
via Phys.org
Penn Engineers have developed a new chip that uses light waves, rather than electricity, to perform the complex math essential to training AI. The chip has the potential to radically accelerate the processing speed of computers while also reducing their energy consumption.
The silicon-photonic (SiPh) chip’s design is the first to bring together Benjamin Franklin Medal Laureate and H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor Nader Engheta’s pioneering research in manipulating materials at the nanoscale to perform mathematical computations using light — the fastest possible means of communication — with the SiPh platform, which uses silicon, the cheap, abundant element used to mass-produce computer chips.
The interaction of light waves with matter represents one possible avenue for developing computers that supersede the limitations of today’s chips, which are essentially based on the same principles as chips from the earliest days of the computing revolution in the 1960s.
In a paper in Nature Photonics, Engheta’s group, together with that of Firooz Aflatouni, Associate Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering, describes the development of the new chip. “We decided to join forces,” says Engheta, leveraging the fact that Aflatouni’s research group has pioneered nanoscale silicon devices.
Their goal was to develop a platform for performing what is known as vector-matrix multiplication, a core mathematical operation in the development and function of neural networks, the computer architecture that powers today’s AI tools.
Instead of using a silicon wafer of uniform height, explains Engheta, “you make the silicon thinner, say 150 nanometers,” but only in specific regions. Those variations in height — without the addition of any other materials — provide a means of controlling the propagation of light through the chip, since the variations in height can be distributed to cause light to scatter in specific patterns, allowing the chip to perform mathematical calculations at the speed of light.
Due to the constraints imposed by the commercial foundry that produced the chips, Aflatouni says, this design is already ready for commercial applications, and could potentially be adapted for use in graphics processing units (GPUs), the demand for which has skyrocketed with the widespread interest in developing new AI systems. “They can adopt the Silicon Photonics platform as an add-on,” says Aflatouni, “and then you could speed up training and classification.”
In addition to faster speed and less energy consumption, Engheta and Aflatouni’s chip has privacy advantages: because many computations can happen simultaneously, there will be no need to store sensitive information in a computer’s working memory, rendering a future computer powered by such technology virtually unhackable. “No one can hack into a non-existing memory to access your information,” says Aflatouni.
Original Article: New Chip Opens Door to AI Computing at Light Speed
More from: University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science
The Latest Updates from Bing News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Silicon-photonic chip
- Accelerating the photonic chip market in North America
Jorn Smeets, Managing Director North America at PhotonDelta, the Dutch photoinic chip accelerator, explains the reasons behind the opening of a new San Franciso-based North America office, as part of ...
- Chinese scientists adopt new technique to create faster microchips for AI devices
An additional benefit is that TMD-based chips consume less power, and their electron transport properties are better than those of silicon. This makes them a better choice for extremely scaled-down ...
- This ultra-thin semiconductor material could make chips faster, more energy-efficient
Chinese scientists have developed an ultra-thin semiconductor material, a significant step toward creating faster and more energy-efficient processors. The research team, led by Liu Kaihui of Peking ...
- Nvidia making new version of Blackwell AI chip for China, report says
In March, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the new "Blackwell" chip series at the GPU Technology Conference at San Jose's SAP Center.
- Exclusive: Nvidia preparing version of new flagship AI chip for Chinese market
Nvidia is working on a version of its new flagship AI chips for the China market that would be compatible with current U.S. export controls, four sources familiar with the matter said.
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Silicon Photonics
- This startup is building the country’s most powerful quantum computer on Chicago’s South Side
Illinois and DARPA announced an ambitious $500 million quantum computing campus in Chicago with startup PsiQuantum at the center.
- Tower Semiconductor Reports 2024 Second Quarter Financial Results
MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, July 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TSEM & TASE: TSEM) reports today its results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Revenue for the second ...
- Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) with silicon photonics – the future of secure computing
Nick New, CEO and founder of Optalysys, walks us through the opportunities and challenges in implementing Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) ...
- Ayar Labs Aims To Eliminate AI’s Bottlenecks At Light Speed
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world ...
- Silicon photonics promises large-scale applications in quantum information
Integrated photonics, the manipulation of light within tiny circuits on silicon chips, has long held promise for quantum applications due to its scalability and compatibility with existing ...