Design and Packaging of a Vertical Free-Space Opto-electronic Interconnect System

摘要

The performance requirements of computer, telecommunication, and data-communication systems have increased considerably in recent years to the point that large-scale electronic systems are suffering from an interconnection bottleneck. For example, CPUs require getting data from their peripheral at faster and faster rates. In large systems, with hundreds or more nodes, complex interconnection systems which are composed of many chip-to-chip as well as module-to-module interconnections, are a key for good system performance. Free-space optics combined with existing and/or projected VLSI technology provides a promising way to relieve the communication bottleneck. This is because free-space optical interconnects (FSOI) offer advantages in terms of high interconnection density, high distance-bandwidth product, low power dissipation, and low crosstalk (independent of data rate) while the sue of standard electronics will keep the system flexible.