Intel develops new hybrid laser

By Steve Malone

Posted on 19 Sep 2006 at 11:03

High-speed computers based on laser technology could become commonplace following a discovery by a team from Intel and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

The researchers have discovered a way of creating a Hybrid Silicon Laser that combines the light emitting properties of Indium Phosphide and the light routing properties of silicon.

'This could bring low-cost, terabit-level optical 'data pipes' inside future computers and help make possible a new era of high-performance computing applications,' commented Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's Photonics Technology Lab. 'While still far from becoming a commercial product, we believe dozens, maybe even hundreds of hybrid silicon lasers could be integrated with other silicon photonic components onto a single silicon chip.'

The fact that the new material uses silicon means many of today's manufacturing processes could be used to create low cost micro circuitry and boost the hybrid laser's adoption in mainstream electronics.

The semiconductor properties of silicon underpin almost the entire digital electronics industry: it can also be used to route, detect, modulate and even amplify light. What silicon does not do very well is generate light, unlike Indium Phosphide. Lasers based on this compound are already in common use in telecommunications equipment.
However, combining the two materials is problematic. In order to create the hybrid laser, the researchers used a low-temperature, oxygen plasma to create a thin oxide layer of around 25 atoms thick on the surfaces of both materials.

When heated and pressed together, the oxide layer functions as a 'glass-glue' fusing the two materials into a single chip. When voltage is applied, light generated in the Indium Phosphide-based material passes through the oxide layer and into the silicon chip where it is contained and controlled.

Until these hybrid laser chips go into commercial production, Intel still has plenty of silicon to sell. It says its Christmas marketing campaign will focus on the Core2 Duo processor under the slogan 'Multiply'. Intel intends to plug the new processor through TV, print, online, outdoor and other ad placement and marketing efforts. Print ads begin appearing in the US later this month, with TV and online ads launching at the end of September and outdoor ads in October.