Circuits and Systems Enabling Silicon-Photonics Signaling

计算和数据通信已经改变了我们的工作、交流、社交、学习和教育的方式。为了维持和改善我们的生活方式，并解决我们整个社会面临的大多数具有挑战性的问题，例如开发个性化医疗或能源资源的可持续管理，我们对能够以可管理的能力处理海量数据的超级计算机和数据中心的需求持续增长。在过去的十年中，这种需求推动了cmos技术的指数级扩展以及多核和互连数据处理和通信的兴起。然而，这种积极的扩展现在正受到输入/输出(I/O)数据链路扩展速度较慢的威胁。例如，未来十年的超高性能计算系统预计需要通过I/O链路达到每秒TB级的聚合数据吞吐量。根据现有的趋势，这意味着在未来十年提供十分之一功率的I/O带宽的10倍，这是一个标准铜线互连无法解决的真正挑战。

Computing and data communications have changed the way we work, communicate, socialize, learn and educate. To maintain and improve our lifestyle, and to solve most of the challenging problems we face as a society, e.g. developing personalized medicine or a sustainable management of energy resources, our need for super-computers and data-centers that can process massive amounts of data with manageable power continues to grow. This need has driven the exponential scaling of CMOS technology and the rise of multi-core and inter-linked data processing and communication in the last decade. However, this aggressive scaling is now being imperiled by the slower pace of scaling of Input/Output (I/O) data links. For example, ultra-high performance computing systems over the next decade are expected to require Terabytes per second of aggregate data throughput over I/O links. Based on the existing trend, this means providing 10 times the I/O bandwidth for 1/10th the power over the next decade, and presents a real challenge that cannot be addressed by standard copper interconnects.