The road to a faster Internet, data center, and personal computer is paved with silicon. Or so believe researchers at Intel who have unveiled a test chip — made entirely from silicon — that can encode 200 gigabits of data per second on a beam of light. In contrast, the most advanced chips used in today’s fastest optical networks operate at speeds of 100 gigabits per second. And these 100-gigabit chips, which are made from nonsilicon materials, have limitations that Intel’s chip doesn’t: they can’t scale to faster speeds as inexpensively as can those made from silicon.
A Record-Breaking Optical Chip
June 25, 2008