EAPSI: Development and testing of optical interconnection circuit for high speed and low power computing systems

随着技术的进步，现代电子设备的趋势是缩小尺寸，同时提高电池寿命和速度。随着构成我们现代设备的集成电路（ic）性能的不断提高，它们正面临物理极限。电子通信造成了限制速度和消耗电力的瓶颈。进一步提高集成电路互连性能的一种方法是从电学领域转向光学领域。使用光进行通信比电信号有几个优点。光学器件的片上集成被认为是高性能电子学的下一个前沿。IBM的东京研究实验室是计算系统光学研究的领导者之一，致力于开发高速光学系统，目标是开发第一台光学超级计算机。通过与日本IBM光学研究专家田洋一博士的合作，该项目将为美国高速通信研究提供新的见解。光子不受许多减慢电信号的寄生效应（如电容）的影响。IBM在开发下一代集成电路和使用光学互连方法以提高集成电路的整体性能方面进行了全面的内部努力。在这个项目中，计划中的光互连系统的两个重要组成部分将被评估。首先，将使用先进技术测量光波导的质量，包括使用集成光电探测器和外部调制激光器进行散射和损耗测量。使用相同的策略，使用这些光学互连系统的最大通信速度也将使用代码生成器/验证器和耦合到光电探测器的高速电测量设备进行测量和验证。NSF EAPSI奖是与日本科学促进会合作资助的。

As technology advances, the tendency for modern electronic devices is to decrease in size while improving battery life and speed. As the integrated circuits (ICs) that make up our modern day devices continue to increase in performance they are running into physical limits. Electronic communication creates a bottleneck that limits speed and consumes power. One approach to further improve the performance of IC interconnect is to move from the electrical to the optical domain. Using light for communication offers several advantages over electrical signaling. On-chip integration of optical devices is considered to be a next frontier in high performance electronics. IBM's Tokyo Research Lab is one of the leaders in optical research for computing systems, developing high-speed optical systems towards the goal of developing the first optical supercomputer. In collaboration with Dr. Yoichi Taira, an expert in optical research at IBM in Japan, this project will provide a new insight on the research regarding high-speed communications in the United States. Photons are not subject to many of the same parasitic effects (such as capacitance) that slow down electrical signals. IBM has a comprehensive internal effort in developing the next generation integrated circuits and the use of optical interconnect approaches to improve overall integrated circuit performance. In this project, two important components of planned optical interconnect systems will be evaluated. First, the quality of optical waveguides will be measured using advanced techniques, including scattering and loss measurements using integrated photodetectors and external modulated lasers. Using the same strategies, the maximum communication speed using these optical interconnect systems will also be measured and validated using a code generator/validator and high speed electrical measurement equipment coupled to the photodeetctors. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.