Integrated optical interconnect for on-chip data transport

The evolution of integrated circuit technology is causing system designs to move towards communication-based architectures. However, metallic interconnect networks can be very costly in terms of power and silicon area and can thus become a bottleneck in system on chip design. Integrated optical interconnect has been identified by the ITRS as a potential solution to overcome predicted interconnect limitations. This paper firstly presents the technological and device aspects of integrated optical interconnect for on-chip data transport. The second part of the paper concentrates on simulation-based quantitative comparisons of electrical to optical interconnect at the physical link level, and it is demonstrated that a ten-fold reduction in interconnect power consumption can be achieved through the use of optics. Finally some more advanced concepts are introduced in the form of optical networks on chi