Recent progress on 3-D integrated intra-chip free-space optical interconnect

摘要

Recently, we proposed an intra-chip interconnect system for future multi-core processors based on free-space optics and 3-D integrated photonic devices [1], [2], [4]. The main objective is to construct an all-to-all communication fabric with high bandwidth density, low latency, and good energy efficiency without routing or switching. As shown in Fig. 1, this free-space optical interconnect (FSOI) system consists of a photonics layer and a free-space optical guiding medium constructed using micro-mirrors and micro-lenses, which are stacked on top of the CMOS electronics layer by 3-D chip integration. Note that this interconnect system can also be used for inter-chip communications.