Rationale for optical interconnect

The System on Chip (SoC) approach is now the essential solution for delivering competitive performance and cost in today´s challenging electronics market. Ever-increasing integration density means that many design and fabrication issues arise however, and the electrical limits of interconnect wires are in particular a limiting factor for performance. According to this scenario, a new technology is required for the on-chip interconnect, in order to overcome current physical and performance issues; one possible solution is optical interconnect, exploiting the many benefits of light as vector to transport information across the chip. From an industrial point of view, it is fundamental that such a new technology be fully CMOS compatible, in order to be able to continue to use current SoC design methodologies as well as manufacturing equipments for the remaining electronic part of the chip.