Smart photonics: Optoelectronics integrated onto Si CMOS circuits

Interconnections are a limiting cost and performance factor in present electronic systems, and become even more critical as wiring, processing densities, and speeds increase. Historically, optical interconnections have been most successful in long haul applications where relatively few optoelectronic interfaces are necessary, and costly optoelectronic (OE) interfaces were justified. With the meteoric rise of datacom, which includes medium distance (e.g., "campus" and LAN), short haul (e.g., small office and home), and the ultra-short chip to chip interconnections referenced in the SIA Roadmap, which projects Si ICs facing interconnection bottlenecks before 2010, optical interfaces and interconnections optimized for shorter distances are under intense development. Optoelectronics (OE) can significantly impact the performance of these interconnections, however, the implementation of optoelectronics has, to date, been prohibitively expensive in most cases. To achieve increased OE implementation, cost reduction is critical. Smart photonics, or the integration of OE devices and links with circuitry such as Si CMOS VLSI, can yield both advanced optical links and possibly integrated solutions for optoelectronic interfaces and interconnections to standard electronic systems. Coupled with alignment tolerant designs, these implementations may yield cost effective solutions which are compatible and integrable with electronic systems.