Optical interconnection system using stacked thin film modulator and detector

Proposes a new optical connection system using thin film modulators and detectors on top of silicon VLSI chips. The advantage of this system is that the entire chip area could be dedicated to processor and memory circuits. Such a system could offer large bandwidth parallel communication channels for multiprocessors, based entirely on proven, compatible materials and processes and could be accomplished in near future. Thin film polymer etalon structures can be used as the modulators. The electrically stored information can be changed to optical information and then broadcast to receiving arrays. The amorphous silicon can be deposited on top of the silicon chip as a receiving array. The concept and important technical issues are discussed. The initial experimental results suggest that this new system is promising