Heterogeneous Integration of a Compact Universal Photonic Engine for Silicon Photonics Applications in HPC
One of the prominent challenges for widespread adoption of Si photonics (SiPh) technology is the availability of an integration platform that can simultaneously meet a wide range of power, performance, and cost criteria in different applications. As a result, there is a diversity of Si photonics integrated solutions proposed or demonstrated, but none is considered as a common solution. In this paper, we will first survey industry proposed photonic engine (PE) structures in monolithic, 2D, 2.5D, and 3D on their strengths and weaknesses. We will then propose a compact and universal PE structure- COUPE (COmpact Universal Photonic Engine) that could consolidate different requirements onto the same integration platform. COUPE has the EIC-PIC integration with the electrical interface designed to minimize the EIC-PIC coupling loss. Compared with industry proposed PE technology, COUPE can provide low insertion loss for both grating coupler (GC) and edge coupler (EC). For either GC or EC, the COUPE is a solid structure without cavities or mechanically weak parts, thus enabling low insertion loss without contamination or mechanical concerns. COUPE also has the flexibility to be integrated easily with host ASIC to form a co-package structure. The COUPE integration scheme can meet the most demanding system requirements and pave the way for silicon photonics based wafer level system integration (WLSI) for high performance computing (HPC) applications. authors: Hsing-Kuo Hsia, C.H. Tsai, K.C. Ting, F.W. Kuo, C.C. Lin, C.T. Wang, S.Y. Hou, W.C. Chiou, Douglas C. H. Yu
Interconnect
Interconnect
Interconnect is critically important for system performance. They are structures that connect two or more circuit elements (such as transistors) together electrically. In the past, interconnect was often referred to as on-chip interconnect of integrated circuits. Nowadays interconnect generally includes both on-chip interconnect of integrated circuits and off-chip interconnect in heterogeneous system integration. In interconnect design, geometric dimensions (width, thickness, spacing, aspect ratio, pitch), materials, process control and design layout are all critical to proper interconnect function, performance, power efficiency, reliability, and fabrication yield.
