Several
companies and many academic institutions have devoted resources to
investigating practical optical
interconnects. Some,
like Bookham/New
Focus, have already been shipping products for 10-Gbps Ethernet using optics. Others, such as Xan3D (formerly Xanoptix), have developed technologies towards highly
integrated
optics and electronics.
Xan3D’s core technology uses hybrid integration to stack many chips on top of one another, creating a so-called multi-chip module (MCM).
This approach allows compact, robust packaging,
including different materials for different
functions (Si CMOS for processing, GaAs or InP for optoelectronics or high-speed transistors, etc.)
Agilent Laboratories has been developing
a system towards 500 Gbps aggregate data rate transfer for use in
optical backplanes for internet routers [11]. While this system is still in the research and development stage, it is a sign that commercial vendors are making plans for the future using optics.
Agilent’s project, nicknamed “MAUI”, has addressed the
practical
issues in optical backplanes using a
coarse WDM multi-mode
fiber network. Each signal operates at
10 Gbps while both the area required
on the PCB for the transceiver and the power consumption are kept very low. Costs were kept down by integrating the optoelectronic components
(lasers and detectors) and optics
(multiplexers, microlens arrays,
etc.) with the packaging at the wafer-scale and dicing up the final product.
Such
a parallel manufacturing process while scaling
to larger wafer diameters will surely reduce the cost.
The stated goals of the MAUI project were
to provide the computer industry with, among
other things, more than 100 Gbps per watt of consumed power at a cost of $1 per Gbps. Alternatively, this can be seen as a requirement for a 10 Gbps link of consuming less than 100 mW
of total power (for both the transmitter and receiver, both electrical and
optical). We can strive to compete with
these values for power consumption.
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