Optical Interconnects
Presented by :
Manar Ahmed Abdel Galil
Historical Overview
The beginning
1980s
Remember : Bell Labs
Transistor , LASER
Bell Labs
, Information theory , UNIX , C
programming , C ++
Induced by
Optical computing
Optical
fibers
research
efforts
(as a
byproduct)
What is an optical interconnect ?
Fixed connections (independent of inputs)
Interconnect
Reconfigurable connections (based on a
control signal)
Switch
Why optical interconnects?
Density : higher density with less cross talk and losses .
Bandwidth : higher BW compared to electrical
interconnects .
For electrical :
(bits/sec without
overlap)
R limits rise and fall time of signals
limits data
rate
For optical : governed by other physical effects
transport data more accurately at high speeds
Why optical interconnects? (contd)
Delay : photons are faster !
For electrical :
fanout
propagation delay
For optical :
velocity of light is constant !
(independent of fanout )
Why optical interconnects? (contd)
Power :
For electrical :
To avoid reflections
impedance
matched
spend more power
For optical :
To avoid reflections
antireflection coating !
just use an
Why optical interconnects? (contd)
Attenuation and complexity of the design :
For electrical :
Copper wiring
high attenuation at high data rates
require extra repeaters/amplifiers /signal conditioners
Complicated system and more power consumption
For optical :
Less attenuation and high accuracy for high data
rates and long distances
Why optical interconnects? (contd)
80 % of the microprocessor power is
consumed by sending data over the wires
(interconnects) !!!
Solve bottlenecks in electronic computers
(e.g. moving data memory to CPU )
Handle the flood of information from optical
fibers (stretching to future homes)
Keep up with the internets exploding need
for bandwidth (carry , route and process data
at light speed)
What professors say
"The trend is to make light do as many
things as possible . You may not
replace electronics completely, but you
want to make light do as much as you
can.
John D. Joannopoulos (MIT)
What professors say (contd)
Theres not a breakthrough needed to do
this , But we have a lot of research to do.
David Miller (Stanford)
When fiber-to-the-home happens,
you will want fiber-to-the-processor-based
systems in your home to look at real-time
holograms of the grandkids.
Anthony F. J. Levi (Univ. of Southern California)
Optical interconnects in
industry
Intel :
Silicon photonics R&D department .
- The Worlds First Intel based Optical Server - First GHz Silicon Modulator
- First Continuous Silicon Laser . . . and the list continues
Intel and Facebook :
Collaborate on Future Data Center using
silicon photonics
IBM (Big Blue):
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
- Research for servers, data centers and supercomputers .
- Developing promising technologies such as optical PCBs , ultra-small
CMOS optical transceivers with very low power consumption .
- CISCO:
optical networking
- Acquisition of Lightwire (a company for innovative optical
interconnect technology)
to build Next-Generation Internet.
Types of optical
interconnects
Optical
waveguides
Free-space refractive
and diffractive
components (mirrors ,
lenses , prisms .. )
Examples of optical
interconnects
Photonic crystals as a medium
Electro
Semiconductors
ns
Photon
Photonic crystals
s
Excellent medium for controlling the flow of
light
Challenges
Unlike electricity, light is hard to
steer through very small spaces
we need new ways to direct light
through tight confines
( nano photonics research )
Technology for mass production
Automation
for
sophisticated and large scale circuit
design
The Leap Of Faith
The motivation for the jump
Remember
optical fiber
technology revolutionized the way people
communicate, live and work.
Remember
the era of the BIG
DATA , the Internet of Things and cloud
service data centers is coming .
New smart devices and wide spread
sensors
will challenge the capacity of the
current local area networks .
No more heating up of laptops
Attempts to cross the technology
barrier (Automation trials)
Stanford engineers invented an
inverse design algorithm.
The
The
Using
software
standard
engineers
provides
industrial
specify
the details
processes
what they
of how to
to transfer
fabricate a
the
want the
silicon
pattern
optical
structure to
onto a
circuit to
perform the
slice of
task.
silicon
do
The Killer App concept
PCs revolution
Internet revolution : the .com
bubble
Optical interconnects killer
app ??
Papers to read
Optical interconnects to electronic chips
(David Miller) , 2010
Rationale and Challenges for Optical Interconnects to
Electronic Chips
(David Miller) , 2000
First demonstration of high density optical
interconnects integrated with lasers, optical modulators,
and photodetectors on single silicon substrate , 2011
Optical interconnects to silicon
(David Miller) , 2000
Intel research papers
IBM research papers
Dont forget to
make the jump :)
