Single- layer full-mesh, point-to-point network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9316784-B2
Application number	US-201213479109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2012
Priority date	May 23, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

An MCM may include a single optical routing layer that provides point-to-point connectivity among N chips in the MCM, such as all-to-all connectivity or full-mesh point-to-point connectivity. Moreover, the optical routing layer may include: N optical waveguides optically coupled to the N chips and a cyclic de-multiplexer, optically coupled to the N optical waveguides, that routes optical signals among the N optical waveguides without optical-waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer. For example, the cyclic de-multiplexer may include: an array-waveguide-grating (AWG) wavelength router and/or an echelle-grating wavelength router.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-chip module (MCM), comprising:
N chips; and
a single optical routing layer that provides point-to-point connectivity among the N chips, wherein the optical routing layer comprises:
N input optical waveguides optically coupled to the N chips;
N output optical waveguides optically coupled to the N chips; and
a cyclic de-multiplexer, optically coupled to the N input optical waveguides, that receives optical signals from the N input optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer, wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer is further optically coupled to the N output optical waveguides, that de-multiplexes the received optical signals into the N output optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer.

2. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer includes an array-waveguide-grating (AWG) wavelength router.

3. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer includes an echelle-grating wavelength router.

4. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the optical routing layer excludes non-blocking dedicated optical channels among the N chips.

5. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguides are edge coupled to the N chips.

6. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguides are optically coupled to the N chips without interlayer optical coupling.

7. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the optical routing layer provides all-to-all connectivity among the N chips.

8. The MCM of claim 1 , further comprising a substrate, wherein the optical routing layer is disposed on the substrate.

9. The MCM of claim 8 , further comprising:
a buried-oxide layer; and
a semiconductor layer disposed on the buried-oxide layer, wherein the optical routing layer is disposed on the semiconductor layer; and
wherein the substrate, the oxide layer, and the semiconductor layer comprise a silicon-on-insulator technology.

10. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the optical signals used to communicate among the N chips in the MCM include at least N carrier wavelengths.

11. The MCM of claim 1 , wherein the point-to-point connectivity includes full-mesh point-to-point connectivity.

12. A system, comprising:
a processor;
a memory storing a program module that is configured to be executed by the processor; and
an MCM, wherein the MCM includes:
N chips; and
a single optical routing layer that provides point-to-point connectivity among the N chips, wherein the optical routing layer comprises:
N input optical waveguides optically coupled to the N chips;
N output optical waveguides optically coupled to the N chips; and
a cyclic de-multiplexer, optically coupled to the N input optical waveguides, that receives optical signals from the N input optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer, wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer is further optically coupled to the N output optical waveguides, that de-multiplexes the received optical signals into the N output optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer includes one of: an AWG wavelength router and an echelle-grating wavelength router.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the optical routing layer excludes non-blocking dedicated optical channels among the N chips.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the optical waveguides are edge coupled to the N chips.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the optical waveguides are optically coupled to the N chips without interlayer optical coupling.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the optical routing layer provides all-to-all connectivity among the N chips.

18. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:
a substrate;
a buried-oxide layer; and
a semiconductor layer disposed on the buried-oxide layer, wherein the optical routing layer is disposed on the semiconductor layer; and
wherein the substrate, the oxide layer, and the semiconductor layer comprise a silicon-on-insulator technology.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the optical signals used to communicate among the N chips in the MCM include at least N carrier wavelengths.

20. A method for communicating among N chips in an MCM, wherein the method comprises:
receiving optical signals from the N chips using N input optical waveguides, wherein the N input optical waveguides are included in a single optical routing layer that provides point-to-point connectivity among the N chips, wherein the N chips are further coupled to N output optical waveguides;
routing the optical signals to the N chips using a cyclic de-multiplexer that is optically coupled to the N input optical waveguides, wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer receives the optical signals from the N input optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer; and
outputting the optical signals to the N chips, wherein the cyclic de-multiplexer is further optically coupled to the N output optical waveguides, that de-multiplexes the received optical signals into the N output optical waveguides without optical waveguide crossing in the optical routing layer.

Assignees

• Krishnamoorthy Ashok V
• Zheng Xuezhe
• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Krishnamoorthy Ashok V
• Zheng Xuezhe

Classifications

• G02B6/43

  Arrangements comprising a plurality of opto-electronic elements and associated optical interconnections · CPC title

• G02B2006/12107

  Grating · CPC title

• G02B6/12009 Primary

  comprising arrayed waveguide grating [AWG] devices, i.e. with a phased array of waveguides · CPC title

• G02B6/29326

  Diffractive elements having focusing properties, e.g. curved gratings (Rowland circle spectrometers G01J3/20) · CPC title

• G02B6/29328

  Diffractive elements operating in reflection · CPC title