Sen Lin

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2017-208

December 13, 2017

Silicon photonic interconnects hold great promise in meeting the high bandwidth and low energy demands of next-generation interconnects. System-level driven electronic-photonic co-design is the key to improving the bandwidth density and energy efficiency. In this study, a comprehensive co-optimization framework is developed for high-speed silicon photonic transmitters utilizing compact models and a detailed optical simulation framework. Given technology and link constraints, microring and Mach-Zehnder transmitter designs are optimized and compared based on a unified optical phase shifter model. Non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and pulse-amplitude-modulation-4 (PAM-4) modulation schemes are analyzed and compared for microring-based transmitters. Using the co-design approach, a monolithic 40Gb/s optical NRZ transmitter based on microring modulators is designed and demonstrated in zero-change 45nm CMOS SOI process. Electronic-photonic co-design with the high swing driver enables this transmitter to achieve total energy efficiency of 330fJ/b and the photonics and modulator driver area bandwidth density of 6.7 Tb/s/mm2. This dissertation also discusses the design and demonstration of the first full silicon photonic interconnect on a 3D integrated electronic-photonic platform. These results make the microring-based silicon photonic transceivers an attractive solution for the next-generation inter and intra-rack photonic interconnects. Finally, a short-reach laser-forwarding coherent link architecture is proposed to further improve the energy efficiency of silicon photonic interconnects. The key concepts of the proposed architecture are verified experimentally with microring-based silicon photonic transmitters. The architecture saves the laser power by 6-7.5x and could enable complex modulation schemes for the future short-reach optical links.

Advisors: Vladimir Stojanovic

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BibTeX citation:

@phdthesis{Lin:EECS-2017-208,
    Author= {Lin, Sen},
    Editor= {Stojanovic, Vladimir},
    Title= {Electronic-Photonic Co-Design of Silicon Photonic Interconnects},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2017},
    Month= {Dec},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2017/EECS-2017-208.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2017-208},
    Abstract= {Silicon photonic interconnects hold great promise in meeting the high bandwidth and low energy demands of next-generation interconnects. System-level driven electronic-photonic co-design is the key to improving the bandwidth density and energy efficiency. In this study, a comprehensive co-optimization framework is developed for high-speed silicon photonic transmitters utilizing compact models and a detailed optical simulation framework. Given technology and link constraints, microring and Mach-Zehnder transmitter designs are optimized and compared based on a unified optical phase shifter model. Non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and pulse-amplitude-modulation-4 (PAM-4) modulation schemes are analyzed and compared for microring-based transmitters. Using the co-design approach, a monolithic
40Gb/s optical NRZ transmitter based on microring modulators is designed and demonstrated in zero-change 45nm CMOS SOI process. Electronic-photonic co-design with the high swing driver enables this transmitter to achieve total energy efficiency of 330fJ/b and the photonics and modulator driver area bandwidth density of 6.7 Tb/s/mm2. This dissertation also discusses the design and demonstration of the first full silicon photonic interconnect on a 3D integrated electronic-photonic platform. These results make the microring-based silicon photonic transceivers an attractive solution for the next-generation inter and intra-rack photonic interconnects. Finally, a short-reach laser-forwarding coherent link architecture is proposed to further improve the energy efficiency of silicon photonic interconnects. The key concepts of the proposed architecture are verified experimentally with microring-based
silicon photonic transmitters. The architecture saves the laser power by 6-7.5x and could enable complex modulation schemes for the future short-reach optical links.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Lin, Sen 
%E Stojanovic, Vladimir 
%T Electronic-Photonic Co-Design of Silicon Photonic Interconnects
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2017
%8 December 13
%@ UCB/EECS-2017-208
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2017/EECS-2017-208.html
%F Lin:EECS-2017-208