The idea of replacing copper with optical fiber is nothing new. We've already seen major advances, but the next step is bringing that same concept to processors. A chip that uses light would not only be faster but also far more efficient. That's exactly what a team of researchers from the University of California, MIT, and the University of Colorado has demonstrated. For the first time, transistors and photonic devices have been combined on a single chip.
The Challenge Beyond Moore's Law
The computing world is still waiting for a revolution that avoids the impact of the inevitable fall of Moore's Law. We all know that silicon, copper, and transistors have a limit, so experts must not only consider other options but also put them into practice. We've heard about graphene designs and carbon nanotubes, but they remain in the experimental phase and will likely need decades more work. A closer alternative seems to be light: optical fiber and photonic systems. The first time we talked about an optical computer was in 2009. A year later, IBM started communication tests, and in May of this year, it revealed more about its silicon photonic chip.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JAe_xQyFI4kA Photonic Processor with Two Cores
The latest news in light-using processors comes from a team of researchers from the University of California (Berkeley), MIT, and the University of Colorado (Boulder). This new development presents a two-core processor based on the open-source RISC-V architecture, with 70 million transistors (similar to a Pentium 4) and 850 photonic components, all contained in a chip measuring 3 by 6 millimeters. According to Professor Vladimir Stojanović, the project leader, it is the first processor that uses light to communicate with the outside world, and the first to contain its entire photonic input/output system "inside" the chip. The processor was evaluated by running several programs, and the initial data shows a "bandwidth density" of 300 gigabits per second per square millimeter, between 10 and 50 times more than in processors available today.
Another very interesting aspect is that this processor was created using conventional infrastructure, so major manufacturers would not have to make radical changes to their production lines to shape this new photonic chip. Needless to say, the benefits of such hardware would not be limited to performance. One of the great battles that data centers around the globe are fighting is reducing energy consumption and increasing efficiency. The creators of this processor talk about 1.3 watts per terabit transmitted, something any giant would love to achieve.
Source: phys.org
