Silicon photonics is ready for prime time, according to presenters at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition this week in San Diego.
The move from copper twisted pairs--which consume from seven or more watts to transmit and receive 10-Gbits/second of network traffic--to optical fibers can cut power consumption ten fold, proponents say. Moving further to silicon-based optical components could cut power by half again while driving down costs with CMOS integration.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206900492
