14 DAY TRIAL // IBM has managed to achieve a new kind of processor switch based on optical technology, that could lead to faster data rates in the near future. Aimed at replacing copper nanowires with photons, the latest achievement in optoelecronics opens the gate to a new era in computing.
The brand-new optical switch is still in its early stage, and has its limits, but it's the first working approach at replacing electrons with pure rays of light. The current semiconductor technology is still using microscopic copper wires to transmit electrical signals, carried by electrons. Unlike the particles of light, commonly known as photons, the electrons have some shortcomings, such as slow speeds and generation of residual heat.
CPU switches are used to direct data between the processor's cores. Researchers' estimations claim that the optoelectronic switch could account for data rates of about one terabit per second, while handling multiple rays of light. This is a dramatical improvement over the current data rates using copper interconnects or even carbon nanowires. The new technology would eliminate the latency between cores and would allow manufacturers to fit 2,000 of such switches into a square millimeter of silicon.
IBM's latest achievement is inspired by the technology that is currently used in fiber-optics transmissions, but it has been scaled to fit into the chip's micro-universe. According to the company, the chips built with optical technology rather than the "old-fashioned" copper wires will result in increased computing performance at much lower energy costs, since the efficiency is dramatically improved. It is alleged that optical technology would bring 100 times faster data transfer rates between the processor's cores at just a tenth of the currently used power.
IBM is not the only participant in the optoelectronics race. Other companies, including Intel, have been trying to achieve viable solutions based on light to replace the conventional wiring elements inside chips. However, researching the technology is both time-consuming and extremely expensive, so we'll have to stick to copper in the near future.