An intra-chip electro-optical channel based on CMOS single photon detectors

A low-cost, high-density scalable technique is proposed for low bit rate intra-chip optical data communication. The data stream directly modulates a low-intensity photon flux that propagates through standard silicon layers. Single photon avalanche diodes simultaneously perform photon detection and data demodulation in a fraction of the area required by a pad. The method exploits only integrated CMOS components and requires no post-processing steps