Building Manycore Processor-to-DRAM Networks With Monolithic Silicon Photonics

The authors present a new monolithic silicon photonics technology suited for integration with standard bulk CMOS processes, which reduces costs and improves opto-electrical coupling compared to previous approaches. Their technology supports dense wavelength-division multiplexing with dozens of wavelengths per waveguide. Simulation and experimental results reveal an order of magnitude better energy-efficiency than electrical links in the same technology generation. Exploiting key features of their photonics technology, they have developed a processor-memory network architecture for future manycore systems based on an opto-electrical global crossbar.