Generalized Volterra series model for highly nonlinear optical interconnects, circuits and devices.

摘要

The ever increasing speed and scaling of the CMOS technology have enabled the implementation of very complex systems within a single IC. The inadequacy of electronics to efficiently meet the rising interconnect requirements have created a bottleneck at the interconnect level. The unique properties of optics as a data propagation medium have thus created a window of opportunity for the penetration of optics into mainstream electronic circuits. The development of optical interconnect models that can easily be incorporated into standard circuit simulation environments can help optics seize this opportunity. Although the optical link component modeling has been extensively researched, these models usually require explicit knowledge of numerous proprietary device parameters.; To this end, we in this dissertation propose a Generalized Volterra Series (GVS) modeling method that provides a comprehensive representation of both small-signal and large-signal end-to-end behavior of optical interconnects. The GVS model enables system level signal integrity and timing analysis of electrical systems employing optical interconnects through a polynomial based representation, which is estimated through non-sophisticated sinusoidal and DC measurements that have traditionally been used in electronics.; The encapsulation of the optical link components into a single behavioral construct eliminates the need for circuit designers to gain expertise in the field of optics. The proposed approach generates a black-box model for the end-to-end behavior of the optical link to enable the representation of the system response without explicit knowledge of its implementation. Therefore, by alleviating the dependence on implementation details, the GVS model offers a unique advantage over more detailed analytical models that rely on numerous manufacturing parameters, which are proprietary and in many cases hard to obtain. While the GVS model has been introduced in this thesis in the context of end-to-end modeling of optical interconnects, the domain independent nature of the proposed black-box model makes it an invaluable tool for the modeling of any system, circuit or device.