A Scalable Optical Interconnection Network for Fine-Grain Parallel Architectures

Abstract

This paper introduces a scalable inter¬ connection network based on integrated optical devices developed at Georgia Tech. It incorporates arrays of optical transmitters and detectors placed on top of sil¬ icon chips which are then arranged on a silicon sub¬ strate. Staggering these substrates to overlap chips in different planes forms an offset cube topology. This paper examines this novel optoelectric communication network. It explains the physical network architecture and the offset cube topology, and summarizes its per¬ formance. Combining this optoelectronic communica¬ tion network with new fine-grain machine architectures (multi-node per chip) can lead to extremely dense, high performance parallel systems.