An integrated circuit that passes light signals rather than electrical signals. Using the same processes for manufacturing traditional wafers and ICs, photonic chips are gaining momentum in the 2020s. However, a primary hurdle to overcome is connecting the signals. Optical pathways in photonic ICs (PICs) must be aligned perfectly when connecting to each other and to external fibers. Increasingly, the photonic system-on-chip (SoC) eliminates the signal paths just like silicon SoCs eliminated chip-to-chip interconnections. Photonic chips are expected to be mainstream in the 2030-2035 time frame. See
optical computer.