NO LIGHT TASK
Sun Microsystems is trying to pull of a technology innovation that has a 50/50 probability of success but a thousand to one payoff if it works. Here's how the New York Times piece describes it:
"Sun has found a way to reconnect the chips so they can communicate with each other at such high speeds that computer designers can build a new generation of computers that are faster, more energy-efficient and more compact.
The computer maker, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., plans to announce on Monday that it has received a $44 million contract from the Pentagon to explore the high-risk idea of replacing the wires between computer chips with laser beams.
The technology, part of a field of computer science known as silicon photonics, would eradicate the most daunting bottleneck facing today’s supercomputer designers: moving information rapidly to solve problems that require hundreds or thousands of processors.
Processor and memory chips are currently made by etching hundreds or thousands of identical circuits onto a single wafer of silicon and then slicing that wafer into fingernail-size chips. That manufacturing process ensures that if there is a defect at a single spot on the giant wafer it will not ruin the entire batch of chips.
The drawback in the approach is that wires have to connect the chips in a computer. This causes a fundamental limit in processing power because data moves between chips at lower speeds, creating significant bottlenecks."
The piece goes on to explain how a number of computer companies around the world are engaged in making this approach work, and how it'd be an end-run around Moore's Law if it succeeds.
From my perspective, it's an interesting twist on the holy grail of optical computing, that's been pursued by the industry for so many years. It'll take a few years to know if all this has a commercial payoff, but it's a cool development nevertheless.
Very interesting indeed. Any new develop in this field will surely benefit future generations to come (and my research paper, ha!).
Posted by: Giun Sun | Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 09:58 AM