Intel To Adopt Silicon Photonics In Thunderbolt Successor

Intel expects to bring a next-generation interconnect technology -- which uses silicon photonics and features five times the data transfer speed of Intel’s current Thunderbolt product -- to market in 2015.

Jeff Demain, strategy director of circuits and system research at Intel Labs, on Wednesday told PC World that Intel is aiming to bring the Thunderbolt successor to devices including PCs, tablets, smartphones and TV sets by 2015. Demain reportedly said Thunderbolt will likely coexist with other data transfer technologies, the most widely-used of which is USB 3.0.

’We see them as complementary,’ Demain said. ’It's the evolution of these connectors and protocols as they move forward. Thunderbolt is more than a cable. It's a router chip that aggregates DisplayPort and PCI-Express."

Intel also reportedly demonstrated working prototypes of silicon used to transmit laser signals from the as-of-yet unnamed Thunderbolt successor, along with mock-ups of the cables themselves.

The thinner next-generation optical cables incorporate silicon photonics, which operate in infrared and use silicon from existing semiconductor technology as an optical medium. Since the technology does not require a die shrink or any new fabrication techniques, Intel expects to be able to lower the cost of components as it moves into the next generation of I/O data transfer technology.

According to Intel, the finished product will be able to transfer data at up to 50 Gbps over distances of up to 100 meters.

Next: Thunderbolt Vs. USB 3.0

Intel developed Thunderbolt together with Apple, which does not support the USB standard on its Macbook systems. Apple in February refreshed its Macbook Pro line by adding Intel's Sandy Bridge integrated graphics processors along with Thunderbolt data transfer technology, which debuted inside the updated Macbooks.

However, on April 13 at the Intel Developer Forum 2011 Intel said it plans to support USB 3.0 optical cable technology in its next-generation integrated graphics processors -- code-named Ivy Bridge and Fusion, respectively.

Rival AMD is also planning to support USB 3.0 in its Fusion processors, Sandy Bridge’s main competitor in the new integrated graphics processor segment.