Chip-scale reconfigurable phased-array sonic communication

As CMOS electronics scale to smaller dimensions, wired interconnect density, power consumption, and delays have introduced bottlenecks in performance. Ultrasonic communication links integrated within the silicon substrate offer an opportunity to create low power high data rate channels. We have utilized ultrasonic phased arrays, micro-sonars, for reconfigurable communication links. Brand new vistas in computer architecture and low power computing are enabled by these links, including brain inspired computing. This paper demonstrates the use of phased array elements to create a reconfigurable 120 Mbit per second channel in silicon. The array is capable of selectively communicating to four different locations on chip.