High manufacturing-defect tolerance optically programmable architecture

Optically reconfigurable gate arrays, which consist simply of a holographic memory, a laser diode array, and a gate array VLSI, have a perfect parallel programmable capability. Even if a gate array VLSI includes defective areas, the perfect parallel programmable capability allows perfectly avoidance of those defective areas; instead, the remaining area on the gate array is used. Therefore, the architecture enables fabrication of large die VLSI chips and even wafer scale integrations using the latest processes with a high fraction of defects. Moreover, holographic memory is well-known to have high defect-tolerance because each bit of a reconfiguration context can be stored in the entire holographic memory and the damage of some component rarely affects its diffraction pattern or reconfiguration context. Therefore, the architecture has a high manufacturing-defect tolerance. In this paper, the high manufacturing-defect tolerance of optically programmable architectures is clarified using a single context prototype optically programmable architecture, which combines a liquid crystal spatial light modulator as a holographic memory, a He-Ne laser, and a perfectly parallel optically programmable gate-array VLSI.