Silicon VLSI processing architectures incorporating integrated optoelectronic devices

Abstract

Integrated optoelectronic interconnects offer a potentially lower cost, higher density alternative to wire-based technologies for I/O and inter-chip communication. This paper outlines two systems being designed at Georgia Tech which incorporate integrated thin film optoelectronic devices onto high throughput VLSI digital processors. The first system places an array of thin film detectors on top of SIMD processing elements allowing direct area connections between sensors and processors. This allows extremely fast frame processing rates (1-10 thousand frames per second) which are required in high speed and scanned imaging systems. The second system presented incorporates inter-chip IR optoelectronic channels which pass transparently through silicon. These links allow communication between three dimensionally stacked chips supporting high throughput interconnect topologies. This paper demonstrates the potential of optoelectronic integrated VLSI systems for providing extremely dense and lightweight solutions in applications such as image processing.