A state-funded semiconductor lab in China said it has achieved a “milestone” in the development of silicon photonics, which could help the country overcome current technical barriers in chip design and achieve self-sufficiency amid US sanctions, reports the South China Morning Post. JFS Laboratory—based in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province and a national base for photonics research—was able to light up a laser light source integrated with a silicon-based chip, the first time this was successfully done in China, according to a blog post published by the lab last week.
The achievement means that China has filled “one of the few blanks” in its optoelectronics technology, state media People’s Daily reported on Friday.
Silicon photonics rely on optical signals instead of electric signals for transmission. It aims to address the restraints imposed by current technology, as the transmission of electric signals between chips is approaching its physical limit, the lab said.