Operated by light, computer speed is 20 times faster

The use of light - made from photons instead of electricity, will make the semi-conductors work faster. This will produce computer models that run at least 20 times faster than computers.

Over the past four decades, the electronics industry has grown strongly by Moore's Law . Thanks to it, every two years, electronic devices double their speed and have more features.

Indeed, every year, technology companies have launched faster, more convenient, smarter models

Specifically, Moore's Law, as presented by Gordon Moore - co-founder of Intel, "the number of transistors per square inch will double every year . " Transistors are a small electrical switch. It is the basic unit for operating all electronic devices.

As they become smaller, they will operate faster and consume less electricity. In the technology world, one of the biggest questions of the 21st century is: How to create small transistors? This is the industry with annual revenue of 200 billion dollars, in the US alone. And it is still growing strongly.

Photonic technology will be the future of computers.(Photo: Steve Jurvetson).

Currently, companies like Intel are manufacturing 14-nanometer transistors in large quantities. The ball is made of silicon. This is the second richest material on our planet. The size of silicon atoms is about 0.2 nanometers.

Current transistors are about the width of about 70 silicon atoms. This is a very small size, and it is difficult to make them smaller. At this point, transistors using electrical - electronic signals move from one place to another - to interact with each other.

But if we can use light, made from photons - instead of electricity, we can make transistors faster. Researchers are trying to find ways to integrate light into chips.

A transistor has three parts, like parts of a digital camera.

First, information enters the lens, similar to the source of a transistor. Then, it passes through a channel from the image sensor to the wires inside the camera. Finally, information is stored on the camera's memory card.

All of these mechanisms work based on the movement of electrons around them. In order for the computer to work faster, it is necessary to replace electrons with photons.

Atomic particles like electrons and photons move in wave form. They fluctuate up and down, even when moving in one direction. The length of each wave depends on what it passes through.

With silicon, the most effective wavelength for photons is 1.3 micrometers. This number is very small. Normally, a human hair is only about 100 micrometers.

But electrons in silicon are even smaller. It has a wavelength of 50 to 1,000 times, shorter than photons.

This means that photon processing devices must be larger than the devices that handle electrons that we have. Therefore, researchers are forced to create larger transistors, not smaller and smaller - as we wish.

However, it is possible to keep the chip in a small size but still have better processing capability. First, a photonic chip requires only a few light sources to produce photons. Second, light moves faster than electrons. On average, a photon moves 20 times faster than electrons in a chip. Thereby, computers will run 20 times faster.

The above speed - if you follow the current technology development process, it takes 15 years.

In the future, these photonic devices can perform more complex tasks than the best machines today.(Illustration).

Scientists have proven effective when using photonic chips in recent years. An important challenge for researchers, is to ensure that the chips operate on light that can be compatible with all existing electronic chips.

If researchers can find a way to use light-based transistors to enhance electron performance, the computer's performance will be greatly improved.

Transistors have changed dramatically over time. The first transistors were built in 1907 using vacuum tubes, 1 to 6 inches tall (average 100 mm). By 1947, created a transistor 40 microns long (3,000 times longer than the present).

In 1971, the first commercial microprocessor (the main power source of all electronic devices) was born. It is 1,000 times larger than the current device.

Research efforts by scientists and outstanding achievements in the electronics industry that we see, are just the beginning of the photonic industry. In the future, these photonic devices can perform more complex tasks than the best machines today.

In the coming period, light-based technology will surely catch up and surpass electronic speed.