14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has recently announced that it plans to co-fund a research and production centre at the University of Washington that will specialize in silicon photonics, a technology that promises to change the electrical connections between components found inside a computer chip with faster optical connections.
As Bit-tech reports, the Santa Clara company will fund the establishment of the Optoelectronics Systems Integration in Silicon (OpSIS) Centre at the University of Washington.
This research institution will specialize in developing and researching new technologies that enable the use of high-speed data transfers over optical connections, a technology that could be used for designing the next generation of computer chips.
“OpSIS will enhance the education of US engineering students, giving them the opportunity to learn the new optical design paradigm,” said Intel's Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner to Chip Design Magazine.
“The ability to produce such low-cost silicon chips that manipulate photons, instead of electrons, will lead to new inventions and new industries beyond just data communications, including low-cost sensors, new biomedical devices and ultra-fast signal processors,” concluded the company's rep.
This is not the first time when Intel has planned to replace the electrical connections found inside our computers with optical links, the company's Light Peak technology having a similar goal in mind.
However, the silicon photonics field is far more advanced than the technology used for implementing Light Peak, and requires a lot more research to be done until such a prototype chip could be built.
Once completed, the OpSIS Centre should be able to offer up to three production runs per year, each capable to accommodate 30 to 40 users.
Intel is not the only company interested in the benefits that silicon photonics could bring to chip production, as IBM has also experimented with this technology and even managed to build a micro-miniaturized Mach-Zenhder electro-optic modulator in 2007.