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IBM demonstrates light-based chip communication
IBM researchers have announced an important breakthrough today that could change the way computer chips communicate with each other in the future. The company has created a low-power device that can transfer data at high speeds using light, instead of electrical signals over copper wires. The light pulses are transmitted via silicon circuits and can supposedly handle data transfers of up to 40Gbit/s with a 1.5 volt power supply.
The device is called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector and is made of silicon and germanium -- both used in current microprocessor chips. The term comes from the way the exchange of information happens, as explained by IBM: "Analogous to a snow avalanche on a steep mountain slope, an incoming light pulse initially frees just a few charge carriers which in turn free others until the original signal is amplified many times."
The rather complicated concept is not new but IBM claims it has been able overcome the speed limitations of previous systems from the likes of Intel and others. It will be a while before we see this integrated into mainstream manufacturing, though. IBM says probably five years for high-end servers and another five for video game systems and cell phones.
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User Comments (38)
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Vrmithrax on March 4, 2010 5:37 PM |
Provided the scaling can be consistent with current standard manufacturing techniques, this technology could mean huge boosts in mobile computing, both in efficiency and speeds. Using a fraction of the power to run the same operation - imagine the battery life. |
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Armanian on March 4, 2010 5:45 PM |
Once again IBM are making improvements on the next revolution. I just wonder though, if this does ever make it into consumer electronics, how will they stop bits of dirt getting in between the light, as not everyone's pocket is clean (mine are). I can see this in very very very very clean environments where not a speck of even the smallest dirt is, but out in the real world, its another matter that needs solving. |
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supyo on March 4, 2010 6:12 PM |
I'm commenting because i think this is cool and i want a new laptop 
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Wolfanoz on March 4, 2010 6:16 PM |
Another new chip for another Nintendo system down the road. 
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Timonius on March 4, 2010 6:18 PM |
combine this with the concept of 'spintronics' (that is instead of harnesing the power of the spin of the electron rather than the electron itself) and we are are well on our way to all kinds of things. Now about that warp drive... |
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Tekkaraiden on March 4, 2010 6:18 PM |
Armanian said: Based on what I watched I'd figure the light would have to be transmitted via some sort of transmission line (fiber optic or similar) or have the entire circuit sealed from airborne particles.
Once again IBM are making improvements on the next revolution. I just wonder though, if this does ever make it into consumer electronics, how will they stop bits of dirt getting in between the light, as not everyone's pocket is clean (mine are). I can see this in very very very very clean environments where not a speck of even the smallest dirt is, but out in the real world, its another matter that needs solving. |
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klepto12 on March 4, 2010 6:26 PM |
this seems like a great way to extend battery life on mobile's and making the system a lot faster overall but 5 to 6 years seems like forever  but this is fascinating and i will watch the tech closely.
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buttus on March 4, 2010 7:02 PM |
How would this affect the cooling of the chips? Would they even run as hot with this new architecture? |
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DryIce on March 4, 2010 7:18 PM |
With that kind of power consumption I wouldn't even need a desktop, I could do everything on my laptop! Mobile gaming would be revolutionized! |
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red1776 on March 4, 2010 7:43 PM |
I still want to know when we will be able to use the optical out on the I/O panel of my computer. |
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flukeh on March 4, 2010 7:44 PM |
Armanian said: I would like to know about this situation as well. Companies would have to make tiny vacuums of space in between the chips, which would presumably be prone to being broken, and that is REALLY not an easy thing to fix one would think.
Once again IBM are making improvements on the next revolution. I just wonder though, if this does ever make it into consumer electronics, how will they stop bits of dirt getting in between the light, as not everyone's pocket is clean (mine are). I can see this in very very very very clean environments where not a speck of even the smallest dirt is, but out in the real world, its another matter that needs solving. |
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renegeek on March 4, 2010 8:15 PM |
I think if this type of chip is used in pc's , for cpu to chipset to other devices... i think pc's and laptops could shrink smaller, and be so much faster... that would be sweet... so may possibilities.... |
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CMH on March 4, 2010 8:19 PM |
As I recall, this technology has been announced for quite a few years, and so its not really groundbreaking news. IMO, room-temp superconductors may be a better bet, although I think that one may be much farther down the road. |
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Yoda8232 on March 4, 2010 10:48 PM |
This could be the future here by IBM, but it sounds expensive. 40 Gbps? Chewie hit the light speed! |
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peas on March 5, 2010 2:46 AM |
The light signal still has to be converted to electrical before it's of any use. They need a pure photonic transistor before this will be of use in CPUs. By itself this is of no use in chips, with one exception. Where this will be useful is for transmission of information. Maybe a future USB, SATA, or PCIe type of bus that is optical. |
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dj83 on March 5, 2010 3:17 AM |
I would think the the designers would have built in error correction to ensure the should a particle of dirt come in the way the signal would be retransmitted. This would mean while needing to operate in a clean environment it would not need a vacuum reducing the fragility of the device it would be used in. |
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Decimae on March 5, 2010 3:43 AM |
This might even be used to break the limit of Moore's law. Circuits can then get a lot smaller. The only problems here are the converters, which after a while, can't get smaller and the transistors, which can't get smaller, and still have to be made photonic, as peas said. |
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slh28 on March 5, 2010 4:31 AM |
I thought this already existed in the form of fibre optic lines? But just not the 40Gbps bit... |
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marls007 on March 5, 2010 4:32 AM |
this typically reminds when fiber optics where first introduced to replace copper wires. welcome to the photonic world. |
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EduardsN on March 5, 2010 4:35 AM |
buttus said: This is just communication between chips, I'm assuming this will be just like fibre optics and is going to be used for communication between the northbridge, cpu, southbridge maybe even the ram. Imagine how fast this is going to be.
How would this affect the cooling of the chips? Would they even run as hot with this new architecture? |
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zaidpirwani on March 5, 2010 4:53 AM |
10 Years is a long time to WAIT..... |
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Serag on March 5, 2010 7:29 AM |
Amazing, at such low voltage it wouldn't generate much heat.. IBM making future, |
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fref on March 5, 2010 7:37 AM |
Looks interesting, but this sounds like the sort of thing that never makes it to actual products despite IBM saying 5 to 10 years. Kind of like all those multilayered disks we've seen being announced in the last few years (ie: 200GB Bluray disks with 8 layer disks and the likes). |
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compdata on March 5, 2010 8:06 AM |
Yeah, i guess i am certainly skeptical in the near term. I am currently integrating a "cutting" edge RF to fiber conversion system, and it definitely has some power/heat issues for the targeted application. I know this is a slightly different problem that we are working on, but i would be very surprised if they were able to get this into a reasonable sized package in 5 years. |
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walliot on March 5, 2010 8:19 AM |
This is pretty cool! So if I unplug my CPU during usage... the motherboard will shine a ray of light across my room. On the serious side, this IS pretty cool. Imagine the power savings it'll do! It's about time the world goes eco if you ask me. |
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