Enabling Data Movement at the Speed of Light

Researchers from Intel and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), have built the world’s first electrically powered Hybrid Silicon Laser using standard silicon manufacturing processes. This breakthrough addresses one of the last major barriers to producing low-cost, high-bandwidth silicon photonics devices for use inside and around future computers and data centers.

The researchers were able to combine the light-emitting properties of Indium Phosphide with the light-routing capabilities of silicon into a single hybrid chip. When voltage is applied, light generated in the Indium Phosphide enters the silicon waveguide to create a continuous laser beam that can be used to drive other silicon photonic devices. A laser based on silicon could encourage wider use of photonics in computers because the cost could be greatly reduced by using high-volume silicon manufacturing techniques.

“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,” said 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.”

“By combining UCSB’s expertise with Indium Phosphide and Intel’s silicon photonics expertise, we have demonstrated a novel laser structure based on a bonding method that can be used at the wafer-, partial-wafer or die-level, and could be a solution for large-scale optical integration onto a silicon platform,” said John Bowers, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCSB. “This marks the beginning of highly integrated silicon photonic chips that can be mass produced at low cost.”

While widely used to mass produce affordable digital electronics today, silicon can also be used to route, detect, modulate and even amplify light, but not to effectively generate light. In contrast, Indium Phosphide-based lasers are commonly used today in telecommunications equipment. But the need to individually assemble and align them has made them too expensive to build in the high volumes and at the low costs needed by the PC industry.

The hybrid silicon laser involves a novel design employing Indium Phosphide-based material for light generation and amplification, while using the silicon waveguide to contain and control the laser. The key to manufacturing the device is the use of a low-temperature oxygen plasma, an electrically charged oxygen gas, to create a thin oxide layer (roughly 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 “glass-glue” layer and into the silicon chip’s waveguide, where it is contained and controlled, creating a hybrid silicon laser. The design of the waveguide is critical to determining the performance and specific wavelength of the hybrid silicon laser.

Lenovo Leads in Notebook Customer Satisfaction

Lenovo has outperformed top competitors in customer satisfaction with Notebook PC hardware quality, reliability and product design features, according to the Technology Business Research (TBR) 2Q 2006 “Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study: Notebooks.” TBR’s Corporate IT Buying Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Study is a quarterly report based on data collected from the previous six months. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Toshiba and Gateway were included in the study.

For the seventh consecutive quarter, Lenovo with its ThinkPad series dominated the area of notebook hardware reliability. Highlights from the TBR report include:

• Lenovo achieved significantly lower notebook PC failure rates than industry averages.

• The use of Lenovo’s Active Protection System, an airbag like mechanism that protects the hard drive, is found to reduce hard drive failures by 30 percent as compared to other systems.

• Lenovo’s customer complaint management was identified as a strong differentiator for its proactive approach to remediate customers’ technology-related concerns.

Demand for Java Engineers Increases

The demand for Software Engineers with experience in Java, J2EE and J2ME is expanding at an incredible pace, according to John Polk Stewart, director of RGA Consulting in San Francisco.

“The need is tremendous because more and more applications are being added to handheld devices like phones and PDAs,” said Stewart.

According to market research and analysis firm, Canalys, the year-to-year growth rate for smart mobile devices continues at a consistent 55 percent. The pure handheld segment fell 33 percent, but smartphones increased to a 75 percent growth rate, exhibiting the convergence of these market segments and concomitant flip in unit type shipments.

Creating the many new applications for smartphones has enabled overall strong growth and will continue for the foreseeable future,” remarked Stewart, hence the expanding need for qualified Java developers.

As the rush to just get a website on the Internet has waned, most companies are focusing on site enhancements or redesigns with more sophistication coupled with greater user friendliness. Although this is a separate market segment within software development, it becomes related because of the need for Java developers to create the back end for these new sites and the resulting demand for engineers that are already being pursued for the smart mobile device industry. Within the website segment, the new requirements have also accelerated demand for experienced User Interface (UI) designers with significant human factors knowledge.

Toshiba Notebook Battery Problems

The Computer Systems Division of Toshiba has identified a potential problem with some of the batteries in Toshiba notebooks manufactured between March and May 2006. The potentially affected batteries may not properly charge or discharge, and they may stop supplying power to the notebook.

“Toshiba would like to clarify that this issue is in no way related to recent problems experienced by other manufacturers,” said Ahmed Khalil, general manager, Toshiba Computer Systems Middle East and Africa. “The affected batteries do not overheat, or pose any safety issue or concern.”

The potentially affected batteries were sold with notebooks in the Satellite, Satellite Pro and Tecra Series, and were also sold as accessories. The problem has been fixed by the third-party battery vendor, and according to Toshiba’s supplier, batteries manufactured since June 1, 2006, are not affected by this issue.

Toshiba will replace affected batteries with new batteries, free of charge and has launched a Toshiba Battery Replacement Program on its website. Customers can identify potentially affected notebooks and optional batteries with the help of an online Battery Check Utility (www.toshiba-europe.com/battery).