2-dimensional fiber-based optical interconnect between CMOS IC's

Summary form only given. The increasing CMOS-IC complexity in terms of chip size, number of I/O pads and clock frequency poses more and more stringent problems for the system designer to solve, among which the interconnection problems, latency issues and power dissipation of the chips. Optical I/O over the entire chip area is pursued as a possible solution to the interconnection problems in the European Community funded ESPRIT project OIIC (optically interconnected integrated circuits). In this approach, data transfer from the whole chip area is facilitated through two-dimensional arrays of optical channels, consisting of opto-electronic components flip-chip mounted on CMOS circuitry and aligned to passive optical pathways.