All Si-based optical interconnect for signal transmission
06 Jun 2001-pp 69-71
TL;DR: In this article, an all Si-based optical interconnect system that can be easily integrated into a conventional Si process was presented, where light was generated by biasing the Si LED at avalanche breakdown voltage, coupled through a fiber cable made of SiO/sub 2/ and inserted into a Si based avalanche photo-diode, and results demonstrated the switching behavior of Si LED in the GHz range, transmission of signal across the fiber, and measurement of signal limited by the receiver amplifier.
Abstract: Barriers to the industrial implementation of optical interconnects on an IC, center around the fabrication of optical elements on wafers through conventional Si processes. This paper focuses on demonstrating an all Si-based optical interconnect system that can be easily integrated into a conventional Si process. Most other approaches for optical interconnects use emitters that require drastic changes in conventional fabrication process. In this work, we demonstrate the ability to transmit electrical signals using Si-based system i.e. the light was generated by biasing the Si LED at avalanche breakdown voltage, light was coupled through a fiber cable made of SiO/sub 2/ and inserted into a Si based avalanche photo-diode. Results presented demonstrate the switching behavior of Si LED in the GHz range, transmission of signal across the fiber, and measurement of signal limited by the BW of the receiver amplifier.
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: This thesis presents a design for an optoelectric clock receiver operating at 1 GHz, simulated successfully and a full circuit layout has been completed and the impact of variation sources from the input signal, process, and the environment have been evaluated.
Abstract: Clock distribution across a digital chip raises several serious issues in current and future integrated circuit technology. The distribution of clocks with frequencies in the giga-hertz range is di cult because of interconnect parasitics. Clock skew due to variation sources is becoming di cult to control with traditional balanced distribution networks. Optical interconnects are currently being evaluated as a technique to distribute a clock signal throughout a digital chip. Optics provides the potential for very low skew distribution. This thesis presents a design for an optoelectric clock receiver operating at 1 GHz. The design has been simulated successfully and a full circuit layout has been completed. The impact of variation sources from the input signal, process, and the environment have been evaluated. Process variation is found to contribute most to skew. A strategy has been prepared for testing the fabricated chip. The result is a simulation and layout of a fully functional CMOS optical clock receiver in 0.18 m technology operating at 1 GHz. Thesis Supervisor: Duane Boning Title: Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
4 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, a compact optical channel dropping filter incorporating side-coupled ring resonators as small as 3 /spl mu/m in radius is realized in silicon technology.
Abstract: Compact optical channel dropping filters incorporating side-coupled ring resonators as small as 3 /spl mu/m in radius are realized in silicon technology. Quality factors up to 250, and a free-spectral range (FSR) as large as 24 nm are measured. Such structures can be used as fundamental building blocks in more sophisticated optical signal processing devices.
678 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the cost of all interconnects, and it becomes apparent that there is an exponential growth in cost per interconnect with the length of the interconnect.
Abstract: The need for integrated optical interconnects in electronic systems is derivedfrom the cost and performance of electronic systems. If we examine the cost of all interconnects, it becomes apparent that there is an exponential growth in cost per interconnect with the length of the interconnect. A remarkable feature of interconnect cost is that the exponential relation holds over all length scales—from the shortest interconnects on a chip to the longest interconnects in global telecommunications networks. Longer interconnects are drastically more expensive, and these costs are ultimately related to the labor cost associated with each interconnect. Given this economic pressure, it is not surprising that there is a driving force to condense more functions locally on the same chip, board, or system. In condensing these functions, the number of long interconnects are decreased and the overall cost of the electronic system decreases dramatically. A specific glaring example of this driving force is Si complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, especially the case of microprocessors. In the Si microprocessor case, the flood gates to interconnect condensation were opened and the miraculous trend of lower cost for exponentially increasing performance was revealed.
73 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a monolithically integrated optical receiver fabricated on an SOI substrate is reported, which consists of a lateral p-i-n photodiode and an NMOS transimpedance preamplifier.
Abstract: We report a monolithically integrated optical receiver fabricated on an SOI substrate. The receiver consists of a lateral p-i-n photodiode and an NMOS transimpedance preamplifier. At V/sub DD/=5 V, the receiver dissipated 37 mW of power with a typical transimpedance gain of 49 dB./spl Omega/. At operating speeds of 622 Mb/s and 1.0 and 2.0 Gb/s, the receiver achieved a bit error ratio of 10/sup -9/ at received powers of -31.6, -25.7, and -17.7 dBm, respectively.
52 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a circuit of an input stage of an isolated amplifier is given using an optocoupler based on the avalanche light emission in silicon, where the photon energy of 1.1 eV is outside the visible part of the spectrum and is not sufficient to generate electronhole pairs in a silicon photodetector.
Abstract: The photon emission in silicon light-emitting diodes is very inefficient, due to the indirect bandgap. Moreover the photon energy of 1.1 eV, which equals the bandgap, is outside the visible part of the spectrum and is not sufficient to generate electron-hole pairs in a silicon photodetector. When used in avalanche mode, the emission spectrum covers the visible range and the range where silicon photodetectors show high sensitivity. Therefore, silicon integrated displays and silicon integrated optical devices, such as optocouplers can be realized. When used in an accurate analog optocoupler circuit, the low efficiency of the current transfer ratio of the optocouplers makes the design of the electronic circuit more difficult. However, a circuit of an input stage of an isolated amplifier is given using an optocoupler based on the avalanche light emission in silicon.
45 citations
IBM1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe application of PICA to analysis of individual MOSFET switching times in the L1 cache write control circuits of the S/390 G6 microprocessor chip.
Abstract: Picosecond imaging circuit analysis (PICA) is recently demonstrated to be a practical measurement technique of internal timing of ICs. This paper describes application of PICA to analysis of individual MOSFET switching times in the L1 cache write control circuits of the S/390 G6 microprocessor chip.
15 citations