Abstract
The physics of gallium arsenide offersdistinct advantages compared to silicon for device applications based onmobility, epitaxial bandgap engineering, and optoelectronic function.Because of these advantages, compared to silicon, gallium arsenidetransistors and optoelectronic devices are likely to be found in futurecomputer systems. I first discuss material advantages and challenges forcommercial realization of these applications. Examples of thesepotential applications in communication and computer systems are given.Highly integrated optoelectronic circuits will likely be found inoptical links for data communications. The state of the art will beillustrated with recent results from a joint program that spans severalIBM research and development laboratories. A demonstration of acompactly packaged gigabit per second optical data link with error rateslow enough for computer communications has been made with two highlyintegrated MESFET chips and one laser array.