Ultra-Compact Low-Power Photonic Network-on-Chip

随着微电子芯片计算能力的提高，由于速度和晶体管密度的不断提高，它们产生的信息流变得越来越难以处理。因此，芯片之间甚至芯片内逻辑单元之间的电气互连正在成为瓶颈。随着总带宽超过1 TB/S，光网络已经展示了光传输信息的潜力，现在它可以用于解决芯片规模带来的挑战。硅光子学已经证明，光学设备可以使用与CMOS兼容的工艺制造，但要在同一芯片上高效地结合光学和电子电路，仍有许多挑战必须解决。例如，根据用于光学或电子应用的不同，对绝缘体上硅晶片的硅层和掩埋氧化层的要求有很大差异。这个研究项目研究了一种新的集成光学方法，可以在电子电路的基础上创造超紧凑和低功率的光学设备。为了实现这一点，我们将开发一种制造工艺，其中使用碳化硅(碳化硅)来形成光波导。碳化硅具有许多优点，包括高折射率，可以在低温下沉积，并且可以表现出电光效应。在芯片上安装光学元件代表着一项重大的技术转变，在这项研究计划中开发的知识将对加拿大电子公司有价值。此外，它还将培养2名博士和3名硕士研究生。设计和制造先进的光子电路的学生。基于SIC的集成光电路的影响超出了片上光通信的范围。碳化硅的机械强度可以用来提高光机腔的谐振频率，而且由于石墨烯可以在碳化硅上生长，因此碳化硅波导将非常适合于石墨烯电子的光学互连。

As the computing capacity of microelectronic chips increases, thanks to continuous improvements in speed and transistor density, the flows of information they generate are becoming harder to handle. As a result, the electrical interconnections between chips and even between logical units within a chip are becoming bottlenecks. With aggregate bandwidths exceeding one Tb/s, optical networks have demonstrated the potential of light to transmit information, and now it can be used to resolve the challenges arising at the chip scale. Silicon photonics has demonstrated that optical devices can be manufactured using CMOS compatible processes but there are still numerous challenges that must be addressed to efficiently combine optical and electronic circuits on the same chip. For instance, the requirements on the silicon and buried oxide layers of silicon-on-insulator wafers differ greatly depending on whether they are used for optical or electronic applications.This research program investigates a novel approach to integrated optics that could enable the creation of ultra-compact and low-power optical devices on top of electronic circuits. To achieve this, we will develop a fabrication process where silicon carbide (SiC) is used to form optical waveguides. SiC offers numerous advantages for on-chip optical circuits, including a high refractive index, the possibility of being deposited at low temperatures, and it can exhibit the electro-optic effect. Including optical components on CMOS dies represent a significant technological shift, and the knowledge developed during this research program will be valuable to Canadian electronics companies. Moreover, it will train 2 PhD and 3 M.Eng. students in the design and fabrication of advanced photonic circuits. The impact of integrated optical circuits based on SiC extends beyond on-chip optical telecommunications. The mechanical strength of SiC can be used to increase the resonant frequency of optomechanical cavities, and since graphene can be grown on SiC, SiC waveguides will be well suited to optically interconnect graphene electronics.