s manufacturing industry date back to the 1940s, the semiconductor industry is much newer in origin, and the microprocessor segment if this industry began in 1971 with the introduction by Intel of the 4004 processor.
Technological and theoretical innovations ranging from ranging from DNA computing to optical circuitry hold the potential to revolutionize computing, and in the process threaten the semiconductor industry (Glanz, 1995). In search of new computational power, some researchers are attempting to use light as an information carrier. Pulses of light are "the fastest messengers in nature," and the light pulses "pass through one another without effect. That should allow any number of activities to take place simultaneously in an optical circuit" (Glanz, 1995, p. 1363).
Many experts reject the idea integrated optical circuits will replace semiconductor electronics (Fischetti, 1992). These critics do see a role for integrated opt
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