Intra-Multi-Chip Module (MCM) Optical Clock Signal Distribution

Suning Tang and Ray T. Chen, Microelectronics Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Tex

The speed limitations of the current generation of computers have led researchers to seriously consider new computing architecture based on optical interconnects.1 Thus far, optical interconnects have been based on two-dimensional (2-D) waveguide arrays suitable for intra-board bus-connections and three-dimensional (3-D) freespace interconnections suitable for board-to-board connections.