Engineering a Bandwidth-Scalable Optical Layer for a 3D Multi-core Processor with Awareness of Layout Constraints

The performance of future chip multi-processors will only scale with the number of integrated cores if there is a corresponding increase in memory access efficiency. The focus of this paper on a 3D-stacked wavelength-routed optical layer for high bandwidth and low latency processor-memory communication goes in this direction and complements ongoing efforts on photonically integrated bandwidth-rich DRAM devices. This target environment dictates layout constraints that make the difference in discriminating between alternative design choices of the optical layer. This paper assesses network partitioning options and bandwidth scalability techniques with deep technology and layout awareness, the main contribution lying in the characterization and precise quantification of such interaction effects between the technology platform, the layout constraints and the network-level quality metrics of a passive optical NoC.