IBM's Holey Optochip

[siliconnerd]

Edit: auto link failed: http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm.../OFC_10_Holey_Transceiver_Presentation_v2.pdf

 

[whitewarrior11]

so the simpsons were on to something with "speed holes"

Lol that made my day

 

[LastQuestion]

One step closer to online gaming with pings of 10ms to the UK.

 

[pelo]

Are these holes supposed to act in a similar fashion to Myelin sheath cells along an axon in a nerve cell? Because that would be brilliant if that sort of organic design started to make its way into electronics/computing.

A myelin sheath acts as an insulator and transistor and chip designs have been using insulators since... well, since forever. You can't even build one without using an insulator But insulation in the case of light wouldn't help I wouldn't think. Light speed varies, but so long as it's not bounced around by mirrors or a transparent medium it retains its speed (though not ever at c).

IBM built the chip using standard parts so it can make its way to market relatively quickly. "The heart of the chip is a single CMOS, plain-Jane unmodified process chip," Schow said. "That base chip has all the electronic circuit functions to complete the optical link. So it's got drivers that modulate vertical cavity lasers and receiver circuits that convert photocurrent from a detector into a usable electrical signal."

So the chip-to-chip communication is handled at light speed and converted back into electricity? If I'm understanding this correctly. I guess that's a good start.

 

[Azhar]

From Raffin's post / quote:




Thats why the holes are there, without them, the photodiode array would be completely blocked from the flip-chip soldering to this chip. With the holes, the light signals going in and out of the photodiode array that is basicly sandwitched up to this chip can pass right thru unblocked.

And by doing a flip-chip mounting to the photodiode array, the interconnects between the 2 devices are basicly next to nothing (and no parasitic capacitance), which is how they are able to get the speed to such rediculous levels and still have very good power use.

We're onto you. You're distracting us from the truth. You're the Terminator.

 

[JosiahBradley]

I would like to know how it works, my guess is optical wavelength tuning, much the same principle as RF tuning in radar array antennae.




Stop with the bullshit already please!

If the average bluray has 20GB of movie data then it can do ~50 movies per second, which means the article was only off by one decimal place, which is probably a simple typo that you dolts just can't seem to stop making a big deal of.

Actually if you read the equation I posted, you'd realize it is not a typo but a very stupid metric that will only hurt possible buyers in the market, when their bosses see these horrible inaccurate numbers.

1Tbps is only 14 hours of standard HD quality video. Blu-rays movies are not 20GB unless they are simple up-scales from DVD to a single layer disc. So how you get 500 movies from 14 hours is beyond me, but it is not a typo, it is false.

Also 20GB x 50 = 8Tb, so you are also incorrect with your math as well. Misleading people on the performance of something is never a good thing.

 

[eggrock]

The holes are going to make this kind of hack really easy to accomplish:

 

[Red Falcon]

If the average bluray has 20GB of movie data then it can do ~50 movies per second, which means the article was only off by one decimal place, which is probably a simple typo that you dolts just can't seem to stop making a big deal of.

Actually, 1Tbps would handle about twelve 20GB movies per second, not counting overhead.
Rethink your math, it's off a bit.

 

[BBA]

Actually, 1Tbps would handle about twelve 20GB movies per second, not counting overhead.
Rethink your math, it's off a bit.

You guys are right, I wasnt thinking of bytes to bits 1/8.

Then again, they never claimed it was blu ray quality HD movies did they? Maybe they are talking about 500 hulu or youtube type hi def videos per second...lol

 

[Red Falcon]

You guys are right, I wasnt thinking of bytes to bits 1/8.

Then again, they never claimed it was blu ray quality HD movies did they? Maybe they are talking about 500 hulu or youtube type hi def videos per second...lol

Well, 500 HD movies at a bitrate of 200Kbps doesn't really impress me or anyone else, but...