Integrated optical interconnect has been identified by the ITRS as a potential solution to overcome predicted interconnect limitations in future systems-on-chip. However, the multiphysics nature of the design problem and the lack of a mature integrated photonic technology have contributed to severe difficulties in assessing its suitability. This paper describes a systematic, fully automated synthesis method for integrated microsource-based optical interconnect capable of optimally sizing the interface circuits based on system specifications, CMOS technology data, and optical device characteristics. The simulation-based nature of the design method means that its results are relatively accurate, even though the generation of each data point requires only 5 min on a 1.3-GHz processor. This method has been used to extract typical performance metrics (delay, power, interconnect density) for optical interconnect of length 2.5-20 mm in three predictive technologies at 65-, 45-, and 32-nm gate length.Index Terms-Integrated optical interconnect, multidomain design methods, synthesis.
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