The volumes of data that are processed globally every day boggle the mind. Cloud-based platforms, the emerging Internet of Things and future mission-critical applications such as self-driving cars require ever-faster processing speeds and reliability of information transmission.

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Combined with this is the need to reduce energy consumption. The EU-funded LEIT project is developing technology for very low-power and low-loss information transmission in nanoelectronic circuits using phonons as the information carries. Phonons are vibrational energy packets or quanta of sound arising from oscillating atoms in a crystal, much like photons are quanta of light. Better yet, the platforms will be compatible with silicon technologies.