The computing speed is about 1000 times faster than that of electronic chips, but the power consumption is lower - photonic chips are becoming the leading industries that countries are scrambling to lay out. Recently, the reporter learned that in the IC / PIC innovation center of Beijing Electronics City, the first phase of the optoelectronic chip packaging test and verification platform has been completed, and it has the basic testing and packaging capability of optoelectronic chips, which can provide support for the R & D and industrialization of start-ups.
"Lane change" breaks transistor limit
The performance improvement of traditional electronic chips mainly depends on reducing the size of internal unit transistors to place more transistors in the unit area as much as possible. In general, the more transistors integrated into a chip, the stronger the computing power of the chip. However, due to the limitation of machining accuracy, the traditional technical route faces a bottleneck. In order to improve the computing power and break through the bottleneck, the photonic chip has become a new breakthrough direction by studying the physical transformation of optical signals in the process of propagation.
"In an ideal state, the computing speed of a photonic chip is about 1000 times faster than that of an electronic chip, and the power consumption is lower. In terms of performance, it can break the limit of Moore's law." Said Bai Bing, founder of photon arithmetic technology.
The characteristics of optoelectronic chips provide a good opportunity for China's related industries to "overtake". The principle of optical computing chip is different from that of electronic chip. It does not rely on transistor optimization, but uses the principle of photoelectric conversion to achieve faster speed and lower power consumption to complete specific computing tasks by using the characteristics of faster propagation speed, lower power consumption and no electromagnetic interference of optical signals. At the same time, the whole process of the manufacturing process of photonic chips can be realized in China, which is basically on the same starting line as the technology level of foreign countries.
The old plant becomes a "core creation" space
In the measures of Beijing Municipality on promoting investment in high-tech industries and promoting the green development of high-end intelligent manufacturing industry released in 2021, it is clearly proposed to preempt the layout of future frontier industries in optoelectronics and other fields.
In 2021, Yandong microelectronics 6-inch wafer manufacturing plant, under the leadership of the technology service operator Electronic City high tech, became the IC / PIC innovation center of the electronic city, providing a space for more "core innovation" scientific research teams and enterprises to grow and take off. Sun Honglan, operating unit of IC / PIC innovation center of electronic city and deputy general manager of Beijing Electronic City integrated circuit design service company, introduced that Jiuxianqiao area is the earliest electronic industry base in China. Now, through renovation, it has changed from a single electronic industry cluster in the past to an important part of Zhongguancun national independent innovation demonstration zone.
Preliminary test and packaging capability
At the same time, the park also takes into account the needs of scientific research teams and start-ups. Like traditional electronic chips, optoelectronic chips need to be packaged and tested for verification and small-scale trial production before being put into market application. However, the optoelectronic chip industry chain in its infancy is relatively immature, and a standardized packaging and testing platform has not yet been formed. It is difficult for large-scale packaging and testing plants to provide customized packaging scheme research and development and sample processing for new demands. This undoubtedly increases the waiting time cost and processing cost of the start-up team.
With the joint efforts of Electronic City high tech and photon arithmetic, in 2022, the first phase of the optoelectronic chip packaging test and verification platform was completed in the electronic city IC / PIC innovation center. At present, the platform has completed the infrastructure transformation and clean room construction in the primary stage, and has the basic testing and packaging capacity of photoelectric chips.
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