Engineers grow nanolasers on silicon

[Guest]

Engineers at the University of California at Berkeley said that they have found a way to grow nanolasers on a silicon surface.

Engineers grow nanolasers on silicon : Read more

 

[mister g]

Saw this on PCWorld yesterday, wonder what'll come first this or graphene CPUs in mainstream PCs.

 

[bto]

intriguing! Now you really can have freaking sharks with freaking lasers attached to their heads!

 

[jgalecio]

I was thinking self powered nano lasers for nanoscopic surgery and even viral destruction!

 

[dark_lord69]

[citation][nom]jgalecio[/nom]I was thinking self powered nano lasers for nanoscopic surgery and even viral destruction![/citation]
Interesting...
Although I think the goal of all this is to be able to allow a CPU to transmit data from one part of the CPU to another part using this technology which would work similar to fiber optics. I believe the ultimate goal would be to have the whole motherboard, CPU and RAM comunicating using connections that are similar to fiber optics to allow an unbelievable amount of bandwidth. But I could be completely wrong about all of that... 😛

 

[fyasko]

so this would be the next step in computer processing? or is it... "Marine diatoms, a unicellular algae, build their hard, patterned cell walls with microscopic lines of silica — a compound related to silicon, which is a key material for constructing computer chips and semiconductors."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/01/21/algae-computers.html#ixzz1DPNQUj3v


either way exciting stuff...

 

[Grizely1]

making the cpu and mobo fiber optic wouldn't serve too much purpose. loss of data is the biggest reason for using fibre optic, specifically over distances (eliminating resistance in the transmitting medium)

 

[Grizely1]

maybe in a few decades when cpus are bottlenecked by the speed at which signals transmit through copper mediums...

 

[tpi2007]

"at the relatively cool temperature of 400 degrees Celsius."


400 is not a relatively cool temperature in my book. Should it be 40 ?

 

[Guest]

Relative to a typical "hot" laser, 400C is cool.

 

[bayouboy]

[citation][nom]Grizely1[/nom]making the cpu and mobo fiber optic wouldn't serve too much purpose. loss of data is the biggest reason for using fibre optic, specifically over distances (eliminating resistance in the transmitting medium)[/citation]

Uhhh, physics says otherwise man. Light is much faster than the propagation of a magnetic field in an electrical circuit which is much faster than electron flow. So yes, using light would yield a significantly faster CPU and far better bandwidth all around.

If silicon was as fast as light, it would have to be superconducting.

Are you saying that your CPU has superconducting material?!?

 

[fans 6]

Engineers t Berkley? LOL. Probably getting paid 1/4th of an Intel Engineer.

 

[dalauder]

[citation][nom]bayouboy[/nom]Uhhh, physics says otherwise man. Light is much faster than the propagation of a magnetic field in an electrical circuit which is much faster than electron flow. So yes, using light would yield a significantly faster CPU and far better bandwidth all around.If silicon was as fast as light, it would have to be superconducting.Are you saying that your CPU has superconducting material?!?[/citation]
Dude, I think he's just saying that heat(and other things) in the CPU is our bottleneck, not the fact that the mobo uses copper.

 

[JPForums]

[citation][nom]bayouboy[/nom]Uhhh, physics says otherwise man. Light is much faster than the propagation of a magnetic field in an electrical circuit which is much faster than electron flow.[/citation]
Actually, it is the propagation speed of an electromagnetic wave that affects the transferring of information.
Electromagnetic waves propagate at the speed of light in a vacuum, 95% the speed of light through unshielded copper, and 66% the speed of light through coaxial (shielded copper).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity
Drift velocity which is caused by an electric field is far to slow to be of use in data transmission.

While there is a potential speed up of up to 50% en route, the generation and detection of light has to be as fast as that of electricity in our current circuits to be of use for small runs.
This is especially true in electric/laser hybrid circuits where there is an additional latency in transforming electricity to light and vice versa.
Longer runs stand to gain more because more time is spent en route.
I would expect to see this technology on consumer motherboards before seeing it on consumer processors.
Of course, other factors, I.E. cost and ease of implementation, could dictate otherwise.

 

[christop]

Cool..

 

[ubercake]

Some seriously insane achievements! Wow. Really cool.