OIDA's Huff Discusses Nanophotonics in Keynote Address at NGC2007.

Nanotechnologies to enable realistic silicon photonics applications

TEMPE, Ariz. -- According to OIDA Vice President of Marketing and Business Development David Huff, emerging nanophotonics technologies offer the potential to greatly expand the use of optoelectronics in consumer and computing

applications. Huff presented the keynote address at the Nano-Giga Challenges 2007 Conference at Arizona State University. The conference addressed developments in nanotechnology as it applies to electronics, optics, sensors, chemical, thermal, and bio-medical applications, and was well attended by an international audience.

"When you engineer light and materials at the quantum level, you can shake the bounds of classical optics and physics," said Huff. "By enabling the development of high bandwidth, high-speed and ultra-small optoelectronics components, nanophotonics is allowing us to change the realm of the possible." Topics addressed by Huff included:

* Markets for nanophotonic technology, led by consumer and computer applications;

* Key advances, such as nanowaveguides, which may offer new life to existing silicon photonics applications; and

* New quantum effect devices, such as light 'freezing', which will offer unique optical processing capabilities which can't be implemented with any technology today.

Huff pointed out that significant hurdles remain before these technologies become mainstream. Despite the fact that silicon fabrication techniques can be applied, the assembly of these devices is still quite expensive; defects in the devices must be addressed to fix loss and performance issues; and less expensive techniques must be developed for device integration and interfaces. "Nanophotonics offers many more capabilities than I was able to address in my talk, including sensor, bio-medical, optical refrigeration, displays, and solar energy," said Huff. "It will be fascinating to see which applications pan out in the market."

About OIDA

The Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) is a Washington DC-based, not-for-profit association that serves as the nexus for vision, transformation, and growth of the optoelectronics industry. OIDA advances the competitiveness of its members by focusing on the business of technology, not just technology itself. OIDA members include the leading providers of optoelectronic components and systems enabled by optoelectronics, as well as universities and research institutions. OIDA provides roadmaps, reports, and market data for the optoelectronics industry, serves as the voice of industry to government and academia, acts as liaison with other optoelectronic industry associations worldwide, and provides a network for the exchange of ideas and information within the optoelectronics community. Learn more about OIDA at www.oida.org.