Integration and packaging of a macrochip with silicon nanophotonic links

The technologies associated with integration and packaging have a significant impact on the overall system. In this paper, we review a silicon photonic macrochip system and its associated packaging that will allow dense wavelength division multiplexed optical links to be intimately integrated and comanufactured with the switching electronics. Such a system could achieve switched optical interconnect at 1pJ/bit, provide waveguide transport bandwidth densities in excess of 10 Tbps/mm, and surface normal optical I/O as needed from these waveguides at a density on the order of 100Tbps/mm2. For this to happen, we anticipate a number of integration and packaging advances.

Citation

Cunningham, J.; Krishnamoorthy, A.; Ho, R.; Shubin, I.; Thacker, H.; Lexau, J.; Lee, D.; Feng, D.; Chow, E.; Luo, Y.; Zheng, X.; Li, G.; Yao, J.; Pinquet, T.; Raj, K.; Asghari, M.; Mitchell, J. Integration and packaging of a macrochip with silicon nanophotonic links. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. 2011 May-June; 17 (3): 546-558.