ABSTRACT
The recent and very fast advances in computation have led to an important improvement in the design and manufacture of chips. However, the high-speed needs and the very high quantity of information that must be shared have been constrained by physical limitations. The impedance and size of metallic wires are not enough for future technologies, hence new devices must be developed. Some alternatives have been proposed to overcome this challenge. One of them is the use of optical components for inter-and intra-chips communications, substituting electrical signals by light. New advances in photonic devices, new engineered materials, photolithography, and nano-manufacture techniques have approached this alternative and, in the near future, it could
be a real counterpart to actual chips. Then, optoelectronics can be considered as the natural evolution of the microelectronic integrated circuits.
