E2CDA: Type I: Collaborative Research: Electronic-Photonic Integration Using the Transistor Laser for Energy-Efficient Computing

尽管在现代计算机网络、数据中心和电信系统中普遍使用光来传输信息，以支持社会对带宽日益增长的需求，但在集成电路芯片之间或集成电路芯片上使用光来传输信息的进展有限。在利用光处理信息的电路上取得的进展甚至更少。在真正的电子-光子集成上取得进展的一个关键障碍是缺乏在光（光子）和电子领域都能工作的电路元件。伊利诺斯大学香槟分校的教授Nick Holonyak， Jr.和Milton Feng取得了一项重要的突破，即某些类型的晶体管（电子电路的基本组成部分）可以被修改以产生光并被光所作用。这些发光晶体管（let）和晶体管激光器（TLs）将在该计划中用于形成真正的电子-光子数字逻辑电路，以及芯片上和芯片之间的高速光链路。这项技术有望显著提高处理信息的设备的速度和能源效率，并使新型集成电路在性能方面取得商业成功。教育和推广活动将向本科生和高中教师介绍一种基于光的新技术，重新激发stem相关领域的热情，并为电子-光子电路工程的未来职业生涯创造希望。本项目的技术工作重点是建立一个基本的电子-光子电路，该电路可作为超节能电子-光子计算系统的核心构建块。我们组建了一个多学科团队，汇集了半导体物理、材料和器件加工、器件设计、高速电路和计算机体系结构等领域的专业知识，以应对各种技术挑战，并创建一个可行的技术平台。在基础层面，将为器件开发基于物理的模型，以优化它们的电子和光子功能，并预测它们在电子-光子电路中的性能。同时，器件和电路将被制造和表征以优化其性能并改进器件模型。将这些器件和电路整合到传统硅电路的系统中，将需要开发可扩展的处理技术，以允许在硅芯片中嵌入电子-光子“岛”的形成，以及这些岛屿内部和之间的电子和光子互连。最后，将在芯片和系统级开发架构，以最佳地利用这些电子-光子逻辑电路提供的功能。

Despite the prevalent use of light to carry information in modern computer networks, data centers, and telecommunications systems to support society's ever-increasing demand for bandwidth, limited progress has been made on the use of light to carry information between or on integrated circuit chips. Even less progress has been made on circuits that use light to process information. A key impediment to progress on true electronic-photonic integration has been the lack of a circuit element that operates in both the domain of light (photons) and electrons. An important breakthrough, made at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign by Professors Nick Holonyak, Jr. and Milton Feng, is that certain types of transistors (the basic building blocks of electronic circuits) can be modified to generate and be acted on by light. These light-emitting transistors (LETs) and transistor lasers (TLs) will be used in this program to form true electronic-photonic digital logic circuits, and high-speed optical links both on and between chips. This technology is expected to dramatically improve the speed and energy efficiency of devices that process information, and to enable the commercial success of a new class of integrated circuits at the forefront of performance. Education and outreach activities will introduce undergraduates and high school teachers to a new technology based on light, renewing excitement in STEM-related fields and the creating the promise for a future career in electronic-photonic circuit engineering.The technical work in this program is focused on bringing into existence a basic electronic-photonic circuit that can be used as the core building block for ultra-energy-efficient electronic-photonic computing systems. A multidisciplinary team has been assembled with expertise that spans the areas of semiconductor physics, materials and device processing, device design, high-speed circuits, and computer architecture to attack a variety of technical challenges and create a viable technology platform. At the fundamental level, physics-based models will be developed for the devices to optimize them for electronic and photonic functionality and predict their performance in an electronic-photonic circuit. In tandem, devices and circuits will be fabricated and characterized to optimize their performance and to improve the device models. Incorporating these devices and circuits into systems with conventional silicon circuits will require the development of scalable processing technologies that allow the formation of electronic-photonic "islands" embedded within silicon chips along with the electronic and photonic interconnects within and between these islands. Finally, architectures will be developed at the chip and system level that make optimal use of the functionality provided by these electronic-photonic logic circuits.