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What single-core frequencies could we hope to achieve if chips were working entirely on optical components? There are no heat problems, or is there?
by rambojazz 8y ago
What single-core frequencies could we hope to achieve if chips were working entirely on optical components? There are no heat problems, or is there?
- AstralStorm 8y agoSignal propagation times still put a size limit, then you have optical attenuation to deal with in tiny fibres, requiring amplification. Edit: apparently heater too for tuning stability. Not especially power saving then. The main gain is that you can put components further away if latency is not a concern and can use parallel buses due to no interference. So the tech is most suited to replace long range busses like PCIe.
- smaddox 8y agoOptical switches are neither small nor efficient compared to a VLSI CMOS transistor. Few things are.
- godelmachine 8y agoIt makes sense two use optical switches for certain specific requirements until they surpass VLSI CMOS in every requirement