A 10 GHz hybrid optical/electrical clock distribution network for gigascale integration

A novel system-level model describing hybrid optical/electrical clock distribution networks in future gigascale architectures is presented. Technological and architectural properties for a high performance microprocessor implemented in 50 nm technology are projected for the microelectronic environment. A printed circuit board-level, high-fanout, curved aperture optical waveguide H-tree network globally distributes an intensity-modulated optical signal to monolithic CMOS-based receivers to provide local clock distribution. Approximately 1 W of optical input power will be required to propagate globally a local clock frequency of 10 GHz to ~1024 individual nodes and thus eliminate the need for local frequency multiplication circuitry