Significant progress that may lead to innovations in computing, communication and medical applications * This breakthrough is shared by the development team at the Intel plant in Jerusalem
Avi Blizovsky
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Intel today announced an important scientific breakthrough that uses standard silicon manufacturing processes to create the world's first laser made of silicon. The innovation may lead to the routine use of cheap and high-quality lasers and optical devices in computing, communication and medical applications.
This breakthrough was shared by a development team at the Intel plant in Jerusalem, which has been working on development for several years
Technologies that integrate optical components on a silicon substrate.
The Israeli team consists of a number of researchers headed by Israel Jankowitz, director of the development department of
Intel's manufacturing plant in Jerusalem (Fab 8. The team works in full cooperation with Intel Laboratories
In the USA and together they led to the breakthrough in optical communication, by using the processes and infrastructures that exist at the Intel factory in Jerusalem and are used to create high-volume processors.
Last year, the team managed to develop an optical modulator in silicon, which allows a transmission rate of 1 gigabit per second - the fastest ever made in silicon.
As the journal Nature reported today, Intel researchers discovered a way to use the effect called the "Raman effect" and the crystalline structure of silicon, to increase the intensity of the light passing through it. When flooded with light from an external source, the experimental chip produces a continuous, high-quality laser beam. Although the discovery is still far from being a commercial product, the very ability to build a laser from standard silicon may lead to the production of inexpensive optical devices that transmit data within and between computers at the speed of light - thereby opening an opportunity for new applications that require high-speed computing.
"Basically, we were able to demonstrate for the first time that standard silicon can be used to amplify light," said Dr. Mario Fenicia, director of Intel's Photonics Technology Laboratory. "The use of high-quality photonic devices has been limited until now due to the high cost of their production, assembly and packaging. This research is an important step towards bringing the benefits of optical devices, based on cheap silicon and with high bandwidth, to the mass market."
Today, every computer has a power source to power the chips, hard disk, and peripherals. However, the personal computers of the future will also be equipped with an energy source to operate lasers, amplifiers and tiny optical connections that transfer data in quantities measured in terabytes in the computer and networks. In addition, certain special wavelengths of light are optimal for interacting with human body tissue. For example, one type of laser wavelength is useful for treating gums while another type is useful for drilling holes in teeth. Today, the price of these lasers is set at tens of thousands of dollars, a fact that limits their widespread use by many dentists and doctors, but Intel's breakthrough may lead to the creation of medical lasers at a reasonable price, which will make the visit to the dentist easier and less painful for the patients.
technical details
Building a silicon Raman laser begins with creating a waveguide - a conducting path in the chip for the light. The silicon is transparent to infrared light and therefore, when the light is aimed at the wave path, it can be "treasured" and routed inside the chip. Similar to the first laser developed in 1960, Intel researchers also used an external light source to "inject" light into the chip. When the light is "injected", the natural atomic vibrations in the silicon amplify the light as it moves through the chip. This effect, called the "Raman effect", achieves 10,000 times stronger light amplification in silicon than in glass fibers. Raman lasers and amplifiers are currently used in the telecom industry and require many kilometers of fiber to amplify light. Using silicon, Intel researchers were able to achieve light amplification and "lasing" in a silicon chip, which is a few centimeters in size.
A laser is any device that emits a powerful and consistent beam of light (in which all the photons are of the same wavelength, incidence and direction). Coating the sides of the chip with a thin reflective coating, similar to the coating on the lenses of high-quality sunglasses, allows the waveguide to contain the light and amplify it while the light travels back and forth inside the chip. The researchers increased the "injection" energy of the light, up to a critical threshold point where a very precise beam of continuous light was emitted at once from the chip.
the breakthrough
Initially, the researchers discovered that increasing the intensity of the light injection beyond a certain point no longer contributed to the increase of light and even reduced it. It turned out that the reason for this is a physical process called "two-photon absorption", which occurs when two photons from the injected beam hit the atom at the same time and release an electron. These excess electrons accumulate over time and collect on the wave path and absorb a lot of light until the amplification stops.
Intel's breakthrough lies in the combination of a device in a semiconductor structure, which its technical name is
PIN, acronym for P-type – Intrinsic – N-Type, inside the wave path. When the PIN is electrically energized, it acts like a vacuum and removes most of the excess electrons from the light path. device
The PIN combined with the Raman effect produces a continuous laser beam.
Make silicon and light cooperate
The silicon photonics research at Intel began with the aim of examining the application of the company's expertise in the field of silicon to the development of integrated optical devices, which can be integrated into a variety of Intel customer products. The silicon photonics research team has achieved several breakthroughs. The first time was in 2004 with the first optical modulator (modulator) based on silicon that encoded data
at 1GHz, 50 times the record of 20MHz achieved in a previous study.
"We have long-term research plans to discover new ways to apply our expertise in silicon to improve the lives of the human race," said Kevin Kahn, Intel senior fellow and director of the Communications Technology Laboratory. "For example, we are developing wireless sensor networks that will be able to locate equipment failures on ships before they even occur or lead to improved health services for the elderly. The goal of the 'siliconization' of photonics is to use silicon production techniques to produce cheap optical devices in mass production, so that the advantages of high-bandwidth photonics will be available to the computing and communication industries."
The report on the research was published in the February 17, 2005 issue of Nature. The paper, titled "Continuous Raman Silicon Laser," was written by researchers Yisheng Rong, Richard Jones, Ansheng Liu, Oded Cohen, Danny Hack, Alexander Fang, and Mario Phenicia, all from Intel.
Intel promises computing at the speed of light
InformationWeek
Intel claims to have produced the world's first continuous wave silicon laser
Following the development of standard processes that make it possible to produce the world's first continuous wave silicon laser, Intel promises to offer computing at the speed of light. According to the chip giant, the technology will make it possible to produce lasers and optical devices that are relatively cheap and of high quality, for mainstream use in computers, communication devices and medical equipment.
The breakthrough is based on a phenomenon known as the "Raman effect" and the crystalline structure of silicon, which amplifies light rays as they pass through the material. In combination with lighting from an external source, the chip can produce a high quality continuous layer beam. Although Intel admits that the process is "still far from commercial application", according to it the development of standard silicon lasers will lead to the production of cheap optical devices capable of sending data between computers and within the computers themselves at the speed of light - and will pave the way for many high-speed computing applications.
"Basically, we were able to prove for the first time that standard silicon can amplify light," said Dr. Mario Fenice, director of the Photon Technology Laboratory at Intel. "The use of devices based on photons has so far been limited, because their production, assembly and packaging have been expensive. Now we have taken a big step towards bringing the advantages of the cheap and wideband optical devices, based on silicon, to mass production" Paniche added.
Intel explains that every computer already today supplies power to the chips, the hard drive and the peripheral equipment. In the future, Intel predicts that the PC will also provide power for tiny lasers, amplifiers and optical communication equipment that will be used to transfer many terabytes of data on the computer itself and on the network. Lasers based on the Raman effect are already in use in the telecom industry and the rays they emit are amplified along many kilometers of optical fibers. The silicon, Intel believes, will make it possible to achieve similar results on a scale of a few centimeters.
From InformationWeek January 7
CES: The delivery of content and digital media at the center of the stage
Intel and Microsoft marked the provision of content as the last step in laying the foundations of the digital home.
By Edward F. Moltzen, CRN
Intel and Microsoft marked the provision of content as the last step in laying the foundations of the digital home, and both signed agreements with content providers to assist them in the task. Both Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Intel CEO Craig Barrett stated in their speeches at the CES 2005 exhibition held in Las Vegas that PC-based technologies expand the range of uses of digital media.
Microsoft has signed agreements with Fox Sports and MTV, among others, to supply content for IP networks. Intel enlisted the support of celebrities such as Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and actor and film producer Robert Redford for its digital media technology. "We are about to upgrade the devices in your home," Craig Barrett told the audience at the CES exhibition. In his speech, Barrett presented a prototype of digital media management software for handheld computers and PC-based digital media players.
About 120,000 visitors visited the booths of over two thousand exhibitors at the exhibition that took the traditional place of Comedex in the high-tech industry. Besides Microsoft and Intel, Panasonic, Samsung, HP, Sony and other companies unveiled new electronic devices and PC products at the exhibition. Panasonic and HP, for example, announced at the CES exhibition a collaboration in the field of DVD technologies for electronic devices and computers.
A copy of the article and additional information is available on Intel's website
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