Electronic Photonic Integrated Circuits

This research is centered on the topic of electronic-photonic integrated circuits, i.e. implementation of photonics and electronics that works together to achieve goals that cannot currently be achieved with electronics or photonics alone. There are three parts to the project: high-performance silicon photonic data links for next generation computers, wideband accurate electronic-photonic analog-to-digital conversion, and on-chip optical electron accelerators. These parts are unified by the theme of electronic-photonic integration, i.e. creating a silicon chip where electronics and photonics functions together to achieve new performance levels or realize new functionality.

The primary goal of the first part of the proposed project - the electronic-photonic data links - is the reduction of energy consumption of high-speed data links. If successful, the photonic interconnects are expected to find widespread applications in data centers, high-performance computers, and eventually consumer computer products. The electronic-photonic integrated circuits are expected to find other applications which contribute towards sustainability. The electronic-photonic integration research falls under the category "Ultra Low Energy and Ultra High Performance Devices and Systems" and is expected to be of interest to Abu-Dhabi and ATIC companies. Electronic-photonic integrated circuits can potentially become one of the products fabricated at GlobalFoundries for applications requiring high-speed high-bandwidth communications, such as computer CPUs and memory systems, and medical system applications.