Optical-to-electrical transceiver for inter-MCM and inter-chip optical interconnects

Paul L. Heremans; Gerhard Bickel; Maarten Kuijk; Roger A. Vounckx; Gustaaf Borghs

doi:10.1117/12.253165

30 September 1996 Optical-to-electrical transceiver for inter-MCM and inter-chip optical interconnects

Paul L. Heremans, Gerhard Bickel, Maarten Kuijk, Roger A. Vounckx, Gustaaf Borghs

Proceedings Volume 2891, Integrated Optoelectronics; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.253165
Event: Photonics China '96, 1996, Beijing, China

Abstract

We report on a novel structure for differential pairs of III-V optical thyristors, which functions as an optical-to- electrical converter for incoming digital optical pulses (rather than as an opto-optical converter). This novel detector has unique properties which makes it most suitable for short-distance optical interconnects. First, it is very sensitive: we show that it is sensitive to optical pulses of only 3 femtojoule at 830 nm. This allows for the use of less efficient cheap LEDs as light-emitters. Second, we demonstrate a bitrate of 155 Mbit/s, which is appealing for inter-MCM and inter-chip interconnects. Third, the transceiver is switched with a CMOS-compatible voltage (5 V) and the electrical output signals are of the order of 0.3 V, easy to detect with a small CMOS circuitry. Fourth, the detector is compact: presently, its area is 200 micron X 160 micron, and it can be scaled down to 50 micron X 50 micron. This allows for large parallelism, e.g. thousands of interconnections per chip.

Citation Download Citation

Paul L. Heremans, Gerhard Bickel, Maarten Kuijk, Roger A. Vounckx, and Gustaaf Borghs "Optical-to-electrical transceiver for inter-MCM and inter-chip optical interconnects", Proc. SPIE 2891, Integrated Optoelectronics, (30 September 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.253165

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available