Until now, two major challenges stood in the way of creating a workable terahertz microchip –  scalability and the fact they tended to catch fire.

In a paper published this week in Laser and Photonics Review, which we get for the spot the proton competition,  Levy, and HU emeritus professor Joseph Shappir have shown proof of concept for an optical technology that integrates the speed of optic (light) communications with the reliability and scalability of electronics.

Optic communications encompass all technologies that use light and transmit through optic cables, such as the internet, email, text messages, phone calls, the cloud and data centres, among others. Optic communications are super fast, but in microchips, they become unreliable and difficult to replicate in large quantities.

By using a Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon (MONOS) structure, Levy and his team have come up with a new integrated circuit that uses flash memory technology in microchips. If successful, this technology will enable standard 8-16 gigahertz computers to run 100 times faster and will bring all optic devices closer to the holy grail of communications: the terahertz chip.

Levy said: "This discovery could help fill the 'THz gap' and create new and more powerful wireless devices that could transmit data at significantly higher speeds than currently possible. In the world of hi-tech advances, this is game-changing technology,"

Meir Grajower, the leading HU PhD student on the project, said: "It will now be possible to manufacture an optical device with the precision and cost-effectiveness of flash technology."