Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) claim to have developed the "Holy Grail" of the microelectronics industry-- light emissive silicon, key to creating the photonics-based computers of the future.
According to the researchers, current electronics are soon set to hit the ceiling. The limiting factor is heat, the result of the resistance electrons experience as they travel through the copper lines connecting the many transistors on a chip. Photons, the particles making light, can not only deliver more data, but can do so without producing heat.
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