Abstract

A great goal of optics in computing is the eventual failure of electrical interconnects. This leads to two guiding principles for smart pixel technologies, which integrate optoelectronic devices to electronics for optical read-in/out. One, that the electronics be state-of-the-art, or, in other words, not compromised by the integration with optoelectronics, since the above stated goal will be reached sooner with leading edge electronics. Two, since a probable failure mode of electrical interconnects is a limitation of electrical chip pin-out, the number of optical channels per chip must be in the thousands, since it is apparently not until this number is reached that there will be a problem. Therefore, any integration process must be capable of producing such numbers of optoelectronic devices, preferably in a single step. Also, since currently only MQW modulators are available in arrays this large, that is what we use for the transmitting device. It is convenient that the MQW modulator also functions as a detector, but as described below we also have the capability of multiple levels of integration for dissimilar input and output devices.

© 1997 Optical Society of America