Microphotonics Parallel Data Transmission Fabric and Interconnect

Abstract

The system enables optical communications using an array of light sources to directly convert electrical signals to optical signals. The use of an array of light sources can eliminate the need for large serializer / deserializers (SERDES). By using an array of light sources, optical communications can occur at lower power and lower frequencies per light source, with multiple parallel light sources combined to provide the signal.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Claiming priority This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 365 of U.S. Application No. 17 / 700,043, filed March 21, 2022, entitled “MICRO-PHOTONICS PARALLEL DATA TRANSMISSION FABRIC AND INTERCONNECT,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein.

[0002] The present description relates generally to optical communication, and more particularly, the present description relates to optical communication with micro-photonics devices. [Background technology]

[0003] Computer systems in server environments frequently need to communicate large amounts of data between components separated by distances with dimensions in the centimeter range, and between components separated by distances in the range of several meters, much farther than a few centimeters in length.

[0004] Currently, laser-based photonics is the leading candidate technology for long-distance communications, such as rack-to-rack or chip-to-chip communications in data centers. Traditionally, discrete lasers pump light into silicon photonics chips that receive electrical signals from one device and generate optical signals to send over optical fibers to other devices. Such approaches have high power requirements that add circuit complexity, increase component costs, and introduce requirements for cooling.

[0005] Traditionally, addressing the need for increased I / O (input / output) bandwidth involves driving electrical signals at higher speeds with more complex encoding methods. Increasing the I / O speed and making the encoding more complex increases the need for BER (bit error rate) correction mechanisms to ensure proper communication between components. Modern applications of electrical I / O (EIO) use large serializer / deserializers (SerDes or SERDES). Increasing EIO data rates cause the SerDes to become a bottleneck, increasing communication latency.

[0006] Furthermore, power efficiency in the SerDes path does not scale well with increasing EIO data rates, resulting in system power consumption exceeding system specifications. Traditional laser-based silicon photonics optical I / O (OIO) typically uses materials (such as III-V semiconductor components) that increase component costs. Traditional laser communications also have high power requirements and require cooling, increasing power consumption to levels that exceed system specifications. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] The following description includes discussion of figures having illustrations given as examples of implementations. The drawings should be understood as examples and not as limitations. As used herein, reference to one or more examples should be understood to describe specific features, structures, or characteristics included in at least one implementation of the invention. Phrases such as "in one example" or "in an alternative example" appearing in this specification provide examples of implementations of the invention, and do not necessarily all refer to the same implementation. However, they are also not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example communication system based on an array of microscale light sources.

[0009] [Diagram 2]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example communication system having a connector for transmitting light from a microscale light source.

[0010] [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED circuit.

[0011] [Figure 4A] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED circuit interfacing with a connector for a communication system. [Figure 4B] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED circuit interfacing with a connector for a communication system. [Figure 4C] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED circuit interfacing with a connector for a communication system.

[0012] [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED stack circuit.

[0013] [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED stack circuit with a memory layer.

[0014] [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED connector.

[0015] [Figure 8A] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of overlap of fiber cores with microscale light sources. [Figure 8B] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of overlap of fiber cores with microscale light sources. [Figure 8C] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of overlap of fiber cores with microscale light sources.

[0016] [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED connector having multiple fiber bundles.

[0017] [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an example nanowire LED.

[0018] [Figure 11A] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an example LED. [Figure 11B] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an example LED. [Figure 11C] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an example LED.

[0019] [Figure 12A] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example optical routing circuit for micro-LED communication. [Figure 12B] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example optical routing circuit for micro-LED communication. [Figure 12C] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example optical routing circuit for micro-LED communication. [Figure 12D] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example optical routing circuit for micro-LED communication.

[0020] [Figure 13A] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example bidirectional micro LED circuit. [Figure 13B] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example bidirectional micro LED circuit.

[0021] [Figure 14A] This is a representation of micro LED communication alignment. [Figure 14B] This is a representation of micro LED communication alignment.

[0022] [Figure 15A] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED repeater.

[0023] [Figure 15B] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a Micro LED to laser repeater example.

[0024] [Figure 16] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example micro LED connector with electrical contacts.

[0025] [Figure 17] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an example process for optical communication transmission using a micro-optics array.

[0026] [Figure 18] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an example process for optical communication reception using a micro-optics array.

[0027] [Figure 19] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing system in which micro-optical system communication can be implemented.

[0028] [Figure 20] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example multi-node network in which micro-optical system communications can be implemented.

[0029] [Figure 21] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example network interface device.

[0030] [Figure 22] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a system having a network interface device.

[0031] A description of several details and implementations follows, including diagrams that may show some or all of the embodiments, and non-limiting descriptions of other possible implementations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] As described herein, the system enables optical communication with direct electrical to optical signal conversion using an array of microscale light sources. The use of an array of light sources can eliminate the need for large serializer / deserializers (SerDes or SERDES). By using an array of light sources, optical communication can occur at lower power and lower frequencies per light source, with multiple parallel light sources combined to provide the signal.

[0033] Reference to a microscale optical device may refer to an optical transmitter, optical receiver, or optical transceiver integrated in or on a semiconductor substrate. Each of the optical devices may be on the order of 100 square microns (100 μm 2 ) in size. Thus, the microscale devices described herein may have a size on the order of a single micron per side for an approximately square shape, or in diameter for approximately circular devices (e.g., devices having dimensions of about 5 μm×5 μm up to about 10 μm×10 μm). In one example, each transmitter and each receiver may have a size on the order of a single micron per side for an approximately square shape, or in diameter for approximately circular devices (e.g., devices having dimensions of about 5 μm×5 μm up to about 10 μm×10 μm). 2 It has a smaller footprint, with dimensions of about 1 μm×1 μm to about 3 μm×3 μm.

[0034] References to microscale optical devices are based on the micro (i.e., 10 -6 The described systems and configurations may refer to optical devices having dimensions on the microscale or nano (i.e., 10 meter) scale or smaller. -9 The present invention may be implemented using optical devices having micrometer-scale dimensions. For ease of explanation, reference will be made to micro-optics or micro-scale devices, but this will be understood to refer to devices having low (e.g., single digit) micron dimensions, or devices having nanometer-scale dimensions.

[0035] A system with an array of microscale optical devices can replace traditional electrical input / output (EIO) transmission paths through high power SerDes to waveguides with native on-die fabric conversion to optical input / output (OIO). The waveguides can be electrical or optical. Native conversion of electrical signals to OIO using an array of integrated microscale optical devices, such as a micro light emitting diode (μLED) array or an array of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs).

[0036] Native conversion of electrical signals to OIO can improve power and performance requirements for input / output (I / O) in compute platforms with on-die fabric. The use of microscale optical devices can be compatible with multiple different types of encoding, allowing for scalable data transmission rates. In one example, instead of a high bandwidth signal from a laser source transmitting many sequential bits at a high frequency, a microscale optical transmitter and receiver can split the signal into multiple parallel parts and transmit a slower signal over many parallel links. The signal can be split into multiple parallel parts at the transmitter end with control circuitry and combined at the receiver end by the optical receiver control circuitry.

[0037] It is understood that laser light has a greater range or reach in terms of the distance a signal can travel compared to LED light and still maintain a bit error rate within expected tolerances. Thus, replacing a high power light source with a lower power light source tends to result in an optical signal with a shorter reach. In one example, the system may include an optical signal repeater, similar to an electrical retimer, that may convert an optical signal to an electrical signal and then regenerate the optical signal in a waveguide.

[0038] The system may include multiple waveguide bundles (such as bundles of fiber cores) for transmitting optical signals from an array of light sources. In one example, the system allows many waveguide bundles to be manufactured without concern for relative rotation of the fibers in the bundle, so long as the connectivity at each end is common. In one example, the system may apply alignment training operations to reduce the requirement for precise fiber placement within the connector.

[0039] With the use of micro-optical device arrays integrated on a system chip, low energy and inexpensive optical technologies traditionally applied to consumer electronic devices can provide many parallel, power-efficient devices for optical communication systems. Consumer electronic devices can include television and computer displays, smart watches, AR / VR (Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality) displays, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc.

[0040] A communication system based on microscale optical devices can provide optical communication signals to multiple waveguides. The microscale optical devices can convert EIO to OIO with data encoding that can sustain high bandwidth communication. The system can apply optical repeaters to extend the reach of LED devices. The system can be self-training to provide resilience and correction of cable manufacturing, reducing the need for strict manufacturing control on the alignment of waveguides that can have potentially tens of waveguide cores with small diameters to transmit optical signals.

[0041] 1 is a block diagram of an example of a communication system based on an array of microscale light sources. System 100 represents a communication system based on a data network with micro-optical devices. Electrical signal 110 represents a signal transmitted from one component to another.

[0042] TX (transmit) circuitry 120 represents an electrical transmit circuit that generates signal 122 representing one or more control signals that trigger the micro-optics to generate electrical signal 110 that becomes an optical signal. μLED array 130 represents an array of micro-optics devices. The devices in the array are lower power than traditional laser communication devices and can be directly integrated into a substrate without III-V materials.

[0043] The μLED array 130 generates and transmits OIOs through a multicore fiber (MCF) 140. Signals 142 represent parallel optical signals or OIOs transmitted by the μLEDs 130 through the MCF 140. In one example, the system 100 includes a repeater 150 to repeat the OIOs to extend the distance the optical signal can travel.

[0044] If system 100 includes repeater 150, system 100 includes MCF 160, which represents an optical second multicore waveguide, for transmitting repeated optical signal 162 to a target. If system 100 does not include repeater 150, MCF 140 may provide optical signal 142 directly to the target device.

[0045] The PD (photodetector) array 170 represents a photodetector or photodiode in the receiving device. The signal 172 represents an electrical signal based on the conversion of the optical signal 162 (or the optical signal 142) by the PD array 170 into an electrical representation of the communication. The RX circuit 180 represents a receiving circuit in the electrical domain for transmitting the electrical signal 182 to a processor for processing in the receiving device. In contrast to conventional optical communication systems, the system 100 includes a μLED array 130 and a corresponding PD array 170. The PD array 170 may also be considered as an array of micro-optical devices.

[0046] Arrays of micro-optical devices are inherently small and energy-efficient devices and can provide high signal density in the network fabric between silicon dies. In one example, each data line in the TX and RX directions is paired with one or more μLEDs for optical transmission or reception detection, and with circuitry for amplifying the received photons. Regardless of how many μLED devices in the array are used in the components of the frequency (color) in a pixel, the pair can represent a "pixel" in the transmission and reception stages. The system 100 can represent the overall link assembly as a data channel between a first electronic device (transmitter) and a second electronic device (receiver). The transmitter and receiver for one transmission can exchange roles for a subsequent transmission.

[0047] The use of μLED arrays 130 or other microscale optical devices in system 100 may allow for systems with light sources and optical receivers integrated directly onto the system substrate without the need for specialized materials and specialized semiconductor processing required for laser devices. The micro-optics may be driven directly by control circuitry, resulting in much faster processing of communication signals while using significantly less energy. It is estimated that micro-optics based communications may provide approximately 10-100 times improvement in speed and energy per bit over conventional laser photonics.

[0048] In one example, the system 100 may include a μLED array 130 having μLED components with dimensions on the order of 1 μm (micron) in size. In one example, the system 100 may include a μLED array 130 having μLED components operating at data rates on the order of 1 GHz per μLED. By combining small size and data rate, the system 100 may achieve levels of bandwidth from a piece of silicon that exceed other approaches that rely on 2.5D or 3D interconnects for any type of I / O technology. In contrast to laser photonics, in one example, the system 100 may apply μLED technology that can operate over a wide temperature range, avoiding many of the rigorous cooling challenges and costs associated with standard laser-based photonics while consuming less energy, on the order of 10 times less energy per transmitted bit. Such improvements are possible without the constant antenna power draw of lasers. The entire μLED technology can be implemented at a much lower component-level cost compared to more complex electrical connectors and cables, or laser-based photonics components (e.g., lasers, connectors, cables).

[0049] 2 is a block diagram of an example communication system having a connector for transmitting light from a microscale light source. System 200 represents an example communication system according to example system 100.

[0050] The computational demands of compute devices and interconnects, such as CPUs (Central Processing Units), GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), XPUs (Accelerator Processing Units), or other accelerator devices, continue to show exponential growth. The demand for data throughput also rises exponentially to support the exponential growth of computational demands.

[0051] At the package level, such demands result in a corresponding increase in pin counts, driven largely by memory requirements such as volatile memory (e.g., DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)) and non-volatile memory (NVM). Data throughput demands increase I / O demands, which means that the overall package power to provide target I / O rates continues to scale exponentially.

[0052] High-speed SerDes in electrical lines and silicon photonics are prime candidates for continuing to increase I / O throughput. However, the increase to higher data rates tends to result in higher bit error rates (BER), leading to the implementation of mechanisms such as FEC (forward error correction) to control the BER. BER control mechanisms tend to increase latency, which can impede mechanisms employed to increase data transmission rates. As area and energy increase due to physical signaling requirements, the complexity of the surrounding components (e.g., packaging, substrate, cooling) also increases, increasing system complexity.

[0053] In contrast to conventional approaches, system 200 may reuse the native compute fabric of the system's on-die design with a micro-optics array. Such an array may provide a "wide" interface (e.g., on the order of 100 bits wide per direction) that may achieve higher throughput (e.g., speeds on the order of 1 GT / s per wire as opposed to 10 GT / s (gigatransmissions per second)) at lower operating frequencies than those used by current systems. Current implementations of μLEDs are smaller than 7 μm × 7 μm in size, consume power on the order of 0.03 pJ / b (picojoules per bit), and, depending on device design, may be capable of operating at 0.5 to 10 GT / s. Even taking into account wiring and receiver gain from photodetectors, operation of μLED-based communications is expected to be less than 0.5 pJ / b for current implementations. Future generations of μLED devices are expected to achieve 1 μm 2The expected power requirement is on the order of 0.1 pJ / b. The reach of μLEDs is expected to be significantly larger (O(1)m) than electrical signals such as PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), CXL (Compute Express Link), UPI (Ultra Path Interconnect), DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), or others (O(0.1)m), but much smaller than laser-based silicon photonics (O(100)m) or VCSELs (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers) (O(10)m).

[0054] The system 200 includes a photonics array 210 for communication. In one example, the photonics array 210 includes an array of μLEDs and an array of microscale photodetectors (PDs) that can detect LED light. In one example, the photonics array 210 includes an array of VCSELs and an array of microscale PDs that can detect VCSEL light. For simplicity, the photonics array 210 is referred to as the array 210, which can include light source devices and light detection devices. In one example, the array 210 can be referred to as a high density array, referring to having a large number (e.g., on the order of 100 or 1000) of optical devices. Such an array is high density in that it has a large number of optical devices integrated on the same substrate as the array of devices.

[0055] Signal source / destination 220 represents a component that may generate an electrical signal for transmission through array 210. Signal source / destination 220 represents a component that may receive an electrical signal from array 210 in response to detecting a signal from an external source. Signal source / destination 220 may be, for example, a system-on-chip (SOC) component, or a CPU or other component on a SOC, an FPGA, a GPU, an accelerator, or other component.

[0056] Controller 230 represents control circuitry that may trigger the transmit operation of array 210. For transmit, signal source / destination 220 represents a signal source for providing an electrical signal to array 210. In response to signals and control signals from controller 230, array 210 converts EIO to OIO using a micro optical transmitter. In one example, the transmitter transmits an optical signal through lens 250 to a waveguide in connector 260. In one example, lens 250 is an optional component. Connector 260 may then transmit the optical signal to a target for optical communication.

[0057] For reception, signal source / destination 220 represents the signal target. Connector 260 may receive the optical signal from an external component and provide the optical signal to array 210 via lens 250. In one example, lens 250 is an optional component. A light detection component of array 210 may detect the signal and convert OIO to EIO to provide to signal source / destination 220.

[0058] In one example, system 200 includes a lens actuator 240, which represents one or more components for redirecting lens 250 to direct optical communication signals. In one example, lens actuator 240 includes one or more mechanical components. In one example, lens actuator 240 includes one or more electrical components. Controller 230 may control the operation of lens actuator 240 to focus received optical signals onto light detecting components of array 210 or to focus transmitted optical signals onto waveguides of connector 260.

[0059] The array 210 may be an array of microscale optical devices integrated into a system substrate, such as a silicon chip of a communications fabric. The controller 230 may drive the components of the array 210 with electrical communication signals for transmission and may control the components of the array 210 with control signals for reception.

[0060] 3 is a block diagram of an example micro LED circuit. SOC 310 represents an example semiconductor chip having a micro light array according to example array 210.

[0061] The SOC 310 includes an EIC (electrical integrated circuit) circuit 320 and a μLED array 330. The μLED array 330 represents an array of micro-optical devices. The μLED array 330 specifically represents a transmitting (TX) and receiving (RX) device. The arrangement of the transmitting and receiving devices is not limited and any arrangement of transmitters and receivers can be used. The EIC 320 circuit represents an electrical circuit for controlling the operation of the μLED array 330. In one example, the elements or individual devices of the μLED array 330 represent solid-state material devices different from conventional organic LEDs. The μLEDs can support very fast modulation by the EIC circuit 320.

[0062] The components of the μLED array 330 may be highly parallel, allowing smaller portions of the overall optical communication to be transmitted / received on separate optical paths. Such an array of wide optical paths may allow transmission at lower speeds, resulting in a wider interface that provides high bandwidth even at lower operating speeds, which refers to multiple optical links operating at a slower speed versus one optical link that would need to operate at a higher speed to achieve the same bandwidth. The optical devices of the μLED array 330 may be driven directly by the EIC circuit 320 without the need for a large, high-speed SerDes. In one example, the EIC circuit 320 may include parallel SerDes paths for the array of devices of the μLED array 330. Such a SerDes path may be simpler and more efficient than one large device attempting to feed a high-speed laser optical link. In one example, the SOC 310 includes a simple, standard optical encoder in the EIC circuit 320 instead of a large SerDes.

[0063] As mentioned above, micro-optical devices can be very small, with devices measuring less than 1 μm 2The individual devices in the μLED array 330 are estimated to reach sizes on the order of 50 μm 2 or 25μm 2 or 10 μm in size. 2 The μLED array 330 devices can convert electrical signals directly into light and drive signals on a waveguide onto the fiber core or via a waveguide onto the fiber core.

[0064] The individual components of the μLED array 330 may provide optical transmission as an array of μLED pixels for transmission with a corresponding optical receiver on the target device. A pixel is composed of multiple μLEDs emitting different colors or wavelengths of light, allowing the μLED array 330 to provide a multi-level optical signal. A multi-level optical signal herein refers to a signal having different wavelengths or colors, rather than an optical signal having different signal strengths.

[0065] In one example, the μLED array 330 is designed and laid out in any pattern. The pattern can be structured into a group of transmit and receive sites per channel of required I / O transmission. In one example, the μLED array 330 has an arrangement of individual components or groups or clusters of components to allow multiple μLEDs to transmit the same optical signal together as a single pixel.

[0066] Different groups of μLEDs may transmit different color signals, e.g., one group of μLEDs as a pixel transmits one wavelength optical signal, another group of μLEDs as a second pixel transmits a second wavelength optical signal, etc. Color mixing by the μLED array 330 may produce light pulses having specific standard color coordinates that can be decoded at the photodetector side of the link. In one example, the maximum number of elements of the μLED array in a pixel is determined by the diameter of the individual fiber cores in the waveguide medium and the manufacturing tolerances for aligning the waveguide with the emitter / detector array.

[0067] In one example, each μLED-based pixel is transmitted through one waveguide fiber. In one example, multiple pixels are surrounded by a multicore fiber material. In contrast to laser-based and VCSEL-based photonics, μLEDs can work with very inexpensive plastic waveguide materials commonly used in medical and scientific programs, such as light sources in dentistry, or cameras for internal examination of living organisms, or factory lines. μLED technology also allows operation in a wide temperature range and does not require complex cooling solutions that are typical of standard silicon photonics and their associated laser modules.

[0068] In one example, the μLED array 330 represents μLED devices integrated into the silicon substrate of the SOC 310. In one example, the μLED array 330 represents approximately 1 TB / s / mm 2 (Terabytes per second per square millimeter) of signal density.

[0069] In one example, the μLED array 330 has approximately two thousand (e.g., 2048) data transmission and reception sites. As described in more detail below, in one example, the micro-optical components may include components with transmission and reception capabilities, with optical device structures that can be photonic energy transmitter / emitter devices or receivers / detectors. The mapping of individual TX / RX sites to I / O channels at the electrical level (e.g., x16 lanes, x8 lanes, x11 lanes) can be any configuration, as long as the physical connectors for moving the optical signal from the μLED photonics to the other end for detection reflect the physical mapping applied.

[0070] In one example, the individual components of the μLED array 330 can be other illumination or light sources, such as μVCSELs that emit light in the visible-infrared range. In a specific example, the array of micro-optical devices can be an array of μVCSELs that emit light having wavelengths of 620 nm, 625 nm, 630 nm, and 635 nm in a four-color μVCSEL array.

[0071] In one example, the μLED array 330 requires support mechanisms for operation. Examples may include the use of a voltage shifter or charge capacitor to increase the voltage (e.g., from 0.7V to 3V) to reach the diode activation level. On the detector side, conventional photodetector circuits generate currents in the nA (nanoampere) range, which may benefit from detection and amplification circuits with noise rejection.

[0072] In one example, a μLED array or other micro-optical device array is stacked on top of an underlying CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) circuit. Below we show different examples of μLED circuits combined with CMOS circuits.

[0073] 4A is a block diagram of an example μLED circuit with a vertical connector interface for a communication system. Circuit 402 includes μLED 412, which represents a substrate with a μLED array, and circuit 432, which represents electronic circuitry that provides electrical signals to μLED 412 for transmitting and receiving electrical signals from a micro-receiver.

[0074] In one example, the μLEDs 412 are bonded to the circuitry 432 by TGV (Through Glass Via) attachment and connection to combine the μLED die or wafer with a CMOS die or wafer. In this way, the layers can be fused together during the manufacturing and assembly process.

[0075] Connector 422 represents the connector interface of μLED 412 to the μLED circuitry. Connector 422 may be or include a waveguide or lens to allow the connector to interface vertically with the circuitry.

[0076] 4B is a block diagram of an example of a μLED circuit with a horizontal connector interface for a communication system. Circuit 404 includes μLED 414, which represents a substrate having a μLED array, and circuit 434, which represents electronic circuitry that provides electrical signals to μLED 414 for transmitting and receiving electrical signals from a micro-receiver. In one example, circuit 434 is part of substrate 444.

[0077] In one example, the μLEDs 414 are bonded to the circuitry 434 by TGV attachment and connection to combine the μLED die or wafer with a CMOS die or wafer. In this manner, the layers can be fused during the manufacturing and assembly process. In one example, the combination of the μLEDs 414 and the circuitry 434 can be mounted on a substrate 444.

[0078] Connector 424 represents a connector interface to the μLED circuitry of μLED 414. Connector 424 may be or include a waveguide or lens to allow the connector to interface with the circuitry vertically. In one example, connector 424 represents a waveguide structure integrated on or within substrate 444. Connector 424 may allow a horizontal interface to the circuitry.

[0079] 4C is a block diagram of an example of a μLED circuit with a horizontal connector interface with a lens for a communication system. Circuit 406 includes μLED 416, which represents a substrate having a μLED array, and circuit 436, which represents electronic circuitry that provides electrical signals to μLED 416 for transmitting and receiving electrical signals from a micro-receiver. In one example, circuit 436 is part of substrate 446.

[0080] In one example, the μLEDs 416 are bonded to the circuitry 436 by TGV attachment and connection to combine the μLED die or wafer with a CMOS die or wafer. In this manner, the layers can be fused during the manufacturing and assembly process. In one example, the combination of the μLEDs 416 and the circuitry 436 can be mounted on a substrate 446.

[0081] Connector 426 represents a connector interface to the μLED circuitry of μLED 416. Connector 426 may be or include a waveguide or lens to allow the connector to interface with the circuitry vertically. In one example, connector 426 represents a waveguide structure integrated on or in substrate 446. Connector 426 may allow a horizontal interface to the circuitry.

[0082] In one example, the circuit 406 includes a lens 452 or a lens 454 or both. The lenses can provide optics for collimating and focusing the optical signal to transmit the optical energy into the waveguide. In one example, the lens 452 or the lens 454 can be part of a planar surface of the connector 426.

[0083] 5 is a block diagram of an example μLED stack circuit. Circuit 502 represents a perspective view of the μLED circuit. Circuit 504 represents a cross-sectional view of circuit 502.

[0084] Circuit 502 shows μLEDs 512, which are a μLED circuit or μLED array integrated on or in a substrate 510. Driver 520 represents a substrate with electronic circuitry thereon that can provide electrical signals to drive the μLEDs. Driver 520 can be, or be part of, a controller for communication of μLEDs 512. Circuit 504 shows circuitry 522 in driver 520 for implementing control operations for driving μLEDs 512.

[0085] In one example, substrate 510 and driver 520 represent different wafers or different substrates that are combined with wafer-to-wafer or substrate-to-substrate bonding to combine the μLED chips with the modulation or driver chips in a single package. Circuit 504 shows circuit 522 in a different plane than μLED 512.

[0086] 6 is a block diagram of an example of a μLED stack circuit with a memory layer. Circuit 602 represents a perspective view from the top of a μLED circuit stack with a DRAM substrate stacked with μLEDs and a driver substrate. Circuit 604 represents a cross-sectional view of circuit 602.

[0087] Circuit 602 represents a substrate 610 having μLEDs 612, which may be a μLED circuit or μLED array integrated in or on the substrate 610. Driver 620 represents a substrate having circuit 622, which represents electronic circuitry on the substrate that may provide electrical signals to drive the μLEDs. Driver 620 may be a controller for communication with μLEDs 612, or may be part of it. In one example, DRAM 630 represents a DRAM circuit or other memory circuit in-line with driver 620.

[0088] The circuit 604 shows circuitry 622 in the driver 620 for implementing control operations for driving the μLEDs 612. The DRAM 630 may be in a plane above the circuitry 622. The substrate 610 may be located above the driver 620 and the DRAM 630 to provide communication circuitry.

[0089] In one example, substrate 610 and driver 620 represent different wafers or different substrates that are combined with wafer-to-wafer or substrate-to-substrate bonding to combine the μLED chips with the modulation or driver chips in a single package. In one example, DRAM 630 is formed in or on driver 620 prior to bonding with substrate 610. Circuit 604 shows circuit 622 in a different plane than μLED 612.

[0090] 7 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED connector. The system 700 includes a connector 710 including a fiber bundle or fiber core or waveguide for transmitting optical signals. The connector 710 is shown from a front view, where a different fiber bundle 720 is directed over the array of μLEDs or waveguides that carry signals between the connector 710 and the μLED array.

[0091] Fiber bundles 720 may represent ports of connector 710. Conventionally, fiber bundles 720 include a key 724 as an alignment guide for fibers 722. In one example, key 724 is not needed due to application of alignment training, as described in more detail below. In one example, each fiber bundle 720 includes an alignment key 724. μLED technology allows for “non-linear” positioning of fibers 722.

[0092] The number of fibers 722 in each port or each fiber bundle 720 can vary depending on the implementation. The number of fibers 722 can be few, 6 or 8 fibers, or can include tens or hundreds of fibers. The fibers 722 can represent multiple optical waveguides through which the μLEDs can drive optical signals and can carry transmitted optical signals to a receiver or photodetector. The connector 710 includes a housing to accommodate the optical fiber bundle for optical communication between the light source and the corresponding optical receiver.

[0093] In one example, each fiber 722 is a fiber core for receiving multiple optical signals from multiple light sources. In one example, each fiber 722 is a fiber core for receiving an optical signal from a single light source.

[0094] In one example, each fiber 722 has a diameter or size of about 50 μm to interconnect a group of light sources and receivers for a “pixel,” as described above. The diameter can be larger or smaller.

[0095] 8A-8C are block diagrams of example overlaps of fiber cores with microscale light sources. Different overlap scenarios represent different fibers that may be examples of fiber 722 in system 700.

[0096] There are different options for the alignment of the fiber waveguide to the micro-optical device. One option is to have one fiber core for multiple micro-optical devices (system 802 and system 804). Another option is to have multiple fiber cores per micro-optical device (system 806).

[0097] In one example, to support multiple μLEDs per pixel, the electro-optical assembly includes a pixel having at least two μLEDs emitting different wavelengths (e.g., blue and green), a multimode and multicore optical fiber, and a receiving array of photodetectors tuned to detect the primary colors provided by the transmitting μLEDs. In general, the use of N μLEDs with different wavelengths per waveguide can represent 2N possible values. For example, the use of a two-color "pixel" on the transmitting end allows for coding of data using four different levels (22=4): (1) blue+off, (2) blue+green, (3) off+green, (4) off+off. It is understood that a clock should be propagated along with the data signal to synchronize both sides to detect the "off" periods. If 3 μLEDs are used to code data at the transmitting end, the system has 8 different levels (23=8), and if 4 μLEDs are used to code data at the transmitting end, the system supports 16 different levels (24=16).

[0098] In one example, the transmitting end of the optical link is composed of multiple multi-μLED pixels, where each pixel has at least two μLEDs that emit two different colors. Using nanowire LED technology, described in more detail below, multicolor μLEDs can be produced on a single silicon substrate. The color is determined by the core of the initial nanowire, thus making it possible to define the emission color from the nanowire LED by the use of nanolithography.

[0099] System 802 and system 804 can support such multi-color pixels.

[0100] 8A illustrates a system 802 having an example of a waveguide that is much larger than a micro-optical device. Fiber 812 represents a fiber core for transmitting light or optical signals from or to multiple devices for transmission. Cladding 822 represents a cladding or coating on fiber core 812 to reduce loss of optical energy during transmission.

[0101] Array 832 represents an array of micro-optical devices. Specifically, 256 devices are shown in a 16×16 array. The arrays need not include the same number of rows and columns. As shown, the devices in array 832 are densely packed, with spacing between devices that is approximately one device width or less. In one example, the spacing between devices is the more typical spacing of at least approximately two device widths between devices.

[0102] Applying pixel configuration to multiple μLEDs in an array results in a high-speed data link. For example, if each μLED transmits 1 bit of data at a 1 GHz rate, then a pixel with two μLEDs transmits data at 2 squared "bits" x 1 GHz, a total of 4 Gbps (gigabits per second). For a 256-pixel array of system 802, the overall data rate is 256b x 4 GHz = 1 Tbp (terabits per second). For a pixel composed of three μLEDs, a 256-pixel array with the same exemplary transmission rate would generate 256b x 8 GHz = 2 Tbp, and so on. Such high-bandwidth communication is possible even while individual μLEDs consume much less energy per bit compared to conventional laser-based communication.

[0103] 8B illustrates system 804 using an example of a waveguide that is much larger than a micro-optical device. Fiber 814 represents a fiber core for transmitting light or optical signals from or to multiple devices for transmission. Cladding 824 represents a cladding or coating on fiber core 814 to reduce optical loss during transmission.

[0104] Array 834 represents an array of micro-optical devices. Specifically, 16 devices are shown in a 4×4 array. Array 834 is a smaller array than array 832. As shown, the devices in array 834 are densely packed, with spacing between devices that is approximately one device width or less. In one example, the spacing between devices is the more typical spacing of at least approximately two device widths between devices.

[0105] For array 834, a similar approach for multiple color or primary frequency pixels as described above with reference to array 832. System 802 shows a 4x4 μLED grid per pixel on a single fiber core, with multiple cores carrying very large amounts of bandwidth overall. The configuration of system 804 may provide higher tolerances for fiber alignment or fiber placement relative to the array.

[0106] 8C illustrates system 806 using the example of a waveguide smaller than a micro-optical device. System 806 illustrates μLED 836, which is an array of μLEDs. System 806 illustrates fiber 816 with a diameter smaller than that of μLED 836. Fiber 816 may include a cladding 826 to reduce light loss from the fiber during transmission.

[0107] In one example, the use of fiber bundles in carrying data between the TX and RX sites relies on fiber sizes significantly smaller than the micro-optics device dimensions. For μLEDs of the size referenced above, the configuration of system 806 may require fiber cores with diameters smaller than 2.5 μm, with multicore fiber arrays assembled from a "sea" of densely packed narrow diameter waveguides.

[0108] 9 is a block diagram of an example of a micro LED connector having multiple fiber bundles. 902 provides a front view of connector 910 representing a connector according to example connector 710 of system 700. 904 shows a side view of connector 910.

[0109] The connector 910 includes a housing 920 that provides structural support for a fiber bundle 930. The fiber bundle 930 represents a group or plurality of fiber cores or fiber waveguides for transmitting optical signals between TX and RX sites. The array 932 represents a front view of the fiber bundle and interfaces with an array of micro-optical devices, where one or more micro-optical devices for transmitting or receiving signals represent the TX and RX sites, respectively. In one example, the TX sites or RX sites correspond to the pixels described above.

[0110] In one example, connector 910 can include fiber bundles 930 each containing tens or hundreds of fiber cores. The population of fibers in connector 910 can be on the order of thousands, potentially on the order of 100,000 fibers, while having a very small overall diameter bundle. The small overall size can be achieved when the fibers have diameters on the small order of magnitude of single microns or tens of microns.

[0111] The example connector 910 specifically shows eight ports or channels, where each channel may support a different capability and data rate, such as PCIe / CXL x16, UPI x24, HBM3, DDR6, etc. Each fiber optic bundle 930 in a channel has a number of waveguides bundled together. In one example, each bundle includes a physical key to ensure alignment of the fibers between the two endpoints. In one example, alignment between the TX and RX sites is achieved via optical training, as described in more detail below.

[0112] 10 is a circuit diagram of an example nanowire LED. Circuit 1000 represents a nanowire device with sidewall emission. Circuit 1000 represents a cross-section of an LED circuit device. The device can have a width (or diameter when viewed from the top) that is on the order of a single digit micron in dimensions, even when multiple nanowires are used in parallel.

[0113] TX circuit 1010 represents the transmit circuitry of the substrate on which the μLEDs are integrated. In one example, a copper layer 1012 is integrated on the TX circuit 1010 and a mirror 1014 is integrated on the copper 1012. The mirror 1014 represents a glass layer on a metal with high reflectivity, which may be aluminum or other metal on the copper 1012.

[0114] Dielectric 1020 represents an electrical insulator such as an oxide or nitride material. ITO (indium tin oxide) 1032 represents an oxide that is transparent at the wavelengths of interest. Nanowire 1040 represents a doped III-nitride, such as GaN (gallium nitride). InGaN (indium gallium nitride) well 1036 represents a carrier source for nanowire 1040 and is located between nanowire 1040 and GaN (gallium nitride) 1034 or other III-nitride. GaN 1034 can be undoped, with InGaN 1036 providing the bandgap for nanowire 1040. Thickness and materials can be controlled to achieve the desired bandgap for the desired frequency of optical transmission.

[0115] Mask 1050 provides a vertical barrier for the optical energy in the nanowire circuit, and dielectric 1020 provides a horizontal barrier. ITO 1060 is over the nanowires 1040 and over the portion of the nanowires 1040 that extends through mask 1050. A mirror / polarizer 1062 is formed on top of ITO 1060. When an electric charge is applied to circuit 1000, nanowires 1040 emit photons that can pass around the cavity formed by dielectric 1020 and mask 1050, with mirror 1014 providing a lower surface to reflect the optical energy back up.

[0116] Thus, the circuit 1000 may have a resonant cavity structure for light emission. In one example, instead of a single nanowire 1040, the circuit 1000 may include a 2x2 array or other array of nanowires with multiple nanowire structures. Multiple nanowires in a circuit may allow more specific control over wavelength. With multiple nanowires, the circuit 1000 may be a microLED with an array of individually controllable nanowires to allow specific control of the μLED emission.

[0117] The mirror polarizer 1062 may reflect some light back into the circuit and polarize the light that passes through. The mirror / polarizer 1062 may be referred to as a metasurface mirror patterned to form a cavity with the mirror 1014 at the other end of the nanowire 1040. In one example, the mirror 1014 is formed during fabrication of the microLED structure. In one example, the mirror / polarizer 1062 is formed after flip-chip transfer of the μLED to the TX die substrate.

[0118] 11A-11C are circuit diagrams of example μLEDs. Circuit 1102, circuit 1104, and circuit 1106 μLED structures may be alternative structures to circuit 1000. Each of the circuits is shown in cross section of selected components. The structures do not necessarily show all layers or structural components.

[0119] For light emitting devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), the emission wavelength is determined by the bandgap of the active region of the LED, with the thickness determining the confinement effect. In many cases, the active region includes one or more quantum wells (QWs). For III-nitride based LED devices such as GaN-based devices, the active region (e.g. quantum well) material is preferably ternary, such as some form of indium gallium nitride. The bandgap of such III-nitride devices depends on the amount of group III elements (e.g. indium) incorporated into the active region (e.g. QWs). Higher doping results in a smaller bandgap and thus a longer wavelength of emitted light.

[0120] Circuit 1102 shows a coaxial (core-shell) nanowire structure. Circuit 1102 includes a substrate 1112 having a nucleation layer 1122, a mask 1132, and a core 1142, where the core 1142 is a nanowire material. The core 1142 may contact the nucleation layer 1122 through a gap in the mask 1132.

[0121] In one example, the core 1142 has an elongated structure that extends further from the nucleation layer 1122 than the diameter of the core. In one example, the circuit 1102 includes an active layer 1152 over the mask 1132 in contact with the core 1142, and a cladding 1162 over the active layer 1152.

[0122] Circuit 1104 shows a nanopyramid nanowire structure. Circuit 1104 includes a substrate 1114 having a nucleation layer 1124, a mask 1134, and a core 1144, where the core 1144 is a nanowire material. The core 1144 may contact the nucleation layer 1124 through a gap in the mask 1134.

[0123] In one example, the core 1144 has a pyramidal structure that extends away from the nucleation layer 1124 at a height on the order of the diameter of the core. In one example, the circuit 1104 includes an active layer 1154 over the mask 1134 in contact with the core 1144, and a cladding 1164 over the active layer 1154.

[0124] Circuit 1106 shows an axial nanowire structure. Circuit 1106 includes a substrate 1116 having a nucleation layer 1126, a mask 1136, and a core 1146, where the core 1146 is a nanowire material. The core 1146 may contact the nucleation layer 1126 through a gap in the mask 1136.

[0125] In one example, the core 1146 has an elongated structure that extends away from the nucleation layer 1126 at a height greater than the diameter of the core. In one example, the circuit 1106 includes an active layer 1156 in contact with the core 1146 and a cladding 1166 on the active layer 1156. In contrast to the circuit 1102, the active layer 1156 and the cladding 1166 do not completely surround the core 1146 and do not contact the mask layer.

[0126] 12A-12D are block diagrams of example optical routing circuits for μLED communication. Various circuits show integrated waveguides on the substrate for external optical termination. Multiple modes of layer attachment and fusion are available.

[0127] System 1202 shows a substrate 1212 having μLEDs 1222 (noted to be sometimes referred to as simplified uLEDs, instead of using the Greek letter mu). μLEDs 1222 represent an array of micro-optical devices on substrate 1212. Waveguide 1242 represents a waveguide of a connector for interfacing with μLEDs 1222. In one example, waveguide 1242 includes a prism, represented by surface 1232. Surface 1232 can guide light from μLEDs 1222 to propagate through waveguide 1242.

[0128] System 1204 shows substrate 1214 with μLEDs 1224, which represent an array of micro-optical devices on substrate 1214. Waveguide 1244 represents a waveguide of a connector for interfacing with μLEDs 1224. In one example, waveguide 1244 includes a prism represented by surface 1234. Surface 1234 can guide light from μLEDs 1224 to propagate through waveguide 1244. In one example, waveguide 1244 includes one or more lenses 1254 to collimate and guide light through waveguide 1244. In one example, system 1204 includes lens 1252 as part of the connector or as a component located between the connector and μLEDs 1224.

[0129] System 1206 shows a substrate 1216 with μLEDs 1226, which represent an array of micro-optical devices in substrate 1216. Waveguide 1246 represents a connector waveguide that interfaces with μLEDs 1226. In one example, waveguide 1246 includes a prism, which is represented by surface 1236. In one example, surface 1236 may include lens 1262 for directing and collimating light from μLEDs 1226 for propagation through waveguide 1246.

[0130] System 1208 shows a substrate 1218 with μLEDs 1228, which represent an array of micro-optical devices on the substrate 1218. Waveguide 1248 represents a waveguide of a connector for interfacing with μLEDs 1228. In one example, waveguide 1248 includes a prism represented by surface 1238. Surface 1238 can guide light from μLEDs 1228 to propagate through waveguide 1248. In one example, waveguide 1248 represents a first waveguide that guides light from μLEDs 1228 to a fiber core 1270.

[0131] 13A-13B are block diagrams of examples of bidirectional μLED circuits. In one example, a fiber bundle for transmitting light between TX and RX sites of an array of micro-optical devices includes links trained to automatically discover topological connectivity between the two endpoints. In one example, the system includes a bidirectional device that can operate as either a transmitter or receiver of optical signals, allowing real-time dynamic adjustment of the device's operation to ensure that a transmitter is paired with a receiver for each fiber core. The bidirectional device can have a light emission operation to convert EIO to OIO for transmission, and a light detection operation to detect and convert OIO to EIO. A unified bidirectional emitter / detector device can overcome alignment issues for cable manufacturing and assembly.

[0132] 13A shows an example circuit representation of a bidirectional μLED circuit in which any light emitting diode is also a light detecting diode. Circuit 1302 includes a diode 1310 that can either emit light (light signal 1314) or detect light (light signal 1312). In one example, circuit 1302 includes a switch to control the mode of the circuit, since the device can be an emitter or a receiver, but only one at a time.

[0133] For reception, switches 1334 and 1336 remain open while switches 1324 and 1326 remain closed. Closing switches 1324 and 1326 connects diode 1310 to RX circuitry 1320. In response to receiving optical signal 1312, diode 1310 generates a current. RX circuitry 1320 may amplify and process the current to generate and provide RX data 1322 to a processing element. RX circuitry 1320 may generate a digital signal from the received current.

[0134] For transmission, switches 1324 and 1326 remain open while switches 1334 and 1336 remain closed. Closing switches 1334 and 1336 connects diode 1310 to TX circuitry 1330. TX circuitry 1330 receives digital TX data 1332 and drives an LED, diode 1310, in response to the TX data. Diode 1310 generates an optical signal 1314 in the form of light that is emitted from circuit 1302.

[0135] The μLEDs can generate a light signal based on an input signal with very low current, so standard CMOS logic can drive the transmitter function using a simple voltage amplifier or charge pump. The TX circuitry 1330 can include a voltage amplifier, charge pump, or other circuitry to drive the diode 1310. The output of the diode 1310 can be in the microampere (μA) range.

[0136] The input operation in response to the optical signal 1312 typically results in a diode current in the nanoampere (nA) range. Given that the RX circuit 1320 must detect very small currents, the low current makes the receive path of the RX circuit 1320 more complex than the transmit path of the TX circuit 1330. The RX circuit 1320 detects, amplifies, and performs noise compensation on the current to generate RX data 1322 from the optical signal 1312.

[0137] 13B shows an example circuit representation of a bidirectional μLED circuit with two separate devices to allow each microdevice to have both transmit and receive capabilities. The very small size of the μLED devices means that it may be simpler and more economical to use multiple devices in a "compound element" arrangement to allow bidirectional functionality.

[0138] Circuit 1304 includes a receiving unit having diode 1340 and RX circuitry 1350, and a transmitting unit having diode 1360 and TX circuitry 1370. Diode 1340 and diode 1360 are individually controllable to ensure that only one is operational at a time.

[0139] For reception, diode 1340 receives optical signal 1342 and generates a current that RX circuit 1350 uses to generate RX data 1352. The components of RX circuit 1350 may be similar to the components of RX circuit 1320 of circuit 1302, but diode 1340 may be designed in such a way that it generates a larger current than diode 1310 in receive mode.

[0140] For transmission, TX circuitry 1370 receives digital TX data 1372 and drives LED 1360 in response to the TX data. Diode 1360 generates an optical signal 1362 in the form of light that is emitted from circuit 1304.

[0141] Bidirectional elements contrast with typical VCSEL and μLED implementations, which are TX-only devices that require a PD site with associated TIA (transimpedance amplifier) ​​and noise suppression circuitry, increasing the circuit footprint. Repurposing the μLED device as a photodetector diode may simplify the design and enhance reliability features in the design.

[0142] In either circuit 1302 or circuit 1304, the bidirectional μLED element (whether dual mode LED or combined device) allows any μLED site to be driven individually in either emitter or detector mode, but not both simultaneously. The ability to switch modes may allow the restoration of any fiber connection pattern in the waveguide bundle to be detected, corrected, and restored between the two endpoints.

[0143] In one example, the pixel concept described above with multiple μLED elements used in combination to form a pixel, either composite elements or multiple elements with different modes, can be implemented using multiple bidirectional μLED elements. In examples where multiple μLED sites or μLED elements are used in combination for a pixel, restoration of the fiber connection pattern may require a full pixel-by-pixel shifter configuration, allowing any output from one side to map to any fiber and input on the other end.

[0144] In one example, the optical communication system implements a pixel-by-pixel transmission pattern at one end and a training phase initiating a whole-pixel detection mode at the other end to find a unique mapping. Transmission can be repeated from the other direction to ensure accurate waveguide mapping. If each pixel "cell" is composed of multiple μLED bidirectional elements, further fault tolerance can be managed by controlling μLED activation per individual cell for redundancy.

[0145] While a "full shifter" pixel crossbar allows arbitrary remapping of I / O lines between endpoints, the time and power involved in training thousands of pixel lines may reduce practicality of implementation. Dividing the pixel array into "sectors" and requiring multiple waveguide fiber bundles to be packaged in "sectors" that are significantly smaller in diameter than the endpoint silicon sector size may simplify this shifter complexity and improve practicality of implementation. The ability to configure optical I / O mapping after connector mating significantly simplifies manufacturing complexity, allowing greater precision to be applied for placement of fiber sub-strands, while larger bundles of sub-strands may be placed with less precision or randomly.

[0146] The ability to remap I / O may also allow for the shifting of communication paths between two endpoints in arbitrary increments from bidirectional at half the total bandwidth per direction to on-demand reconfiguration of any amount of the total allocated bandwidth in either direction. The ability to allocate bandwidth increases architectural choice, flexibility in system design, and the ability to dynamically address failures for resilient communications.

[0147] FIG. 14A illustrates a system 1402 representing a fiber bundle for a micro-optical communication system, according to any example herein. The fiber bundle 1410 includes multiple fibers 1412, each of which has a fiber core 1414 covered in a cladding 1416. The system 1402 illustrates only the fibers 1412 on the outer edge of the fiber bundle 1410. The gray area also includes fibers filled inside, which are not specifically illustrated here. The fiber bundle 1410 can transmit optical signals between a transmitting site and a receiving site. In one example, the system 1402 includes a key 1420 representing an alignment key. When the key is aligned, the alignment of the fibers 1412 is theoretically possible.

[0148] When operating with small fiber counts (2-16 fibers) as in traditional photonics, physical alignment keys and perfect fiber alignment have a reasonable expectation of success. When the scale of fiber channels in multicore strands reaches numbers in O(100) to O(100,000) fibers, alignment keys may not be effective in maintaining alignment of all fibers in the bundle. For fiber lengths on the microscale of fiber diameters, the amount of control required in the manufacture and assembly of many-core fiber bundles to achieve properly aligned fibers is prohibitive, resulting in increased costs for properly aligned waveguide materials.

[0149] In one example, the system has no physical alignment keys for physical alignment and tolerance. Eliminating the physical alignment keys runs the risk that the alignment of the fiber array may "rotate" at either end, resulting in no mirror image fiber placement in the bundle and connector. When the cable covers both the transmit and receive sites at each end, the rotation may traditionally be enough that the "transmit" of one end is placed on top of the "transmit" of another end, resulting in a broken link.

[0150] 14B illustrates a system 1404 representing a fiber bundle for a micro optical communication system according to any example herein. The fiber bundle 1430 includes multiple fibers 1432, each having a fiber core 1434 covered in a cladding 1436. The system 1404 illustrates only the fibers 1432 on the outer edge of the fiber bundle 1430. The gray area also includes fibers filled inside, which are not specifically illustrated here. The fiber bundle 1430 can transmit optical signals between transmitting and receiving sites.

[0151] In one example, system 1404 does not have an alignment key. System 1404 shows rotation 1452, which is a free rotation of a positive angular displacement of Φ1 degrees, and rotation 1462, which is a free rotation of a negative angular displacement of Φ2 degrees. More specifically, system 1404 shows fiber 1440 with a darker circle. The solid line through fiber 1440 is a reference for the angular rotation.

[0152] Consider a first example where fiber 1440 represents a starting position in fiber bundle 1430 at one end of a cable. Position 1450 represents an ending relative position of fiber 1440 in fiber bundle 1430 at the other end of the cable. Over the length of the cable, fiber 1440 rotates by Φ1 degrees to position 1450. Consider a second example where position 1460 represents an ending relative position of fiber 1440 in fiber bundle 1430 at the other end of the cable. Over the length of the cable, fiber 1440 rotates by Φ2 degrees to position 1460. Positions 1450 and 1460 represent simple rotations of fiber 1432 relative to the cable in fiber bundle 1430.

[0153] Consider a third example where position 1470 represents the relative location of the end of fibers 1440 in fiber bundle 1430 at the other end of the cable. Such an example not only illustrates the rotation of the bundle within the cable from one end to another, but also illustrates the possible rotation and relative random placement of fibers 1440 in fiber bundle 1430.

[0154] Although there is no physical alignment key, a cable with fiber bundles can still provide precise placement of the fibers at each end to create an optical link. Typically, the fibers on one connector are aligned in a "raster scan" fashion of cores 1-N, and an exact identical pattern (inverse) is present on the connector at the other end of the waveguide. In the example system 1404, various types of free rotation errors are shown (positive angular displacement, negative angular displacement, and random displacement). In one example, an optical communication system can tolerate free rotation by compensating for the rotation or displacement through the use of bidirectional or multipolar elements at each optical device site.

[0155] The application of self-training with bidirectional devices allows for arbitrary mapping of fibers and devices, so that system 1404 can create the proper optical link even if the relative position of fiber 1440 changes to position 1450, position 1460, position 1470, or some other position over the length of the cable. Self-training can detect what optical devices are aligned with fiber 1440 at each end and configure TX and RX operation according to the detected mapping.

[0156] 15A is a block diagram of an example of a μLED repeater. System 1502 represents an optical communication system according to any example herein. Fiber bundle 1542 represents a fiber bundle that connects to a first micro-optical array. Fiber bundle 1552 represents a fiber bundle that connects to a second micro-optical array. The use of micro-optical arrays may prevent full reach of signals between corresponding TX and RX sites.

[0157] System 1502 includes connector (CONN) 1512, which represents a connector or interface to fiber bundle 1542 and fiber bundle 1552. Connector 1512 represents a connector layer of a repeater or retimer / amplifier module. In one example, the module includes an array of μLEDs, represented by μLEDs 1522. In one example, the module includes EIC 1532 as an electrical control layer to receive optical signals of fiber bundle 1542, convert them to EIO, convert them back to OIO, and transmit them on fiber bundle 1552. EIC 1532 allows for powered detection and retransmission of data. Retransmission of data may include amplification and retiming of the data signal. The same pattern may occur for signals from fiber bundle 1552 to fiber bundle 1542.

[0158] Current μLED technology appears capable of delivering an optical link of about 3 dBm to the medium, providing a link budget reach of less than the 10 m of standard waveguide. By adding multiple connectors (e.g. 2-4) to the path, the link budget reach can be reduced to less than 3 m. Thus, the reach is sufficient for wide and rack-level data communications. Repetition of the optical signal may extend the application of micro-optics based communications beyond rack-scale solutions.

[0159] In one example, instead of converting signals from OIO to OIO for passing between fiber bundles at each end, the system 1502 may enable conversion of signals from OIO to EIO for transmission between electrical and optical domains. For example, the system may convert between optical signals and electrical Ethernet packets.

[0160] 15B is a block diagram of an example of a μLED to laser repeater or optical bridge. System 1504 represents an optical communication system according to any example herein. Fiber bundle 1544 represents a fiber bundle that connects to a micro-optical array. Fiber bundle 1552 represents a fiber bundle that connects to a laser transmitter / receiver device. System 1504 thus converts between micro-optical communication and laser communication.

[0161] System 1504 includes connector (CONN) 1514, which represents a connector or interface to fiber bundle 1544. Connector 1514 represents a connector layer of a repeater module. In one example, the module includes an array of μLEDs, represented by μLED 1524. In one example, the module includes EIC 1534 as an electrical control layer to receive the optical signals of fiber bundle 1544, convert them to EIO, and pass it to PIC (photonics integrated circuit) 1562. PIC 1562 is coupled to connector (CONN) 1564, which represents a connector or interface to fiber 1554. Fiber 1554 can be a fiber bundle or some other fiber compatible with laser communication use.

[0162] For transmission of the laser signal to micro-optical communication, the system 1504 receives the laser signal over the fiber 1554 at the connector 1564. The PIC 1562 converts the signal to an electrical signal, and the EIC 1534 drives the μLED 1524 based on the signal to provide the micro-optical OIO, which is then transmitted through the connector 1514 to the fiber bundle 1544.

[0163] In one example, the system may employ system 1502 for inter-rack and inter-component communication. At the top of the rack (or at the bottom of the rack), system 1504 may be employed to convert the micro-optical OIO into laser or electrical signals to communicate with another component. System 1504 allows for conversion between different communication formats.

[0164] 16 is a block diagram of an example of a μLED connector with electrical contacts. The connector 1600 may be applied to either system 1502 or system 1504. Whether the module is a repeater / retimer for micro-optical communication or a bridge for a different communication format, the module deployed to amplify the signal does not know a priori the exact number of I / O "pins" being transmitted, the total payload size, or which optical fibers are aligned to which μLED devices. The application of self-training for automatic detection of signal configurations as described above may be applied in the context of repeaters and communication bridges.

[0165] To detect when the module should begin the training phase, the connector 1600 may include pins 1612 and 1614 that represent electrical signals that are added to the waveguide bundle to trigger training. As such, the connector 1600 includes a housing 1620 for housing a plurality of fiber bundles 1630, each corresponding to an array of micro-optical devices represented by array 1632. The pins 1612 and 1614 are contained within the housing 1620.

[0166] In one example, the electrical pins are symmetrically isolated areas to allow any connection direction. In one example, the electrical connection of pins 1612 and 1614 can be moved from the block connector (i.e., in the housing 1620) to the actual waveguide bundle (i.e., in the fiber bundle 1630). An electrical signal can trigger a connection link training sequence. Thus, the connector 1600 can allow for the application of self-training, allowing for arbitrary alignment of an unknown number of "data pins" in multiple waveguide bundled cables and channels. Repeater and bridge modules can perform discovery of which fibers carry the IO channel equivalent to data bit 0, which carry data bit 1, etc.

[0167] 17 is a flow diagram of an example process for optical communication transmission using a micro-optics array. Process 1700 represents a process for optical communication transmission from an array of micro-optical devices.

[0168] An electrical control circuit controlling the optical circuit receives an electrical signal to transmit at 1702. In one example, the control circuit splits the electrical signal into parallel portions at 1704 and transmits different portions of the signal on different optical links.

[0169] The control circuitry may trigger an integrated micro-optical device to convert the electrical signals to optical communication signals at 1706. The micro-optical device transmits parallel optical signals on multiple waveguides at 1708. The system may optionally include repeaters or bridges at 1710 to repeat the optical signals or to convert the optical signals to laser or electrical signals.

[0170] 18 is a flow diagram of an example process for receiving optical communications using a micro-optics array. Process 1800 represents a process for receiving optical communications using an array of micro-optical devices.

[0171] The connector receives optical signals on multiple waveguides at 1802. Control circuitry that controls the operation of the micro-optical device may trigger the on-board micro-optical device to receive the optical signals for detection at 1804. The control circuitry may trigger the micro-optical device to convert the parallel optical signals into electrical communication signals at 1806. The micro-optical device transmits the electrical signals for processing at 1808.

[0172] 19 is a block diagram of an example computing system in which micro-optical system communications can be implemented. System 1900 represents a computing device according to any example herein and may be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a server, a rack-based computing device, a gaming or entertainment control system, an embedded computing device, or other electronic device.

[0173] In one example, system 1900 includes components for a micro optical communication system according to any example herein. uLED array 1990 represents a micro LED array or other micro optical array integrated into a component substrate, such as a communication component of I / O interface 1960 or network interface 1950. uLED array 1990 may alternatively be implemented in a communication component of peripheral interface 1970. uLED array 1990 enables optical communication according to any example herein.

[0174] System 1900 includes a processor 1910, which may include any type of microprocessor, central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), processing core, or other processing hardware, or combination thereof, to provide processing or execution of instructions for system 1900. Processor 1910 may be a host processor device. Processor 1910 controls the overall operation of system 1900 and may be or include one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or combinations of such devices.

[0175] System 1900 includes boot / configuration 1916, which represents storage for storing boot code (e.g., basic input / output system (BIOS), configuration settings, security hardware (e.g., trusted platform module (TPM)), or other system level hardware that operates outside of the host OS. Boot / configuration 1916 may include a non-volatile storage device, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, or other memory device.

[0176] In one example, the system 1900 includes an interface 1912 coupled to the processor 1910. The interface 1912 may represent a higher speed or high throughput interface for a system component that requires a higher bandwidth connection, such as a memory subsystem 1920 or a graphics interface component 1940. The interface 1912 represents an interface circuit that may be a standalone component or integrated on a processor die. The interface 1912 may be integrated as a circuit on the processor die or integrated as a component on a system-on-chip. If present, the graphics interface 1940 interfaces to a graphics component for providing a visual display to a user of the system 1900. The graphics interface 1940 may be a standalone component or integrated into the processor die or system-on-chip. In one example, the graphics interface 1940 may drive a high definition (HD) display or an ultra high definition (UHD) display that provides an output to a user. In one example, the display may include a touch screen display. In one example, the graphics interface 1940 generates a display based on data stored in memory 1930, or based on operations performed by the processor 1910, or both.

[0177] The memory subsystem 1920 represents the main memory of the system 1900 and stores code executed by the processor 1910 or data values ​​used in executing routines. The memory subsystem 1920 may include one or more types of random access memory (RAM), such as DRAM, 3DXP (three-dimensional crosspoint), or other memory devices, or a combination of such devices. The memory 1930 stores and hosts, among other things, an operating system (OS) 1932 for providing a software platform for the execution of instructions within the system 1900. In addition, applications 1934 may be executed on the software platform of the OS 1932 from the memory 1930. The applications 1934 represent programs. The programs have their own operating logic for the execution of one or more functions. The processes 1936 represent agents or routines that provide auxiliary functions to the OS 1932 or one or more applications 1934, or a combination thereof. The OS 1932, the applications 1934, and the processes 1936 provide the software logic for providing the functionality for the system 1900. In one example, memory subsystem 1920 includes memory controller 1922, which is a memory controller that generates and issues commands to memory 1930. It is understood that memory controller 1922 may be a physical part of processor 1910 or a physical part of interface 1912. For example, memory controller 1922 may be an integrated memory controller that is integrated on a circuit with processor 1910, such as on a processor die or a system on a chip.

[0178] Although not specifically shown, it is understood that the system 1900 may include one or more buses or bus systems between devices, such as a memory bus, a graphics bus, an interface bus, or other. A bus or other signal lines may communicatively or electrically couple components to each other or communicatively and electrically couple components. A bus may include physical communication lines, point-to-point connections, bridges, adapters, controllers, or other circuits, or combinations. A bus may include, for example, one or more of a system bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a HyperTransport or Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other bus, or combinations.

[0179] In one example, the system 1900 includes an interface 1914 that may be coupled to the interface 1912. The interface 1914 may be a slower interface than the interface 1912. In one example, the interface 1914 represents an interface circuit that may include stand-alone components and integrated circuits. In one example, multiple user interface components or peripheral components or both are coupled to the interface 1914. The network interface 1950 provides the system 1900 with the ability to communicate with remote devices (e.g., servers or other computing devices) over one or more networks. The network interface 1950 may include an Ethernet adapter, a wireless interconnect component, a cellular network interconnect component, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other wired or wireless standards-based interface or a proprietary interface. The network interface 1950 may exchange data with remote devices. Such exchange may include transmitting data stored in memory or receiving data stored in memory.

[0180] In one example, system 1900 includes one or more input / output (I / O) interfaces 1960. I / O interface 1960 may include one or more interface components through which a user interacts with system 1900 (e.g., voice, alphanumeric, haptic / touch, or other interface modalities). Peripheral interface 1970 may include any hardware interface not specifically mentioned above. Peripherals generally refer to devices that connect dependently to system 1900. A dependent connection is one in which system 1900 provides a software or hardware platform, or both, on which operations execute and with which a user interacts.

[0181] In one example, the system 1900 includes a storage subsystem 1980 for storing data in a non-volatile manner. In one example, in a particular system implementation, at least certain components of the storage 1980 may overlap with components of the memory subsystem 1920. The storage subsystem 1980 includes a storage device 1984, which may be or include any conventional medium, such as one or more magnetic, solid state, NAND, 3DXP, or optical-based disks, or combinations thereof, for storing large amounts of data in a non-volatile manner. The storage 1984 holds code or instructions and data 1986 in a persistent state (i.e., the value is retained even if power to the system 1900 is interrupted). While the storage 1984 may be generally considered to be a "memory," the memory 1930 is typically an execution or operating memory that provides instructions to the processor 1910. While the storage 1984 is non-volatile, the memory 1930 may include a volatile memory (i.e., the value or state of the data is indeterminate if power to the system 1900 is interrupted). In one example, storage subsystem 1980 includes a controller 1982 to interface with storage 1984. In one example, controller 1982 may be a physical part of interface 1914 or processor 1910, or may include circuitry or logic in both processor 1910 and interface 1914.

[0182] The power source 1902 provides power to the components of the system 1900. More specifically, the power source 1902 typically interfaces with one or more power supplies 1904 of the system 1900 to provide power to the components of the system 1900. In one example, the power supply 1904 includes an AC-DC (alternating current to direct current) adapter for plugging into a wall outlet. Such AC power can be a renewable energy (e.g., solar power) power source 1902. In one example, the power source 1902 includes a DC power source, such as an external AC-DC converter. In one example, the power source 1902 or the power supply 1904 includes wireless charging hardware for charging in proximity to a charging field. In one example, the power source 1902 can include an internal battery or fuel cell power source.

[0183] 20 is a block diagram of an example of a multi-node network in which micro-optical system communications can be implemented. System 2000 represents a network of nodes. In one example, system 2000 represents a data center. In one example, system 2000 represents a server farm. In one example, system 2000 represents a data cloud or a processing cloud.

[0184] Node 2030 represents a computing device of blade 2020[0] in system 2000. In one example, blade 2020[0] includes micro-optical communication capabilities according to any example herein. Optical communications (COMM) 2090 represents components for micro-optical communication, such as a micro-LED array or other micro-optical array integrated on a component substrate, and multiple waveguides for transmitting optical signals between the TX and RX sites.

[0185] One or more clients 2002 make requests to the system 2000 through a network 2004. The network 2004 represents one or more local or wide area networks or a combination. The clients 2002 may be human or machine clients that generate requests for the performance of operations by the system 2000. The system 2000 executes application or data computing tasks requested by the clients 2002.

[0186] In one example, the system 2000 includes one or more racks that represent structural and interconnect resources for housing and interconnecting multiple compute nodes. In one example, the rack 2010 includes multiple nodes 2030. In one example, the rack 2010 hosts multiple blade components 2020. Hosting refers to providing power, structural or mechanical support, and interconnect. The blades 2020 may refer to compute resources on a printed circuit board (PCB), where the PCB houses hardware components for one or more nodes 2030. In one example, the blades 2020 do not include a chassis or housing or other "box" other than that provided by the rack 2010. In one example, the blades 2020 include a housing with connectors exposed for connecting into the rack 2010. In one example, the system 2000 does not include a rack 2010, and each blade 2020 includes a chassis or housing that may be stacked or otherwise positioned near the other blades and enable interconnection of the nodes 2030.

[0187] The system 2000 includes a fabric 2070 that represents one or more interconnects of the nodes 2030. In one example, the fabric 2070 includes multiple switches 2072 or routers or other hardware for routing signals between the nodes 2030. The fabric 2070 may further couple the system 2000 to a network 2004 for access by the clients 2002. In addition to routing devices, the fabric 2070 may be considered to include cables or ports or other hardware devices for coupling the nodes 2030 together. In one example, the fabric 2070 has one or more associated protocols for managing the routing of signals through the system 2000. In one example, the one or more protocols depend, at least in part, on the hardware devices used in the system 2000.

[0188] As shown, rack 2010 includes N blades 2020. In one example, in addition to rack 2010, system 2000 includes rack 2050. As shown, rack 2050 includes M blades 2060. M is not necessarily the same as N; as such, it is understood that a variety of different hardware device components may be used and coupled together in system 2000 through fabric 2070. Blades 2060 may be the same as or similar to blades 2020. Nodes 2030 may be any type of node, not necessarily the exact same type of node. System 2000 is not limited to being homogenous or non-homogeneous.

[0189] For simplicity, only the nodes in blade 2020[0] are shown in detail. However, other nodes in system 2000 may be the same or similar. At least some of the nodes 2030 are compute nodes having a processor (proc) 2032 and memory 2040. A compute node refers to a node having processing resources (e.g., one or more processors) that run an operating system and may receive and process one or more tasks. In one example, at least some of the nodes 2030 are server nodes having a server as a processing resource represented by the processor 2032 and memory 2040. A storage server refers to a node having more storage resources than a compute node, and rather than having a processor for execution of tasks, a storage server includes processing resources for managing access to storage nodes within the storage server.

[0190] In one example, the node 2030 includes an interface controller 2034 that represents logic that controls access to the fabric 2070 by the node 2030. The logic may include hardware resources to interconnect to physical interconnect hardware. The logic may include software or firmware logic to manage the interconnect. In one example, the interface controller 2034 is or includes a host fabric interface, which may be a fabric interface according to any example described herein.

[0191] Processor 2032 may include one or more separate processors. Each separate processor may include a single processing unit, a multi-core processing unit, or a combination thereof. A processing unit may be a primary processor, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a peripheral processor, such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a combination thereof. Memory 2040 may be or include a memory device, represented by memory 2040, and a memory controller, represented by controller 2042.

[0192] FIG. 21 is a block diagram of an example of a network interface device. Various hardware and software resources in the network interface may be configured to perform optical communications using an array of optical devices to interface with a connector having multiple waveguides as described herein. The system 2100 includes a network interface 2110, which may be a standalone device or chip, or may be a circuit integrated into a processor or control board. In some examples, the network interface 2110 may be implemented as a network interface controller, a network interface card, a host fabric interface (HFI), or a host bus adapter (HBA), and such examples may be interchangeable. The network interface 2110 may be coupled to one or more servers using a bus, PCIe, CXL, or DDR. The network interface 2110 may be embodied as part of a system-on-chip (SoC) that includes one or more processors, or may be included on a multi-chip package that also includes one or more processors.

[0193] Some examples of network interface 2110 are part of or utilized by an infrastructure processing unit (IPU) or data processing unit (DPU). An xPU may refer to at least an IPU, DPU, GPU, GPGPU (general purpose graphics processing unit), or other processing unit (e.g., accelerator device). An IPU or DPU may include a network interface with one or more programmable pipelines or fixed function processors to perform offloading of operations that may be performed by a CPU. An IPU or DPU may include one or more memory devices. In some examples, an IPU or DPU may perform virtual switch operations, manage storage transactions (e.g., compression, encryption, virtualization), and manage operations performed on other IPUs, DPUs, servers, or devices.

[0194] The network interface 2110 may include a transceiver 2120, a processor 2134, a transmit queue 2164, a receive queue 2162, a memory 2144, a bus interface 2112, and a DMA (Direct Memory Access) engine 2160. The transceiver 2120 may be capable of receiving and transmitting packets according to an applicable protocol, such as Ethernet as described in IEEE 802.3, although other protocols may be used. The transceiver 2120 may receive and transmit packets to and from a network (not shown) over a network medium via a port 2122. The port 2122 may interface with a connector that transmits network signals over the network medium. The transceiver 2120 may include a physical layer circuit (PHY) 2124 and a media access control circuit (MAC) 2126. The PHY 2124 may include encoding and decoding circuitry (not shown) for encoding and decoding data packets according to an applicable physical layer specification or standard. MAC 2126 may be configured to process the MAC headers of received packets by performing MAC address filtering and verifying data integrity on the received packets, remove preambles and padding, and provide packet contents for processing by higher layers. MAC 2126 may be configured to assemble data into packets to be transmitted.

[0195] The processor 2134 may be any combination of processors, processing cores, graphics processing units (GPUs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) 2132, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or other programmable hardware devices that enable programming of the network interface 2110. For example, a "smart network interface" or SmartNIC may use the processor 2134 to provide packet processing capabilities in the network interface.

[0196] The processor 2134 may include a programmable processing pipeline that is programmable by P4, C, Python, Broadcom Network Programming Language (NPL), NVIDIA® CUDA®, NVIDIA® DOCA®, or x86 compatible binary executables or other executable binaries. The programmable processing pipeline may include one or more match action units (MAUs) that may schedule packets for transmission. Processors, FPGAs, other dedicated processors, controllers, devices, or other circuits, or combinations thereof, may be used for packet processing or packet modification. Ternary content addressable memories (TCAMs) may be used for parallel match action or lookup operations on the contents of packet headers.

[0197] The packet allocator 2152 may use receive side scaling (RSS) to provide distribution of received packets for processing by multiple CPUs or cores. When the packet allocator 2152 uses RSS, the packet allocator 2152 may calculate a hash or make another decision based on the contents of the received packet to determine which CPU or core will process the packet.

[0198] Interrupt coalesce 2170 may perform interrupt moderation, whereby network interface interrupt coalesce 2170 waits for multiple packets to arrive or for a timeout to expire before generating an interrupt to the host to process the received packet. Interrupt 2104 represents an interrupt provided to the host. Receive segment coalesce (RSC) may be performed by network interface 2110, whereby portions of incoming packets are combined into packet segments. Network interface 2110 provides the fused packet to the application.

[0199] DMA engine 2160 may copy packet headers, packet payloads, and / or descriptors directly from host memory to the network interface, or vice versa, instead of copying the packet to an intermediate buffer in the host and then using a separate copy operation from the intermediate buffer to the target buffer. Descriptors and packets 2102 represent packets and descriptors provided to a host (e.g., host memory or host processor) for a network receive operation, or packets and descriptors from the host for use in a network send operation.

[0200] The memory 2144 may be any type of volatile or non-volatile memory device and may store any queues or instructions used to program the network interface 2110. The transmit queues 2164 may contain data or references to data for transmission by the transceiver 2120. The transmit traffic manager 2154 may manage the transmission of packets for transmission from the queues 2164 to the transceiver 2120. The receive queues 2162 may contain data or references to data received from the network by the transceiver 2120. The descriptor queues 2142 may contain descriptors that reference data or packets in the transmit queues 2164 or the receive queues 2162. The bus interface 2112 may provide an interface with a host (not shown). For example, the bus interface 2112 may be compatible with or based at least in part on PCI, PCI Express, PCI-x, Serial ATA, and / or USB (other interconnect standards may be used), or proprietary variations thereof.

[0201] In one example, the transceiver 2120 includes an optical array 2128 for performing optical signal transmission and reception as described herein. The optical array 2128 may include microscale optical devices for converting EIO to OIO for transmission and OIO to EIO for reception. As shown in the transceiver 2120, the optical array 2128 may be implemented as a circuit array in any chip within the network interface 2110.

[0202] 22 is a block diagram of an example of a system having a network interface device. The system 2200 includes an IPU (infrastructure processing unit) 2210 that provides processing and network interconnect. The IPU 2210 includes circuitry 2260, which may include a processor 2262 and one or more control circuits, such as circuitry for controlling network interconnect operations.

[0203] In system 2200, IPU 2210 manages the performance of one or more processes using one or more of processor 2262, processor 2220, accelerator 2230, memory 2240, or server 2250[0:N-1], collectively servers 2250, where N is one or more integers. Memory 2240 may represent a memory pool having one or more memory devices that may be shared among one or more components of system 2200. In some examples, processor 2262 may execute one or more processes, applications, VMs (virtual machines), containers, microservices, etc. that require execution of a workload by one or more of processor 2220, accelerator 2230, memory 2240, or server 2250, or a combination thereof.

[0204] The IPU 2210 may communicate with the processor 2220, the accelerator 2230, the memory 2240, and / or the server 2250 using a network interface 2212 or one or more device interfaces. The IPU 2210 may process packets sent from or received from the network interface 2212 using a programmable pipeline 2214. The network interface 2212 may provide optical communication (COMM) 2272 with a number of optical waveguides and interconnect with an array of optical devices described herein. In one example, a substrate of a chip of the network interface 2212 or a substrate of a chip of a circuit 2260, such as one or more processors 2262, may include an array of optical devices. In one example, the optical array 2274 represents an array of optical devices in the circuit 2260, which may provide optical communication directly from a chip in the IPU 2210.

[0205] In a first example, an apparatus includes: a substrate having an array of microscale light sources integrated into the substrate; and a controller for driving the array of microscale light sources with electrical communication signals; where the microscale light sources convert the electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission over a plurality of optical waveguides.

[0206] In a second example according to the first example of the device, the light source comprises a micro LED (light emitting diode).

[0207] In a third example according to any of the previous examples of the device, the micro LED comprises a nanowire LED.

[0208] In a fourth example according to any of the previous examples of the device, each micro LED includes an array of individually controllable nanowires.

[0209] In a fifth example according to any of the preceding examples of the apparatus, the microscale light source is located on the substrate at an area of ​​about 10 square microns (10 μm 2 ) optical devices each having a smaller footprint.

[0210] In a sixth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the light source includes a microscale vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

[0211] In a seventh example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the light source includes a bi-directional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

[0212] In an eighth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the plurality of optical waveguides comprises optical fiber bundles.

[0213] In a ninth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the fiber optic bundle includes a plurality of fiber cores for receiving the optical signals for each of the optical sources.

[0214] In a tenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the fiber optic bundle includes a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

[0215] In an eleventh example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the optical fiber bundle includes fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0216] In a twelfth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the microscale light source includes a transmitting light source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals over a plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals, and further includes a connector for accommodating an optical fiber bundle for transmitting optical signals between the transmitting light source and the corresponding receiving optical device.

[0217] In a thirteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the connector includes alignment keys for aligning fiber cores of the fiber optic bundle with the transmitting and receiving light sources.

[0218] In a fourteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the controller is for generating a control signal to implement optical signal training to adjust for alignment between fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle and the multiple light sources.

[0219] In a fifteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the connector is for connecting to an optical signal repeater for amplifying and retiming the optical signal.

[0220] In a sixteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the device, the light source includes a micro LED, and wherein the connector is for connection to an optical signal converter for converting the optical signal into a laser light optical signal.

[0221] In a seventeenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the apparatus includes an electrical signal line for triggering signal training of the optical signal to an optical signal repeater or optical signal converter.

[0222] In an eighteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the apparatus includes a connector interface for interfacing to a connector vertically from a surface of the substrate.

[0223] In a nineteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the apparatus, the apparatus includes a connector interface for interfacing to a connector horizontally from a surface of the substrate.

[0224] In a twentieth example, the system includes an integrated circuit chip having an array of microscale light sources integrated with a computer chip and a control circuit for driving the array of microscale light sources with an electrical communication signal to trigger the light sources to convert the electrical communication signal into an optical signal; and a connector for interfacing the light sources with a plurality of optical fibers of an optical fiber bundle.

[0225] In a twenty-first example according to the twentieth example, the light source includes a micro LED (light emitting diode).

[0226] In a twenty-second example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the micro LED includes a nanowire LED.

[0227] In a twenty-third example according to any of the previous examples of the system, each micro LED includes an array of individually controllable nanowires.

[0228] In a twenty-fourth example according to any of the preceding examples of the system, the microscale light source is located on the substrate at an area of ​​about 10 square microns (10 μm 2 ) optical devices each having a smaller footprint.

[0229] In a twenty-fifth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the light source includes a microscale vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

[0230] In a twenty-sixth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the light source includes a bi-directional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

[0231] In a twenty-seventh example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the fiber optic bundle includes a plurality of fiber cores for receiving the optical signals for each of the optical sources.

[0232] In a twenty-eighth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the fiber optic bundle includes a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

[0233] In a twenty-ninth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the fiber optic bundle includes fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0234] In a thirteenth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the microscale light source includes a transmitting light source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals over a plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals, where the connector is for accommodating an optical fiber bundle for transmitting optical signals between the transmitting light source and the corresponding receiving optical device.

[0235] In a thirty-first example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the connector includes alignment keys for aligning fiber cores of the fiber optic bundle with the transmitting light source and the receiving light source.

[0236] In a thirty-second example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the controller is for generating a control signal to implement optical signal training to adjust for alignment between fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle and the multiple light sources.

[0237] In a thirty-third example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the connector is for connecting to an optical signal repeater for amplifying and retiming the optical signal.

[0238] In a thirty-fourth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the light source includes a micro LED, and wherein the connector is for connection to an optical signal converter for converting the optical signal into a laser light optical signal.

[0239] In a thirty-fifth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the apparatus includes an electrical signal line for triggering signal training of the optical signal to the optical signal repeater or optical signal converter.

[0240] In a thirty-sixth example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the connector is for interfacing vertically from a surface of the substrate.

[0241] In a thirty-seventh example according to any of the previous examples of the system, the connector is for interfacing horizontally from a surface of the substrate to the connector.

[0242] In a thirty-eighth example, the system includes a fiber bundle including a plurality of optical fibers for connecting to a connector, the connector for interfacing with an array of microscale light sources integrated into a substrate, the array of microscale light sources for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals; and an optical signal repeater for amplifying and retiming the optical signals.

[0243] In a thirty-ninth example according to the thirty-eighth example, the light source includes a micro LED (light emitting diode).

[0244] In a 40th example according to any of the 38th to 39th examples, the micro LED includes a nanowire LED.

[0245] In a 41st example according to any of the 38th to 40th examples, each micro LED includes an array of individually controllable nanowires.

[0246] In a 42nd example according to any of the 38th to 41st examples, the microscale light source is about 10 square microns (10 μm 2 ) optical devices each having a smaller footprint.

[0247] In a 43rd example according to any of the 38th to 42nd examples, the light source includes a microscale vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

[0248] In a 44th example according to any of the 38th to 43rd examples, the light source includes a bidirectional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

[0249] In a forty-fifth example according to any of the thirty-eighth to forty-fourth examples, the optical fiber bundle includes a plurality of fiber cores for receiving optical signals for each optical source.

[0250] In a 46th example according to any of the 38th to 45th examples, the optical fiber bundle includes a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

[0251] In a 47th example according to any of the 38th to 46th examples, the optical fiber bundle includes fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0252] In a forty-eighth example according to any of the thirty-eighth to forty-seventh examples, the microscale light source includes a transmitting light source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals, and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on a plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals, and further includes a connector for accommodating an optical fiber bundle for transmitting optical signals between the transmitting light source and the corresponding receiving optical device.

[0253] In a forty-ninth example according to any of the thirty-eighth to forty-eighth examples, the connector includes alignment keys for aligning fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle with the transmitting light source and the receiving light source.

[0254] In a 50th example according to any of the 38th to 49th examples, the controller is for generating a control signal to implement optical signal training to adjust for alignment between fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle and the multiple light sources.

[0255] In a 51st example according to any of the 38th to 50th examples, the light source includes a micro LED, and wherein the connector is for connecting to an optical signal converter for converting an optical signal into a laser light optical signal.

[0256] In a fifty-second example according to any of the thirty-eighth to fifty-first examples, the system includes an electrical signal line for triggering signal training of the optical signal to an optical signal repeater or optical signal converter.

[0257] In a fifty-third example according to any of the thirty-eighth to fifty-second examples, the system includes a connector interface that interfaces with the connector vertically from a surface of the substrate.

[0258] In a fifty-fourth example according to any of the thirty-eighth to fifty-third examples, the system includes a connector interface that interfaces with the connector horizontally from a surface of the substrate.

[0259] In a fifty-fifth example, an apparatus comprises a substrate having an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated thereon; and a controller for driving the array of LEDs with electrical communication signals; wherein the LEDs are for converting the electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission over a plurality of optical waveguides.

[0260] In a fifty-sixth example according to the fifty-fifth example, the LED includes a nanowire LED.

[0261] In a 57th example according to any of the 55th to 56th examples, each LED includes an array of individually controllable nanowires.

[0262] In a fifty-eighth example according to any of the fifty-fifth to fifty-seventh examples, the LED is about 100 square microns (100 μm 2 ) optical devices each having a smaller footprint.

[0263] In a fifty-ninth example according to any of the fifty-fifth to fifty-eighth examples, the LED comprises a bi-directional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

[0264] In a sixtieth example according to any of the fifty-fifth to fifty-ninth examples, the plurality of optical waveguides includes optical fiber bundles.

[0265] In a 61st example according to any of the 55th to 60th examples, the optical fiber bundle includes a plurality of fiber cores for receiving optical signals for each optical source.

[0266] In a 62nd example according to any of the 55th to 61st examples, the optical fiber bundle includes a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

[0267] In a 63rd example according to any of the 55th to 62nd examples, the optical fiber bundle includes fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0268] In a 64th example according to any of the 55th to 63rd examples, the microscale light source includes a transmitting light source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals, and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on a plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals, and further includes a connector for accommodating an optical fiber bundle for transmitting optical signals between the transmitting light source and the corresponding receiving optical device.

[0269] In a sixty-fifth example according to any of the fifty-fifth to sixty-fourth examples, the connector includes alignment keys for aligning fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle with the transmitting light source and the receiving light source.

[0270] In a 66th example according to any of the 55th to 65th examples, the controller generates a control signal to implement optical signal training to adjust for alignment between fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle and multiple light sources.

[0271] In any of Example 67 according to Examples 55 to 66, the connector is for connecting to an optical signal repeater for amplifying and retiming the optical signal.

[0272] In a 68th example according to any of the 55th to 67th examples, the connector is for connection to an optical signal converter for converting an optical signal to a laser light optical signal.

[0273] In a 69th example according to any of the 55th to 68th examples, the apparatus includes an electrical signal line for triggering signal training of the optical signal to the optical signal repeater or optical signal converter.

[0274] In a seventieth example according to any of the fifty-fifth to sixty-ninth examples, the apparatus includes a connector interface for interfacing to a connector vertically from a surface of the substrate.

[0275] In a 71st example according to any of the 55th to 70th examples, the apparatus includes a connector interface for interfacing to a connector horizontally from a surface of the substrate.

[0276] In a seventy-second example, the system includes a connector for accommodating a plurality of optical waveguides; and a substrate having integrated thereon an array of at least 100 optical devices, the optical devices including a transmitting optical source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission on the plurality of optical waveguides, and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on the plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals.

[0277] In a 73rd example according to the 72nd example, the optical device includes a micro LED (light emitting diode).

[0278] In a 74th example according to any of the 72nd to 73rd examples, the optical device includes a nanowire LED.

[0279] In a 75th example according to any of the 72nd to 74th examples, the optical device includes a microscale vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

[0280] In a 76th example according to any of the 72nd to 75th examples, the optical device includes a bidirectional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

[0281] In a 77th example according to any of the 72nd to 76th examples, the optical waveguide includes an optical fiber bundle having a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

[0282] In a 78th example according to any of the 72nd to 77th examples, the optical waveguide includes an optical fiber bundle having fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0283] In a 79th example according to any of the 72nd to 78th examples, the connector is for connecting to an optical signal repeater for extending the reach of the optical signal.

[0284] The flow diagrams shown herein provide examples of sequences of various process actions. The flow diagrams may depict operations performed by software or firmware routines, as well as physical operations. The flow diagrams may depict an example of an implementation of states of a finite state machine (FSM), which may be implemented in hardware and / or software. Although shown in a particular sequence or order, unless otherwise noted, the order of actions may be modified. Thus, the diagrams shown should be understood as merely examples, and processes may be performed in different orders and some actions may be performed in parallel. Additionally, one or more operations may be omitted, and therefore not all implementations perform all operations.

[0285] To the extent that various operations or functions are described herein, they may be described or defined as software code, instructions, configurations, and / or data. The content may be directly executable (in "object" or "executable" format), source code, or differential code (in "delta" or "patch" code). The software content described herein may be provided via a product in which the content is stored, or via a method of operating a communication interface to transmit data via the communication interface. A machine-readable storage medium may cause a machine to perform the described functions or operations, and includes any mechanism for storing information in a form accessible by a machine (e.g., computing device, electronic system, etc.), such as recordable / non-recordable media (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, etc.). A communication interface may include any mechanism for interfacing with any of the hardwired, wireless, optical, etc. media for communicating with another device, such as a memory bus interface, a processor bus interface, an Internet connection, a disk controller, etc. The communications interface may be configured by providing configuration parameters to provide data signals describing the software content, and / or by sending signals to prepare the communications interface. The communications interface may be accessed via one or more commands or signals sent to the communications interface.

[0286] Various components described herein may be means for performing the operations or functions described. Each component described herein includes software, hardware, or a combination thereof. A component may be implemented as a software module, a hardware module, dedicated hardware (e.g., application specific hardware, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc.), an embedded controller, hardwired circuitry, etc.

[0287] Besides those described herein, various modifications can be made to the implementation of the disclosed invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the examples and embodiments herein should be construed in an illustrative, rather than a restrictive, sense. The scope of the invention should be evaluated solely by reference to the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A substrate having an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated thereon; and A controller for driving the array of LEDs with electrical communication signals. With wherein the LED is for converting the electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission over a plurality of optical waveguides. Device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the LEDs comprises an array of individually controllable nanowires.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the LED comprises a bi-directional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of optical waveguides comprises optical fiber bundles.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the fiber optic bundle includes a plurality of fiber cores for receiving optical signals for each optical source.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the fiber optic bundle includes a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the fiber optic bundle includes fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

8. the microscale light source including a transmitting light source for converting the electrical communication signals into optical signals, and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on the plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals; a connector for receiving the optical fiber bundle for transmitting the optical signal between the transmitting optical source and a corresponding receiving optical device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the connector includes alignment keys for aligning fiber cores of the fiber optic bundle with the transmitting and receiving light sources.

10. 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is for generating control signals to implement optical signal training that adjusts for alignment between fiber cores of the optical fiber bundle and a plurality of light sources.

11. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the connector is for connection to an optical signal converter for converting the optical signal to a laser light optical signal.

12. A connector interface for interfacing the connector vertically from a surface of the substrate. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

13. a connector interface for interfacing the connector horizontally from a surface of the substrate; 13. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

14. A connector for receiving a plurality of optical waveguides; and a substrate having an array of at least 100 optical devices integrated thereon, the optical devices including a transmitting optical source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission on the plurality of optical waveguides, and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on the plurality of optical waveguides and converting the input optical signals into input electrical communication signals; A system comprising:

15. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the light device comprises a micro LED (light emitting diode).

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the optical device comprises a nanowire LED.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the optical device comprises a microscale vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).

18. 18. The system of claim 14, wherein the optical device comprises a bi-directional device having a light emitting operation and a light detecting operation.

19. 19. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of optical waveguides comprises an optical fiber bundle having a fiber core for receiving optical signals from a plurality of optical sources.

20. 19. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of optical waveguides comprises an optical fiber bundle having fiber cores for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths.

21. a fiber bundle including a plurality of optical fibers for connecting to a connector for interfacing with an array of microscale light sources integrated into a substrate, the array of microscale light sources for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals; and an optical signal repeater for amplifying and retiming said optical signal; A system comprising:

22. A substrate having an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated thereon; and A controller for driving the array of LEDs with electrical communication signals. With wherein the LED is for converting the electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission over a plurality of optical waveguides. Device.

23. A connector for receiving a plurality of optical waveguides; and A substrate having integrated thereon an array of at least 100 optical devices, said optical devices comprising: a transmitting light source for converting electrical communication signals into optical signals for transmission over said plurality of optical waveguides; and a receiving optical device for receiving input optical signals on said plurality of optical waveguides and converting said input optical signals into input telecommunications signals; Including, A system comprising:

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