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Silicon Photonics

• peter_d_sherman 6y ago
  >"Silicon photonics is the study and application of photonic systems which use silicon as an optical medium.[1][2][3][4][5] The silicon is usually patterned with sub-micrometre precision, into microphotonic components.[4] These operate in the infrared, most commonly at the 1.55 micrometre wavelength used by most fiber optic telecommunication systems.[6] The silicon typically lies on top of a layer of silica in what (by analogy with a similar construction in microelectronics) is known as silicon on insulator (SOI).[4][5] Silicon photonic devices can be made using existing semiconductor fabrication techniques, and because silicon is already used as the substrate for most integrated circuits, it is possible to create hybrid devices in which the optical and electronic components are integrated onto a single microchip.[6] Consequently, silicon photonics is being actively researched by many electronics manufacturers including IBM and Intel, as well as by academic research groups, as a means for keeping on track with Moore's Law, by using optical interconnects to provide faster data transfer both between and within microchips.[7][8][9]" [...] >"Silicon is transparent to infrared light with wavelengths above about 1.1 micrometres.[53] Silicon also has a very high refractive index, of about 3.5.[53] The tight optical confinement provided by this high index allows for microscopic optical waveguides, which may have cross-sectional dimensions of only a few hundred nanometers.[10]" PDS: Would love to see RAM connected via optical fiber, or via conventional electrical FPGA with optical fiber bus to the rest of the system...