English

Noun

silicon photonics ‎(uncountable)

1. the technology discipline related to production of optical switching electronic devices using integrated circuit manufacturing technology
   • Here's a better way: replace the copper with optical fiber and the electrons with photons. That's the promise of silicon photonics: affordable optical communications for everything. It will let manufacturers build optical components using the same semiconductor equipment and methods they use now for ordinary integrated circuits, thereby dramatically lowering the cost of photonics. — "The Silicon Solution" by Mario Paniccia and Sean Koehl. IEEE Spectrum, October 2005. .