ever measured for this key APD performance metric" and allows lower-cost optical links running at data rates of 40Gbps or higher.

The research was jointly funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Numonyx, a flash memory chipmaker, provided manufacturing and process development.

[dbargen]

Coming soon: your local network running on optic signals instead of copper!

Coming not so soon: less heat and latency loss inside your workstation- more processing power, anyone?

[rapier1]

Doubtful. Copper is good enough in most LAN cases (10G) and fiber can add costs (especially considering termination) and fragility (oops! Your curve radius is too small you just cracked your glass!).

[cantrell]

This story isn't about links. A link requires both a source and a detector. This story is about detectors, specifically, avalanche photodiodes. We've had silicon APDs for decades. The gain-bandwidth product of Intel's new APDs is impressive, but we're still far from all-silicon, all-CMOS optical links.

[conchchowder]

Does this mean HD audio through TOSLINK instead of HDMI? I think so!

[Seaspray0]

When you can claim the fastest speed at a lower price, you've got a good edge on the market.

[funnyman23]

intel can do it intel is good at making chips. I can see them doing it soon to. soon a phone with a 10ghz proseser!!!

[MarketsandMarkets]

Hats off to Intel, they are being the reason for the world to Speed up, for more information about Silicon Photonics please visit
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/silicon-photonics-116.html