The importance of lithography machines in the field of chip production, I believe there is no need to say more, but the research and development of lithography machines is too difficult, and even the number of lithography machines produced by the Dutch ASML company is not much. Faced with multiple difficulties, Huawei decided a few years ago to find another way, rather than wasting time to develop a lithography machine that is fast to the limit, it is better to go for it and develop a "photon chip".
In this article, Ameya360 wants to popularize the photon chip for everyone. What is the photon chip? What is the difference between photonic chips and electronic chips?
What is a photonic chip
The researchers combined the light-emitting properties of indium phosphide and the optical routing capabilities of silicon into a single hybrid chip. When a voltage is applied to indium phosphide, light enters the silicon wafer's waveguide, producing a sustained laser beam that drives other silicon photonic devices. This silicon wafer-based laser technology could make photonics more widely used in computers, as large-scale silicon-based manufacturing techniques can dramatically reduce costs.
Second, what is the difference between photonic chips and electronic chips
In essence, the chip is a key technology that uses the physical characteristics of semiconductor materials to control the microscopic particles (electrons or photons, etc.) that carry information, so as to achieve information generation, transmission, processing, storage, etc. Scientists generally believe that photons can be used as information carriers like electrons to generate, process, and transmit information. Simply put, electronic chips use electrons to generate, process and transmit information, and photonic chips use photons to generate, process, transmit and display information.
From the perspective of the development route, electricity starts from electricity to electronics, then to electronic circuits, electronic integration, electronic systems, electronic engineering, and finally to the electronics industry. Light starts from optics to photonics, photonic circuits, photonic integration, photonic systems, photonic engineering, and finally to the photonic industry. According to the underlying scientific logic, it can be judged that mankind will surely enter the era of micro-photonics, and the large-scale integration of components using micro-photonics technology will surely be realized.