IBM described a new technological breakthrough in data transfer that is alleged to be world's first optically-connected circuit board during the Optical Fiber Communication Conference in San Diego. The company engineers have detailed upon the process and said that the 300-Gbits/sec optical interconnect has been printed on a conventional PC board using lithography. The team also used gallium arsenide transceivers that would convert the electrical impulses into light beams.

"This is the first real demonstration of an optical printed circuit board interconnect operating at very high data rates and in a very compact format," said IBM researcher Clint Schow. "In the future, optical busses like ours could interconnect two processors or a processor to its memory."

The gallium arsenide-based manufacturing technology is touted as being environmentally-friendly, because it allows the transmission of 5,000 high definition video streams at eight terrabits per second data rates with a total power consumption of only 100 watts.

This is an important achievement, given the fact that the technology used nowadays in optical fiber transmission takes up ten times more power. Moreover, if other futuristic breakthrough, such as 3D processors or 100x memory modules will be available within 10 years, the new data hose can arrive in a cabinet near your building in less than two years.

The engineers used a conventional board, that was subsequently covered in polymer waveguides on its top side. The team then used the same old lithographic process to deposit metal traces on chips.

"Our polymer waveguides are 35-microns-wide and tall, with 27 microns between them. That's about twice the density of conventional optical fibers," said IBM researcher Fuad Doany. "When connecting chips on a board with our waveguides, they can tolerate bends with a radius of about 15 millimeters," he continued.

The money for IBM's research came from the US government via the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). At this point, it should be very clear who will be the first to take advantage of the new 300 Gbps optical streams.