The Need and Challenges of Co-Packaging and Optical Integration In Data Centers
Liron Gantz
Mellanox, US
ABSTRACT
Silicon photonic (SiPh) technology was the “talk of the town” for almost two decades, yet only in the last couple of years, actual SiPh based transceivers were introduced for short-reach links. As the global IP traffic skyrockets, and will surpass 1 ZB per year by 2020, it seems that this is the optimal point for new disruptive technology to emerge. SiPh technology has the potential to reduce power consumption while meeting the demand for increasing rates, and potentially even reduce the cost. Yet in order to fully integrate SiPh components in mainly CMOS ICs, the entire industry must align, beginning with industrial FABs and OSATs, and ending with system manufacturers and Data Center clients. Indeed, in the last year positive developments have occurred as the Hyper-scalers are starting to show interest in driving the market into integrating optics and forgo pluggable transceivers. Yet many challenges have to be met, and some hard decisions have to be taken in order to fully integrate optics in a scalable manner. In this talk I will review these challenges and possible ways to meet them in order to enable optical integrated products in Data Centers and High-Performance Computers.
