Dynamic Backplane Ribbon Coupler for Card-to-Backplane Computer Interconnection

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。这项研究的目标是通过使用阵列聚合物波导数据总线和激光二极管激活的耦合光栅来实现卡到背板的光学互连。计算机中央处理单元显著增加的时钟速率正迅速超过相应的电主板数据速率，这受到严重的频率相关电互连的限制。使用聚合物波导带的光学互连是一种很有前途的替代方案。在紫外光固化聚合物波导阵列中使用激光二极管激活的耦合光栅，可以在不插入卡的情况下促进多点互连，同时保持光功率。该方法是开发一种光敏聚合物材料，它可以利用低功率半导体激光器在蓝或红波长实现这样的耦合光栅，同时可以紫外光固化，以支持软光刻低损耗波导的制作。将实现一种合适的波导阵。将设计和制造耦合光栅和记录硬件，以展示光学互连的高速功能。提出的活动的智能优点是探索了使用激光二极管激活的波导光栅的新型卡到背板光互连耦合器。此外，还将开发一种新的光敏材料。拟议研究的更广泛影响包括开发一种新的卡到背板光学互连系统，用于快速计算应用。预计它将惠及计算产业、计算科学与工程、高速测试设备系统和光纤通信网络。拟议的研究将有利于大学教育和学术研究生研究，并涉及本科生高级项目。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."The objective of this research is to realize a card-to-backplane optical interconnection by using an array polymer waveguide data bus and laser diode activated coupler gratings. The significantly increased clock rates of computer central processing units are rapidly outpacing the corresponding electrical motherboard data rates, limited by the severe frequency-dependent electrical interconnections. Optical interconnection using polymer waveguide ribbons is a promising alternative. The proposed use of laser diode activated coupler grating in a UV curable polymer waveguide array can facilitate multi-drop interconnection while preserving optical power when a card is not plugged in. The approach is to develop a light sensitive polymer material that can realize such a coupler grating using low-power diode laser at blue or red wavelength while being UV curable to support soft lithography low-loss waveguide fabrication. A suitable waveguide array will be realized. The coupler gratings and recording hardware will be designed and fabricated to demonstrate the high-speed functionality of the optical interconnection. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is the exploration of the new card-to-backplane optical interconnection coupler using laser diode activated waveguide grating. Furthermore, a new light sensitive material will be developed. The broader impacts of the proposed research include the development of a new card-to-backplane optical interconnect system for fast computing applications. It is expected to benefit the computing industry, computation science and engineering, high speed test equipment systems, and fiber communication networks. The proposed research will benefit university education and academic graduate research and involve undergraduate senior projects.