Optical Interconnects for Green Computers and Data Centers

Abstract In this chapter, state-of-the-art optical interconnect technologies for supercomputers and data centers (DCs) are presented with optical devices and CMOS circuits, which are going to be fundamental building blocks of computer networks. Performance of leading edge systems is approaching exascale; however, we are forced to confront the energy problem not only in terms of performance improvement limited by thermal burnout but also by increasing energy consumption, especially in DCs. In this situation, optical signal to electronic signal (O/E) and electrical signal to optical signal (E/O) conversion devices should be placed adjacent to or inside a processor chip or memory chip, and optical devices fully integrated with CMOS circuits will be a key technology. The discussion includes what optical interconnects are and the requirements for their components, the board-to-board optical interconnect technology, and the Silicon photonics as a newly-state-of-the-art component technology to achieve future on-board optical transmission. The chapter is concluded with a roadmap of optical interconnects technology for exascale computing.

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