Micro-optical chip-to-chip platform
The novel chip-to-chip platform integrates micro structured light emitting diodes and photodiodes into a high-end semiconductor circuit, thus combining electrical and optical signal processing for next-generation artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Challenge
Information transmission between two semiconductor chips can be characterized by bottlenecks or constrains, which can occur regarding transmission speed, resulting from the fact that the two chips are mostly electrically connected via through-silicon vias (TSVs). Current TSVs are still relatively large in size with dimensions of several tens of micrometers, which results in a high capacitive load. The situation can become more worse, in particular when multiple TSV lines need to be connected in parallel. The accumulated parasitic capacitance may not only limit the maximum data rate per line, but also make topologies with many simultaneously switching sources or sinks practically impossible. This can lead to delays in electrical signals. Currently, smaller TSVs are technologically not feasible. The alternative is coupling of chips by means of light. However, this requires laser chips to be applied to the semiconductor chips and the optical fibers to be connected to the laser chips, which is technologically complex, challenging to automate, and hard to parallelize.
Our Solution
The presented technology comprises technological concepts for a high-end micro-optical chip-to-chip platform aiming for next-generation electrical and optical signal processing. The microchip structure is based on a tailored semiconductor substrate with dedicated semiconductor circuits and with integrated micro light emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) and photodiode arrays. The optical emitters (micro-LEDs) handle the ultra-fast data transmission between the processor core(s) and memory modules, while photodiodes detect the received signals with minimal energy consumption. The dense, 3D-like integration of the optical interconnects enables extremely high bandwidths with very low energy consumption per bit, significantly below that of currently available electrical links. The architecture explicitly addresses chip-to-chip communication in highly integrated assemblies. Simultaneously, the combination of micro-LED arrays, photodiodes and neuromorphic control electronics enables novel optical computing units, such as optical neurons and synapses for artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators.
Illustration of the technological concepts in relation to the micro-optical chip-to-chip platform (image generated with Perplexity AI).
Advantages
- Enormous bandwidth increase
- Significanlty lower energy consumption per bit
- Compact form factor with high integration density
- Scalability for future AI generations
- Scalability forFuture-oriented platform for chiplets future AI generations
- High energy efficiency
Applications
- Optical neuromorphic computing
- Next-generation AI accelerators and GPU clusters
- Internet-Of-Things (IoT)
- Next-generation information technology
Development Status
The present invention comprises a set of technological concepts. Technology development and prototyping under way.
Patent Status
German patent application filed.
Patent holders: Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig/ Wolfenbüttel and TU Braunschweig (Germany).
Contact
- Dr. Mirza Mackovic
- Patent & Innovation Manager Technology
- mmackovic@sciencebridge.de
- +49 551 30724 153
- CPA-2697-FHBW
