CAREER: Circuit and System Techniques for High-Throughput, Energy-efficient Silicon-Photonic Interconnects in Advanced VLSI Systems

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本研究的目的是克服有限的带宽密度和电互连的能量缩放，这导致了多核处理器等先进集成系统的性能缩放速度减慢。该方法是利用集成的单片硅光子学创建可扩展且健壮的收发器电路，以极高的能量效率和带宽密度提供无缝的片上和片外光学通信。智力优势：本研究通过与光子器件特性的紧密相互作用，通过开发新的通信和电路技术，改变了传统的研究和设计方法。提出的解决方案包括用于节能非线性均衡和调制的鲁棒、高数字电路和系统技术，以及高灵敏度光学数据和时钟接收器，以及用于温度控制、测试和表征的电路。更广泛的影响：这项研究将使数据中心和互联网路由器的性能持续扩展，并通过节省大量投资和将光子技术引入先进的CMOS代工厂，为国民经济带来重大利益。通过麻省理工学院的Interphase Pre-UROP、女性技术计划和K-12教育推广暑期计划等项目，该项目将吸引女性和少数族裔本科生、高中生和教师参与实验研究和工程设计的多学科方面。新开设的通信电路与系统设计研究生课程，将适用于本科高年级学生，与本科初级班共同开发。这些课程、设计工具和项目将通过麻省理工学院开放课件计划在互联网上提供。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The objective of this research is to overcome the limited bandwidth density and energy scaling of electrical interconnects, which have caused a slow-down in performance scaling of advanced integrated systems like manycore processors. The approach is to create scalable and robust transceiver circuits with integrated monolithic silicon photonics to provide seamless optical on-chip and off-chip communication with extremely high energy-efficiency and bandwidth density.Intellectual merit: This research transforms the traditional research and design approaches by developing novel communication and circuit techniques through tight interaction with photonic device properties. Proposed solutions include robust, highly-digital circuits and system techniques for energy efficient nonlinear equalization and modulation as well as high-sensitivity optical data and clock receivers, and circuits for temperature control, testing and characterization. Broader impacts: This research will enable continued performance scaling of data centers and internet routers, and bring significant benefits to the national economy by preserving the massive investments and introducing the photonic technology into advanced CMOS foundries. Through MIT programs like Interphase Pre-UROP, Women Technology Program, and K-12 Educational Outreach Summer Program the project will engage women and minority undergraduate and high-school students and teachers in multi-disciplinary aspects of experimental research and design in engineering. A newly developed graduate course in communication circuit and system design will be adapted for senior-level undergraduates and co-development of entry-level undergraduate class. These courses, design tools and projects will be available on the internet through MIT Open Course Ware initiative.