For decades, silicon chips have powered modern electronics, from computers and smartphones to industrial computing and artificial intelligence. As computing demands continue to grow, however, the limitations of silicon-based chips are becoming more apparent.
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Processing speeds, power efficiency, and scalability are all reaching physical and technological limits. Researchers are now exploring photonic chips, which use light instead of electrical signals to process information.
The key question is whether photonic chips can replace silicon chips, or if they will serve as a complementary technology in future computing systems.
How Photonic Chips Work
Traditional silicon chips rely on electrical signals to transfer data. Electrons move through circuits, enabling information processing and storage. In contrast, photonic chips use photons—particles of light—to transmit data, significantly increasing speed and efficiency.
A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) consists of optical components such as waveguides, modulators, and photodetectors, which control and direct light instead of electrical currents. This approach allows for faster data transfer and reduces energy losses caused by electrical resistance and heat generation.
Photonic chips are already used in high-speed optical communication, AI processing, and quantum computing, where fast data transmission is essential.1 They are also becoming important in biosensing and medical technology, improving real-time monitoring, medical imaging, and diagnostics.2
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How Photonic Chips Compare to Silicon Chips
Speed
Photonic chips process information at the speed of light, making them 10 to 100 times faster than conventional silicon chips. Electrons move significantly slower than photons, which limits the speed of traditional microprocessors.
One example of this advantage is the lithium niobate (LN) photonic chip, developed by Feng et al., which demonstrated high-speed processing and low power consumption. The chip was fabricated on a 4-inch LN wafer and achieved processing speeds of 256 G samples per second (GSa/s).
Researchers integrated a high-speed modulation component, enabling the chip to perform first- and second-order temporal integration and differentiation computations with 98 % accuracy at bandwidths exceeding 67 GHz.
This high fidelity and computational efficiency were tested in image segmentation applications, where the chip was used to outline cancer cell boundaries. It processed images 50 to 100 times faster than conventional microprocessors, all while consuming less power.3
Energy Efficiency
Silicon chips generate heat during operation, requiring cooling systems that consume additional power. In high-performance computing, data centers, and AI processing, managing heat output is a growing challenge.
Photonic chips reduce energy consumption because they do not rely on electrical resistance. They also include thermal heaters, which optimize their performance while using only a few milliwatts of power.4
Researchers from Oregon State University, in collaboration with Intel and NASA, have developed on-chip wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to regulate temperature in photonic chips. Their prototype consisted of four tunable silicon micro-ring resonators (Si-MRRs), which allowed for continuous tuning using gate voltage.
This approach enabled precise temperature regulation without consuming additional power, leading to considerable power savings, and keeping the temperature of photonic chips within safe limits.5
Scalability and Future Growth
Silicon-based microprocessors are approaching their physical limits in terms of size and performance improvements. Advances in nanotechnology and additive manufacturing have helped extend their usefulness, but breakthroughs in silicon chips are becoming harder to achieve.
Photonic chips, however, have room for further development and miniaturization. Researchers are integrating quantum photonic components and improving fabrication techniques to increase their capabilities.
3D printing and lithography techniques allow for the mass production of compact photonic chips, avoiding the costly and time-consuming process of manufacturing individual components, which is required for traditional silicon chips.
Quantum photonic chips, in particular, offer new possibilities for secure communication and high-speed computing, with researchers actively working on improving their stability and efficiency.6
Compatibility with Existing Technology
Silicon chips are used in nearly all modern electronics and can be easily integrated into new systems. Photonic chips, however, require specialized infrastructure, including light modulators, waveguides, and optical stabilization equipment.
These additional components add complexity and cost to system integration, making it difficult to transition entirely from silicon to photonic-based computing.
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Are Photonic Chips the Future? The Rise of Silicon Photonics
Despite the advantages of photonic chips, they are unlikely to replace silicon chips entirely in the near future.
Fabricating photonic chips is highly complex and expensive, requiring precise materials and manufacturing techniques. Many experts question whether companies will transition to a completely photonic-based infrastructure, given that silicon chips remain cheaper and easier to produce.7
To address these challenges, researchers have developed silicon photonics, a hybrid approach that integrates photonic components into traditional silicon chips. This combines the manufacturing advantages of silicon with the speed and efficiency of photonics.
Advances in optical communication and AI computing have made silicon photonics the preferred solution for improving computational performance without entirely replacing existing semiconductor technology.8
Silicon photonics has enabled large-scale integration, with researchers successfully incorporating over 10,000 components onto a single chip. Existing CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) manufacturing processes can be used to mass-produce these hybrid chips, avoiding the need for entirely new production techniques.
While photonic chips continue to improve, silicon photonics remains the more practical and economically viable solution. The development of new materials, such as graphene and other 2D substances, has enhanced photonic chip efficiency, but widespread adoption is still a long way off.
For photonic chips to become mainstream, further advancements in fabrication, cost reduction, and system integration are needed. Until then, silicon remains the foundation of modern computing, with photonics enhancing rather than replacing it.
To learn more about the latest advancements in semiconductor and photonic chip technology:
References and Further Reading
- Butt, M. et. al. (2025). Lighting the way forward: The bright future of photonic integrated circuits. Sensors International. 6. 100326. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2025.100326
- Shahbaz, M. et. al. (2023). Breakthrough in silicon photonics technology in telecommunications, biosensing, and gas sensing. Micromachines. 14(8). 1637. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14081637.
- Nikkhah, V. et al. (2024). Inverse-designed low-index-contrast structures on a silicon photonics platform for vector–matrix multiplication. Nat. Photon. 18, 501–508. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01394-2
- Crawford, M. (2023).New On-Chip Photonics System Could Reduce Data-Center Costs. [Online] The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Available at: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/new-on-chip-photonics-system-could-reduce-data-center-costs [Accessed on: March 8, 2025].
- Hsu, W. et al. (2023). On-chip wavelength division multiplexing filters using extremely efficient gate-driven silicon micro-ring resonator array. Sci Rep 13, 5269. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32313-0
- Luo, W. et al. (2023). Recent progress in quantum photonic chips for quantum communication and internet. Light Sci Appl. 12, 175. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-023-01173-8
- Butt M. (2023). Integrated Optics: Platforms and Fabrication Methods. Encyclopedia. 3(3). 824-838. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia3030059
- Shekhar, S. et al. (2024). Roadmapping the next generation of silicon photonics. Nat Commun. 15, 751. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44750-0
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