Chip package, computing system, artificial intelligence device, and information transmission method

Abstract

The present application relates to a chip package, a computing system, an artificial intelligence device, and an information transmission method, the chip package comprising: a first chip comprising a plurality of clusters, each of the clusters comprising a plurality of cores; an optical interconnect; wherein, for each of the cores of the plurality of clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of chip computing, and in particular to a chip packaging, a computing system, an artificial intelligence device, and an information transmission method. Background Art

[0002] Computations performed on electronic data encoded in analog or digital form by electrical signals are typically implemented using electronic computing hardware, such as on an integrated circuit (e.g., a processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a system on a chip (SoC)), an electronic circuit board, or other electronic circuits. The use of optical signals in computing systems is subject to many limitations. Summary of the invention

[0003] In an exemplary embodiment, a chip package is proposed, comprising: a first chip, comprising a plurality of clusters, each of the clusters comprising a plurality of cores; an optical interconnect; wherein, for each of the cores in the plurality of clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters.

[0004] In an exemplary embodiment, a chip package includes: a plurality of chips, a plurality of clusters distributed among the plurality of chips, each chip including at least one of the plurality of clusters, each of the clusters including a plurality of cores; an optical interconnect; wherein, for each of the cores of the plurality of clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters.

[0005] In some embodiments, each of the clusters includes an electrical signal receiving port; the optical interconnect includes a plurality of optical transmission links, respectively corresponding to the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters, so that each core in the plurality of clusters is coupled to one of the optical transmission links; each of the optical transmission links is configured to be coupled to one of the plurality of cores in the plurality of clusters and to each of the plurality of clusters, so as to provide an information transmission channel between the core and the electrical signal receiving port of each of the plurality of clusters.

[0006] In some embodiments, each of the optical transmission links includes an optical transmitter, an optical distribution tree, and multiple optical receivers, wherein the optical distribution tree is configured to form an optical information transmission channel between the optical transmitter and the multiple optical receivers; and, for each of the optical transmission links, the optical transmitter is configured to receive a first electrical signal and generate an optical signal for transmission based on the first electrical signal, wherein the first electrical signal carries information to be transmitted from one of the cores; each of the multiple optical receivers is coupled to one of the multiple clusters, wherein each of the optical receivers is configured to generate a second electrical signal based on the received optical signal to provide information transmitted to the corresponding cluster.

[0007] In some implementations, each of the plurality of clusters is configured to propagate the information received from the optical interconnect to the plurality of cores of the cluster via an electrical signal.

[0008] In some implementations, each of the plurality of clusters is configured to: receive a second electrical signal from the optical interconnect, and propagate information carried by the second electrical signal to the plurality of cores of the cluster via the electrical signal.

[0009] In some embodiments, the chip package further includes an output electrical signal conversion circuit, wherein the output electrical signal conversion circuit is configured to convert the second electrical signal output by the optical receiver into a third electrical signal, and the third electrical signal is transmitted to the cluster.

[0010] In some implementations, the optical transmitter generates an optical signal carrying the information by modulation according to the first electrical signal.

[0011] In some embodiments, the multiple cores of the multiple clusters are configured to work collaboratively to solve execution problems of artificial intelligence workloads.

[0012] In some implementations, the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters are configured to work collaboratively to process a tensor, and each of the cores is configured to work on a different portion of a given tensor.

[0013] In some embodiments, the multiple clusters include a first cluster, the first cluster includes a first core and a second core, and the chip package is configured to: execute a first part of the computing task at the first core to produce a first result; and execute a second part of the computing task at the second core to produce a second result.

[0014] In an exemplary embodiment, an artificial intelligence device is provided, comprising the chip package.

[0015] In an exemplary embodiment, a computing system is provided, including the chip package.

[0016] In an exemplary embodiment, a method for information transmission is proposed, comprising: an optical interconnect receives a first electrical signal, wherein the first electrical signal carries information to be transmitted from a first core of a first cluster among multiple clusters; the optical interconnect transmits the information through an optical transmission link, wherein the optical transmission link comprises an optical transmitter, an optical distribution tree, and multiple optical receivers; the information transmission through the optical transmission link comprises: the optical transmitter receives the first electrical signal and generates an optical signal for transmission based on the first electrical signal, the optical distribution tree distributes light from the optical transmitter to multiple optical receivers, each of the multiple optical receivers is coupled to one of the multiple clusters, wherein each optical receiver generates a second electrical signal based on the received optical signal to provide information for transmission to the corresponding cluster.

[0017] The embodiments of the present invention can realize that the cores in the cluster can independently send information in the form of light through the optical interconnection, and then propagate the information to multiple clusters in the form of light, which is suitable for simply controlling the core to send information to the cluster, or transmit information, and also has the advantages of simplifying the interface layout, etc. In addition, the information can be further transmitted to the core inside the cluster through the cluster. In some embodiments, in the information transmission channel from the core to the cluster, the optical interconnection can be used to provide an optical information transmission channel. After receiving the information from the optical interconnection, the cluster transmits it to multiple cores in the cluster through electrical signals, so that the information is transmitted from one core to another core in the cluster through the cluster. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For those skilled in the art, other implementation methods can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0019] The present application may be best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be emphasized that, in accordance with common practice, the various features of the drawings are not drawn to scale. Instead, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily enlarged or reduced for clarity.

[0020] Figure 1 FIG. 4 is a side view of a chip package according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 2 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a first chip in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cluster in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an optical transmission link in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present invention. In order to more clearly understand the technical means of the present invention, it can be implemented in accordance with the contents of the specification. In order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following specifically cites a preferred embodiment and describes it in detail with the accompanying drawings as follows.

[0025] Unless otherwise defined, the technical terms or scientific terms used in this disclosure should be understood by people with ordinary skills in the field to which this disclosure belongs. The words "first", "second" and similar words used in this disclosure do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components.

[0026] When the number of a component or element is not specifically indicated in the following of the embodiments of the present disclosure, it means that the component or element can be one or more, or can be understood as at least one. "At least one" means one or more, and "more" means at least two.

[0027] In order to make the purpose, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0028] Figure 1 , a chip package 1000 is shown, including a first chip 100 and an optical interconnect 300. Optionally, the chip package 1000 also includes a substrate 500. The first chip 100 is mounted on the optical interconnect 300, and the optical interconnect 300 can be used to carry the first chip 100. The substrate 500 is used to carry the optical interconnect 300 and the first chip 100. The first chip 100 can be electrically connected to the optical interconnect 300 through the bonding layer 1041 and the bonding layer 1042. Exemplarily, the optical interconnect 300 communicates with the first chip 100 through the bonding layer 1042, for example, receiving an electrical signal from the first chip 100 through the bonding layer 1041, and sending an electrical signal to the first chip 100 through the bonding layer 1042. Exemplarily, the first chip 100 can be, for example, a bare chip.

[0029] exist Figure 2 , it is shown that the first chip 100 includes 8 clusters, namely clusters 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d, 112e, 112f, 112g, and 112h. Figure 3 FIG. 1 shows one of the clusters 112 a, which includes a plurality of cores. Figure 3It is shown that cluster 112a includes 8 cores. For the first chip 100, it may include multiple clusters, each cluster includes multiple cores, wherein for each of the cores of the multiple clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the multiple clusters. Exemplarily, each of the clusters includes an electrical signal receiving port, and the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and the electrical signal receiving port of each of the multiple clusters.

[0030] In this example, the first chip 100 includes 8 clusters, each cluster includes 8 cores, that is, the first chip 100 has a total of 64 cores, and the cores can be, for example, computing cores (or processing cores) to perform computing functions. Exemplarily, for the core A01 in the cluster 112a, the optical interconnect 130 is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core A01 and each of the multiple clusters, and the core A01 can transmit information to each of the 8 clusters (i.e., clusters 112a to 112h), and can further transmit information to each core within the cluster through the cluster.

[0031] Figure 4 An optical transmission link 330 is shown, which schematically illustrates the connection relationship of each device. In some embodiments, the optical interconnect 300 includes a plurality of optical transmission links 330, respectively corresponding to the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters, so that each core in the plurality of clusters is coupled to one of the optical transmission links 330; each of the optical transmission links is configured to be coupled to one of the plurality of cores in the plurality of clusters and to each of the plurality of clusters, so as to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters (e.g., between the core and the electrical signal receiving port of each cluster). Exemplarily, the optical interconnect 130 includes 64 optical transmission links corresponding to the 64 cores of the first chip 100, each core is coupled to one of the 64 optical transmission links, and the optical transmission link is also coupled to each of the eight clusters, so as to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the eight clusters. Thus, each core can independently send information in the form of light through the optical interconnect (the corresponding optical transmitter), and then transmit the information to the cluster in the form of light.

[0032] The embodiment of the present invention establishes an optical propagation channel or information propagation mode that matches the core to the cluster. In addition, it can also reduce unnecessary input ends and output ends, and reduce the waveguide number requirement for the core-core optical waveguide connection.

[0033] In some embodiments, each of the optical transmission links 330 includes an optical transmitter 331, an optical distribution tree 332, and a plurality of optical receivers, for example Figure 3 The optical receivers 333a, 333b, 333c, 333d, 333e, 333f, 333g and 333h in the optical distribution tree 332 are configured to form an optical information transmission channel between the optical transmitter and the multiple optical receivers (333a~333h); and, for each of the optical transmission links 330, the optical transmitter is configured to receive a first electrical signal and generate an optical signal for transmission based on the first electrical signal, wherein the first electrical signal carries the information to be transmitted from one of the cores; each of the multiple optical receivers is coupled to one of the multiple clusters, wherein each of the optical receivers is configured to generate a second electrical signal based on the received optical signal to provide information transmitted to the corresponding cluster. Exemplarily, taking the optical transmission link 330 corresponding to the core A01 as an example, it includes an optical transmitter 331, an optical distribution tree 332 and 8 optical receivers (333a~333h), and the optical distribution tree 332 is configured to form an optical information transmission channel between the optical transmitter 331 and the 8 optical receivers (333a~333h), and the 8 optical receivers output the information carried by the second electrical signal. The second electrical signal of the optical receiver can be directly output to the corresponding cluster to transmit information, and can also be converted into an electrical signal (for example, converted into a third electrical signal) and then output to the corresponding cluster to transmit information.

[0034] In some embodiments, the optical transmitter generates an optical signal carrying the information by modulation according to the first electrical signal. For example, the optical transmitter 331 includes a modulator, which can modulate an initial optical signal that does not carry information according to the first electrical signal, and the initial optical signal can come from the waveguide 351. The modulated light, i.e., the optical signal carrying information, is output to the optical distribution tree 332 through the waveguide 352. Exemplarily, the light from the light source (not shown) can be coupled to the waveguide 351 through a grating coupler.

[0035] Exemplarily, the optical distribution tree 332 may include an optical splitter. Figure 3Seven optical splitters are shown, namely, optical splitters 341 to 347. The optical splitter may include at least one of a Y-shaped beam splitter, an MMI beam splitter, and a directional coupler. The optical splitter may distribute the input light. For example, the optical splitter 341 distributes the input light according to 50%:50% and then outputs it. The coupling (connection) between the optical splitters in the figure adopts a waveguide connection. For example, the optical splitter 341 is connected to the optical splitter 342 and the optical splitter 343 through the waveguide 353 and the waveguide 354, respectively. The optical splitters 344, 345, 346, and 347 are respectively connected to the optical receivers corresponding to the optical receivers through waveguides. For example, the optical splitter 344 is connected to the optical receivers 333a and 333b through the waveguide 355 and the waveguide 356, respectively. Exemplarily, the optical splitters 341 to 347 all distribute the input light according to 50%:50%, so that 1 / 8 (i.e., 12.5% ​​optical power) of the light input to the optical distribution tree 332 via the waveguide 352 is output to each optical receiver, for example, the optical receiver 333a receives 1 / 8=12.5% ​​of the input light of the optical distribution tree 332 via the waveguide 353. For the first chip 100, it includes 8 clusters, each cluster includes 8 cores, that is, the first chip 100 has a total of 64 cores, and the optical interconnect 130 includes 64 optical transmission links 330 corresponding to the 64 cores of the first chip 100, each core is coupled to an optical transmission link 330 of the 64 optical transmission links, and the optical transmission link 330 is also coupled to each of the 8 clusters to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the 8 clusters. Each cluster may include an electrical signal receiving port to receive an electrical signal output from an optical receiver. For example, for the optical transmission link 330 corresponding to core A1, cluster 112a corresponds to optical receiver 333a to receive information from core A1, and cluster 112b corresponds to optical receiver 333b to receive information from core A1. In order to enable each core to send information, each core may include an electrical signal sending port, that is, 64 cores correspond to 64 electrical signal sending ports respectively; in order to enable each cluster to be configured to receive information from 64 cores, each cluster may include 64 electrical signal receiving ports (corresponding to 64 cores), and 8 clusters are provided with 64×8=512 electrical signal receiving ports in total. Exemplarily, since there is no need to design an optical interconnection for direct interconnection between cores (which requires 64×64 ports), the number of interfaces between the optical interconnection and the first chip can be reduced, especially in reducing the design requirements for the transmitting end interface, while ensuring the transmission requirements from the core to the cluster, and taking into account the requirements of the cluster sending to the core within the cluster.

[0036] In some embodiments, each of the plurality of clusters is configured to: propagate the information received from the optical interconnect to the plurality of cores of the cluster via electrical signals. Thus, in the information transmission channel from the core to the cluster, the optical interconnect can be used to provide an optical information transmission channel. After receiving the information from the optical interconnect, the cluster transmits the information to the plurality of cores in the cluster via electrical signals, so as to transmit the information from one core to one core in the cluster. Each core can independently send information in the form of light via the optical interconnect (corresponding optical transmitter). In this process, the process of optical information signal propagation and electrical signal propagation within the cluster is successively experienced.

[0037] In some embodiments, each of the plurality of clusters is configured to: receive a second electrical signal from an optical interconnect, and propagate the information carried by the second electrical signal to the plurality of cores of the cluster through the electrical signal. For example, taking cluster 112a among the plurality of clusters as an example, cluster 112a receives a second electrical signal from an optical interconnect, and within cluster 111a, the information carried by the second electrical signal is propagated to a plurality of cores, namely cores A01 to A08 (a total of 8 cores), through the electrical signal. Similarly, clusters 112b to 112h also each receive a corresponding second electrical signal carrying information, and then transmit the information to the plurality of cores within the cluster in the form of an electrical signal within each cluster.

[0038] In some embodiments, in order to enable the cluster to receive and read a suitable electrical signal, the second electrical signal may be converted into a third electrical signal, and the third electrical signal is output to the corresponding cluster. The above conversion may be implemented by an output electrical signal conversion circuit, and the third electrical signal may be suitable for cluster reception. Exemplarily, the electrical signal conversion circuit may be provided in a signal conversion chip. Exemplarily, the chip package 1000 may include a signal conversion chip, and the signal conversion chip includes the output electrical signal conversion circuit.

[0039] In some implementations, the optical transmitter generates an optical signal carrying the information by modulation according to the first electrical signal.

[0040] In some embodiments, the multiple cores of the multiple clusters are configured to work collaboratively to solve execution problems of artificial intelligence workloads.

[0041] In some implementations, the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters are configured to work collaboratively to process a tensor, and each of the cores is configured to work on a different portion of a given tensor.

[0042] In some embodiments, the plurality of clusters include a first cluster, the first cluster includes a first core and a second core, and the chip package is configured to: execute a first part of a computing task at the first core to generate a first result; and execute a second part of a computing task at the second core to generate a second result. For example, core A01 (referred to as the first core) in cluster 112a executes the first part of the computing task, and core A02 (referred to as the second core) executes the second part of the computing task at the second core.

[0043] In some embodiments, alternatively, Figure 2 Some of the eight clusters are located in the first chip, and the others are located in the second chip, and the optical interconnect is used for information transmission between the multiple cores and the clusters. Exemplarily, the multiple clusters are not distributed in the first chip, but are distributed in multiple chips respectively, and the optical interconnect is used to carry the multiple chips for information transmission between the multiple cores and the clusters.

[0044] In an exemplary embodiment, a chip package includes: a plurality of chips, a plurality of clusters distributed on the plurality of chips, each chip including at least one cluster of the plurality of clusters, each of the clusters including a plurality of cores; an optical interconnect; wherein, for each of the cores of the plurality of clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters. Exemplarily, the optical interconnect carries the plurality of chips. Exemplarily, a substrate carries the plurality of chips and the optical interconnect.

[0045]

Optical interconnects

[0046] The optical interconnect 300 may include a photonic integrated circuit, which may include an optical transmission link 330 . The optical interconnect 300 may be a photonic integrated circuit chip, for example, manufactured using a semiconductor process.

[0047] The optical interconnect 300 or the optical transmission link 330 may include at least one photonic device in an optical coupling structure, a waveguide, an optoelectronic conversion unit, an electro-optical conversion unit, an optical splitter, and a light source. The number of various photonic devices may be configured as needed, which may be one or more. Among them, the optical transmitter of the optical transmission link 330 may include an optoelectronic conversion unit, and the optical receiver may include an electro-optical conversion unit. Exemplarily, the electro-optical conversion unit may include a modulator to convert an electrical signal into an optical signal. Exemplarily, the optical coupling structure may be used to perform optical coupling with a laser or an optical fiber, so as to input an optical signal into the optical interconnect 300, or output an optical signal from the optical interconnect 300, for example, using an optical fiber to input and output an optical signal; the optical coupling structure may include a grating coupler, an end face coupler, etc. Exemplarily, a waveguide may be used to propagate an optical signal and serve as a channel for information propagation. Exemplarily, the optoelectronic conversion unit may include an optical detector for converting an optical signal into an electrical signal, and the optical detector may include, for example, a photodiode. Exemplarily, the optical interconnect 300 includes a light source, and the light generated by the light source may be coupled to the waveguide and may also be modulated by an electrical signal.

[0048] In an exemplary embodiment, an artificial intelligence device is provided, comprising the chip package.

[0049] In an exemplary embodiment, a computing system is provided, including the chip package.

[0050] In an exemplary embodiment, a method for transmitting information is provided, comprising:

[0051] The optical interconnect receives a first electrical signal carrying information to be transmitted from a first core of a first cluster of the plurality of clusters;

[0052] The optical interconnect propagates the information through an optical transmission link, wherein the optical transmission link includes an optical transmitter, an optical distribution tree, and a plurality of optical receivers;

[0053] The transmitting of the information through the optical transmission link comprises: the optical transmitter receives a first electrical signal and generates an optical signal for transmission according to the first electrical signal, the optical distribution tree distributes light from the optical transmitter to a plurality of optical receivers, each of the plurality of optical receivers is coupled to one of the plurality of clusters, wherein each of the optical receivers generates a second electrical signal according to the received optical signal to provide information transmitted to the corresponding cluster.

[0054] The information transmission method can be implemented according to the chip packaging in the embodiment of the present invention, and can include corresponding functional methods (steps) that can be implemented by the chip packaging.

[0055] Although the embodiments of the present application explain the disclosed content in conjunction with certain embodiments, it should be understood that the disclosed content is not limited to this implementation mode. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent deployments included within the scope of the appended claims. The scope of protection should be given the broadest interpretation so as to cover all such modifications and similar structures permitted by law.

Claims

1. A chip package, comprising: A first chip includes a plurality of clusters, each of the clusters includes a plurality of cores; Optical interconnects; Wherein, for each of the cores of the plurality of clusters, the optical interconnect is configured to provide an information transmission channel between the core and each of the plurality of clusters.

2. In the chip package as described in claim 1, each of the clusters includes an electrical signal receiving port; the optical interconnect includes a plurality of optical transmission links, respectively corresponding to the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters, so that each core in the plurality of clusters is coupled to one of the optical transmission links; each of the optical transmission links is configured to be coupled to one of the plurality of cores in the plurality of clusters and to each of the plurality of clusters to provide an information transmission channel between the core and the electrical signal receiving port of each of the plurality of clusters.

3. The chip package according to claim 2, wherein: Each of the optical transmission links comprises an optical transmitter, an optical distribution tree, and a plurality of optical receivers, wherein the optical distribution tree is configured to form an optical information transmission channel between the optical transmitter and the plurality of optical receivers; and for each of the optical transmission links, The optical transmitter is configured to receive a first electrical signal and generate an optical signal for transmission according to the first electrical signal, wherein the first electrical signal carries information to be transmitted from one of the cores; Each of the plurality of optical receivers is coupled to one of the plurality of clusters, wherein each of the optical receivers is configured to generate a second electrical signal according to a received optical signal to provide information to be transmitted to the corresponding cluster. 4 . The chip package according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of clusters is configured to propagate the information received from the optical interconnect to the plurality of cores of the cluster via an electrical signal. 5 . The chip package according to claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of clusters is configured to: receive a second electrical signal from the optical interconnection component, and propagate information carried by the second electrical signal to the plurality of cores of the cluster through the electrical signal.

6. The chip package according to claim 3, further comprising an output electrical signal conversion circuit, wherein the output electrical signal conversion circuit is configured to convert the second electrical signal output by the optical receiver into a third electrical signal, and the third electrical signal is transmitted to the cluster.

7. The chip package according to claim 3, wherein: The optical transmitter generates an optical signal carrying the information by modulation according to the first electrical signal.

8. The chip package according to claim 3, wherein: The multiple cores of the multiple clusters are configured to work together to solve execution problems of artificial intelligence workloads. 9 . The chip package of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of cores of the plurality of clusters are configured to work together to process tensors, and each of the cores is configured to work on a different portion of a given tensor.

10. The chip package of claim 3, wherein the plurality of clusters comprises a first cluster, the first cluster comprises a first core and a second core, the chip package being configured to: execute a first portion of a computing task at the first core to generate a first result; and execute a second portion of the computing task at the second core to generate a second result.

11. An artificial intelligence device, comprising a chip package as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A computing system comprising the chip package according to any one of claims 1-10.

13. An information transmission method, comprising: The optical interconnect receives a first electrical signal carrying information to be transmitted from a first core of a first cluster of the plurality of clusters; The optical interconnect propagates the information through an optical transmission link, wherein the optical transmission link includes an optical transmitter, an optical distribution tree, and a plurality of optical receivers; The transmitting of the information through the optical transmission link comprises: the optical transmitter receives a first electrical signal and generates an optical signal for transmission according to the first electrical signal, the optical distribution tree distributes light from the optical transmitter to a plurality of optical receivers, each of the plurality of optical receivers is coupled to one of the plurality of clusters, wherein each of the optical receivers generates a second electrical signal according to the received optical signal to provide information transmitted to the corresponding cluster.

Images