Chip for optical interconnection, module, and apparatus and system using optical interconnection module

Abstract

The present invention relates to a chip for optical interconnection, a module, and an apparatus and system using an optical interconnection module. The chip comprises photonic integrated circuit sub-modules. Each sub-module comprises: a plurality of first optical switching units, each of which is configured to selectively output, through any optical output port, an optical signal input by a first optical input port of the first optical switching unit; an on-chip optical switch, which is optically connected to the first optical switching units, and is configured to select an output port to output an optical signal input by any optical input port of the on-chip optical switch; a plurality of modulators, which are optically connected to the first optical switching units; a plurality of detectors, at least some of which are optically connected to the on-chip optical switch; a plurality of first optical couplers, which are configured to optically connect the first optical switching units to a first external optical fiber array; and a second optical coupler, which is optically connected to at least some detectors, and is configured to transmit to said detectors an optical signal which is from a second external optical fiber array.

Description

Chips, modules, devices, and systems using optical interconnect modules for optical interconnects.

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority and other benefits to Chinese Patent Application No. 2024106783564, filed May 28, 2024, entitled "Chip, Module, Apparatus and System Using Optical Interconnect Module", and Chinese Patent Application No. 2024108679160, filed June 29, 2024, entitled "Chip, Module, Apparatus and System Using Optical Interconnect Module", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This invention relates to the field of computer technology, and more specifically, to photonic integrated circuit chips, optical interconnect modules, optical interconnect expansion cards using optical interconnect modules, computing devices, and systems. Background Technology

[0004] According to OpenAI data, the computational load of artificial intelligence models is growing far faster than the computing power of computing hardware. As AI (Artificial Intelligence) accelerators continue to improve their computing power through process technology iterations and chip architecture innovations, the interconnect bandwidth between AI accelerators is also constantly increasing. AI accelerator interconnect networks have become crucial for enhancing overall computing power. The Open Compute Project (OCP) has launched the general-purpose OCP Accelerator Module (OAM), which has been adopted by leading GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) vendors. Currently, to enhance communication between computing modules, eight computing modules are fully interconnected point-to-point on a universal base board (UBB) via PCB (printed circuit board) traces. Due to the need for long PCB traces, computing modules generally require long-range (LR) SerDes interfaces similar to CEI. For full connectivity, each SerDes interface needs to access a specific single computing module, which further reduces the bandwidth between each pair of computing modules.

[0005] Furthermore, since the response of electrical channels attenuates with increasing signal rate, higher-speed interfaces often involve more complex architectures and circuit designs, introducing latency costs, consuming more power, and occupying a larger chip area, thus limiting chip I / O bandwidth. Additionally, longer metal wiring distances further deteriorate circuit loss characteristics, limiting the interconnect distance between AI accelerators. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This invention provides a photonic integrated circuit chip, an optical interconnect module, and an optical interconnect expansion card, computing device, and system using the optical interconnect module. Compared to electrical interconnects, the loss of optical channels remains constant across different frequencies and is very small, thus optical interconnects can support longer transmission distances. Furthermore, optical interconnect modules can achieve more uniform bandwidth within and between nodes, which is beneficial for the large-scale expansion of computing modules.

[0007] On one hand, embodiments of the present invention relate to a photonic integrated circuit chip, which includes one or more photonic integrated circuit sub-modules, each of the photonic integrated circuit sub-modules comprising:

[0008] A plurality of first optical switching units, each first optical switching unit including a first optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, and each first optical switching unit configured to selectively output an optical signal input to its first optical input port via its first optical output port or its second optical output port;

[0009] At least one on-chip optical switch having multiple optical input ports and multiple optical output ports, wherein the multiple optical input ports are optically connected to the second optical output ports of multiple first optical switching units respectively, and the on-chip optical switch is configured to selectively output an optical signal input from any one of its multiple optical input ports via at least one of its multiple optical output ports;

[0010] Multiple modulators are optically connected to the corresponding first optical input ports of the multiple first optical switching units and configured to modulate information carried by electrical signals into the optical signals;

[0011] Multiple detectors, at least a portion of which are optically connected to multiple optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch;

[0012] A plurality of first optical couplers configured to optically connect the first optical output ports of a plurality of first optical switching units to a first external fiber array; and

[0013] A second optical coupler, which is optically connected to at least a portion of the plurality of detectors, is configured to transmit optical signals from a second external fiber array to that portion of the detectors.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, each of the photonic integrated circuit submodules further includes multiple wavelength multiplexers and multiple demultiplexers;

[0015] The plurality of modulators are configured into a plurality of modulator arrays, and the plurality of detectors are configured into a plurality of detector arrays;

[0016] The modulator array is optically connected to the corresponding first optical switching unit through the wavelength multiplexer. Each wavelength multiplexer has multiple optical input ports and one optical output port. Each of the multiple optical input ports of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a modulator in the modulator array, and one optical output port of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a first optical input port of the first optical switching unit.

[0017] The detector array is optically connected to the corresponding optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler via the demultiplexer. Each demultiplexer has one optical input port and multiple optical output ports. One optical input port of the demultiplexer is connected to one optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler. Each of the multiple optical output ports of the demultiplexer is connected to one of the detectors in the detector array.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present invention, the number of detectors or detector arrays is twice that of modulators or modulator arrays, wherein a portion of the detectors or detector arrays is connected to the on-chip optical switch and another portion is connected to the second optical coupler.

[0019] In some embodiments of the present invention, at least a portion of the plurality of detectors is optically connected to a plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch, and another portion is optically connected to the second optical coupler. In other embodiments of the present invention, each of the photonic integrated circuit submodules further includes a third optical switching unit, through which the detectors or demultiplexers are optically connected to the on-chip optical switch and the second optical coupler, and the number of detectors or detector arrays is equal to the number of modulators or modulator arrays.

[0020] In some embodiments of the present invention, the third optical switching unit includes a first optical input port, a second optical input port, and an optical output port. The first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the second optical coupler, the second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to an optical output port of the on-chip optical switch, and the optical output port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the detector or the demultiplexer. By controlling the third optical switching unit, the first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit, or the second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit.

[0021] In some embodiments of the present invention, the third optical switching unit is respectively disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the on-chip optical switch, and disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the second optical coupler.

[0022] In some embodiments of the present invention, the third optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit.

[0023] In some embodiments of the present invention, the on-chip optical switch includes a plurality of second optical switching units;

[0024] The plurality of second optical switching units select the transmission path of the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch, so that the optical signal is output from at least one of the plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

[0025] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first optical switching unit and the second optical switching unit are different optical switching units.

[0026] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path conversion unit or an MZI optical path conversion unit; and / or

[0027] The second optical switching unit is an MZI optical path conversion unit.

[0028] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first optical switching unit is an MZI optical path switching unit, which includes:

[0029] The first beam splitter has one optical input port and two optical output ports;

[0030] The second beam splitter has two optical input ports and two optical output ports; and

[0031] Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

[0032] In some embodiments of the present invention, the second optical switching unit includes:

[0033] Two beam splitters, each beam splitter having two optical input ports and two optical output ports, the two beam splitters including a first beam splitter and a second beam splitter;

[0034] Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

[0035] In some embodiments of the present invention, the modulator includes at least one of the following: a micro-ring modulator, a Mach-Zehnder modulator, and an electroabsorption modulator;

[0036] And / or, the detector includes a microring detector or a photodiode.

[0037] In some embodiments of the present invention, each of the photonic integrated circuit sub-modules further includes:

[0038] A third optical coupler is configured to input light from an off-chip light source into the photonic integrated circuit submodule;

[0039] An optical power splitter, which is optically connected to the third optical coupler, is configured to split an input light into multiple output lights, each of which has substantially the same power, and the multiple output lights are transmitted to modulators.

[0040] On the other hand, embodiments of the present invention relate to an optical interconnect module, which includes the aforementioned photonic integrated circuit chip and transceiver analog electrical chip;

[0041] The transceiver analog electrical chip is configured to convert a received first digital electrical signal into a driving analog electrical signal and transmit the driving analog electrical signal carrying the information to at least one of a plurality of modulators in the photonic integrated circuit chip, or to receive a received analog electrical signal output by at least one of a plurality of detectors in the photonic integrated circuit chip and convert the received analog electrical signal into a second digital electrical signal; the modulator is configured to modulate the information carried by the driving analog electrical signal into the optical signal.

[0042] In some embodiments of the present invention, the transceiver analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit chip, and receives the first digital electrical signal and / or transmits the second digital electrical signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

[0043] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical interconnect module further includes an optical switching control analog electrical chip, which is configured to correspond to the on-chip optical switch in the photonic integrated circuit chip and to control a plurality of second optical switching units of the on-chip optical switch to select optical signals input to the on-chip optical switch according to a preset transmission path, so that the optical signals are output from a preset optical output port among a plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

[0044] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical switching control analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit, and receives the optical switching control analog signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

[0045] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical interconnect module further includes a substrate, the photonic integrated circuit chip is mounted on the substrate, and the transceiver analog electrical chip is mounted on the photonic integrated circuit optical chip on the other side of the substrate.

[0046] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also relate to an optical interconnect expansion card, which includes:

[0047] First PCB board;

[0048] The aforementioned optical interconnect module is disposed on the first PCB board;

[0049] Multiple fiber optic interfaces are mounted on the first PCB board and are optically connected to the optical interconnect module via the first external fiber optic array and the second external fiber optic array to achieve optical communication with the optical interconnect module.

[0050] Multiple electrical communication interfaces are disposed on the first PCB board for receiving the first digital signal and / or transmitting the second digital electrical signal;

[0051] Multiple re-timers, mounted on the first PCB board, are communicatively connected to the electrical communication interface and the optical interconnect module. They are used to reshape the first digital electrical signal and transmit the reshaped electrical signal to the optical interconnect module; and / or reshape the second digital electrical signal received from the optical interconnect module and transmit it through the electrical communication interface.

[0052] In some embodiments of the present invention, each of the retimers has multiple communication channels, and the multiple electrical communication interfaces have multiple communication channels, wherein the total number of communication channels of the retimers is equal to the total number of telecommunication channels of the electrical communication interfaces.

[0053] In some embodiments of the present invention, the retimer is communicatively connected to the optical interconnect module via traces on the first PCB board.

[0054] In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical interconnect expansion card further includes a laser module disposed on the first PCB board and optically connected to the optical interconnect module via a third fiber array to input a laser beam to the optical interconnect module.

[0055] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also relate to a computing device, which includes:

[0056] Multiple computing modules;

[0057] Multiple of the aforementioned optical interconnect expansion cards;

[0058] The plurality of computing modules are communicatively connected to the plurality of optical interconnect expansion cards.

[0059] In some embodiments of the present invention, the computing device further includes a second PCB board.

[0060] The multiple computing modules are mounted on the second PCB board.

[0061] The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards are plugged into the second PCB board.

[0062] The multiple computing modules are communicatively connected to the multiple optical interconnect expansion cards via traces on the second PCB board.

[0063] Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may also relate to a computing system comprising:

[0064] Multiple of the aforementioned computing devices;

[0065] At least one switch;

[0066] The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards of the multiple computing devices are communicatively connected to the at least one switch via optical fiber to connect the multiple computing devices.

[0067] In some embodiments of the present invention, the switch includes: an optical path switch or an electrical switch with an optical module, wherein the optical module is used for optical communication with the optical interconnect expansion card.

[0068] As can be seen from the above, the optical interconnect structure of the present invention breaks through the interconnection distance limitation of PCB board traces. Through long-distance optical fiber connection, it can decouple the existing multi-card computing system, so that the computing power and improvement of nodes, i.e. node computing devices, are no longer hierarchical, and the bandwidth within and between nodes is more uniform, which is conducive to the large-scale expansion of computing modules.

[0069] The optical interconnect structure of this invention allows the interconnection between computing modules to be reconfigurable in the field, rather than static. This offers numerous advantages, the most significant being the ability to adapt the topology to specific artificial intelligence models. From a topology perspective, the data flow requirements of different artificial intelligence models can be broadly categorized into three types: data parallelism, where each chip loads the entire model and different chips process different data within the dataset; model parallelism, where some layers in the model are particularly large, and each chip handles only a portion of the computation within these large layers; and pipeline parallelism, where different layers in the model are assigned to different chips for computation. These different data flows correspond to different computational interconnection topologies. Using reconfigurable optical interconnects allows for rapid switching between different interconnection topologies between computing modules, effectively improving bandwidth utilization and enhancing the scalability of the artificial intelligence computing system. This enables multiple computing modules to collaborate efficiently and reliably to accelerate such large models.

[0070] Various aspects, features, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0071] Figure 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram showing an example structure of an optical interconnect module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0072] Figure 2A is a schematic diagram showing an example of the photonic circuit structure formed on the photonic integrated circuit chip in the optical interconnect module shown in Figure 1; Figure 2B is a schematic diagram showing another example of the photonic circuit structure formed on the photonic integrated circuit chip in the optical interconnect module shown in Figure 1.

[0073] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the photonic circuit structure of the on-chip optical switch in the photonic integrated circuit chip shown in Figures 2A and 2B.

[0074] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example structure of the first optical switching unit on the photonic integrated circuit chip shown in Figures 2A and 2B.

[0075] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example structure of the second optical switching unit in the on-chip optical switch shown in Figure 3.

[0076] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing the planar layout of a reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0077] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing the package structure of the reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion card shown in Figure 6.

[0078] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example structure of a computing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0079] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example structure of a computing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0080] Figures 10A to 10D are schematic diagrams of the reconfigurable topology among the computing modules in the computing device of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0081] Exemplary embodiments will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Certain terms may be used in the description for reference only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection. For example, terms such as “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “above,” and “below” may be used to refer to orientations in the accompanying drawings, which are referenced. Terms such as “front,” “back,” “rear,” “side,” “outer,” and “inner” may be used to describe the orientation and / or position of various parts of a component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference, which can be clearly understood by referring to the text describing the component under discussion and the associated drawings. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “first,” “second,” and other similar numerical terms do not imply order or sequence.

[0082] It should be understood that when an element or feature is referred to as "on another element or layer," "connected to," or "attached to" another element or layer, it may be directly on, connected to, or attached to the other element or feature, or there may be one or more intermediate elements or features. Furthermore, it should be understood that when an element or feature is referred to as "between" two elements or features, it may be the only element or feature between the two elements or features, or there may be one or more intermediate elements or features.

[0083] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and is not intended to limit the invention. Such terms may include words specifically mentioned herein, derivatives thereof, and words with similar meanings. As used herein, the singular forms “a” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” specify the presence of the stated features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or collections thereof. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of…” modify the entire list of elements when preceding it, rather than individual elements of the list.

[0084] As used herein, the terms “basically,” “about,” and similar terms are used as approximations rather than as terms of degree, and are intended to take into account the inherent variations in measured or calculated values ​​that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art. As used herein, the terms “use,” “being used,” and “being used” are to be regarded as synonymous with the terms “utilization,” “being utilized,” and “being exploited,” respectively.

[0085] Referring to Figures 1 to 5, an exemplary embodiment of an optical interconnect module according to the present invention is shown. In an exemplary embodiment, the optical interconnect module includes a photonic integrated circuit chip 201 and a transceiver analog electrical chip 202. In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 1, the photonic integrated circuit chip 201 is disposed on a substrate 204, and the transceiver analog electrical chip 202 is disposed on the photonic integrated circuit chip 201. As shown in Figure 2A, the photonic integrated circuit chip includes one or more photonic integrated circuit sub-modules, each of which includes multiple modulators 302, multiple wavelength multiplexers 303, multiple first optical switching units 304, at least one on-chip optical switch 300, multiple demultiplexers 305, multiple detectors 306, a first optical coupler 307, and a second optical coupler 308, etc.

[0086] In an exemplary embodiment, a group of modulators (which may also be configured as a "modulator array") among a plurality of modulators 302 are optically connected to a first optical switching unit 304 via a wavelength multiplexer 303. Specifically, the wavelength multiplexer 303 has a plurality of optical input ports and an optical output port. Each of the plurality of optical input ports of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to one of the modulators 302, and one of the optical output ports of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to one of the first optical switching units 304.

[0087] Each of the plurality of first optical switching units 304 is optically connected to a set of modulators 302 via a wavelength multiplexer 303. Specifically, each first optical switching unit 304 includes a first optical input port, a first optical output port, and a second optical output port. The first optical input port of the first optical switching unit 304 is connected to the optical output port of the wavelength multiplexer 303, and the first optical output port of the first optical switching unit 304 is connected to a first optical coupler 307. The first optical coupler 307 is configured to optically connect the first optical output ports of the plurality of first optical switching units 304 to external fiber optics. The second optical output ports of the first optical switching units 304 are connected to an on-chip optical switch 300. Each first optical switching unit 304 is configured to selectively output the optical signal input to its first optical input port via its first optical output port or its second optical output port.

[0088] The on-chip optical switch 300 has multiple optical input ports and multiple optical output ports. The multiple optical input ports of the on-chip optical switch 300 are optically connected to the second optical output ports of multiple first optical switching units 304, respectively. The on-chip optical switch 300 is configured to selectively output an optical signal from any one of its multiple optical input ports via at least one of its multiple optical output ports, thereby changing the output path of the optical signal and thus altering the topology of the optical transmission network. The multiple optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch 300 are respectively connected to multiple demultiplexers 305. Each demultiplexer 305 is connected to a group of detectors (or a "detector array") among multiple detectors 306. Specifically, each demultiplexer 305 has one optical input port and multiple optical output ports. One optical input port of the demultiplexer 305 is connected to one optical output port of the on-chip optical switch 300, and each of the multiple optical output ports of the demultiplexer 305 is connected to one detector 306.

[0089] In an exemplary embodiment, each modulator array modulates light waves of different wavelengths, and each modulator 302 modulates the input light 301 according to the electrical signal received from the transceiver analog electrical chip 202, thereby loading the information carried by the electrical signal into the input light to obtain an optical signal carrying information. A wavelength multiplexer 303 integrates the optical signals of different wavelengths into a single optical signal, which is then path-selected by the first optical switching unit 304 and enters either the first external optical fiber array (not shown) or the on-chip switch 300 via the first optical coupler 307. If it enters the on-chip optical switch 300, it is demultiplexed into optical signals of different wavelengths by the demultiplexer 305, and then transmitted to different detectors 306 of a detector array for photoelectric conversion. If it enters the first external optical fiber array, it passes through the external optical fiber to a demultiplexer and detector array on another chip. For example, in some embodiments, the photonic integrated circuit chip 201 further includes a second optical coupler 308, which is optically connected to the demultiplexer 305 and configured to transmit optical signals from a second external fiber array (not shown) to the demultiplexer and detector array in the photonic integrated circuit chip 201.

[0090] In some embodiments, the transceiver analog electrical chip 202 is configured to convert a received first digital electrical signal into a driving analog electrical signal and transmit the driving analog electrical signal carrying the information to at least one of the plurality of modulators 302 in the photonic integrated circuit chip 201, or to receive a received analog electrical signal output by at least one of the plurality of detectors 306 in the photonic integrated circuit chip 201 and convert the received analog electrical signal into a second digital electrical signal; the modulator 302 is configured to modulate the information carried by the driving analog electrical signal into the optical signal.

[0091] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG1, the transceiver analog electrical chip 202 is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit chip 201, and receives the first digital electrical signal and / or transmits the second digital electrical signal through conductive vias penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip 201. Specifically, the transceiver analog electrical chip 202 is mounted on the opposite side of the photonic integrated circuit optical chip 201 relative to the substrate 204.

[0092] In an optional implementation, when the input light 301 is single-wavelength light, the photonic integrated circuit chip 201 can be configured without the required wavelength multiplexer 303 and demultiplexer 305. Specifically, as shown in FIG2B, a first optical switching unit 304 corresponds to a modulator 302 and two detectors on the other side. One of the two detectors is directly connected to the on-chip optical switch 300, such as detector 306 in this chip, and the other is connected to a first external fiber array connected to a first optical coupler 307. For example, a second optical coupler 308 can be directly connected to detector 306, so that detector 306 can be connected to the first optical switching unit of another chip through a second external fiber array.

[0093] In some other embodiments, as shown in FIG2B, the photonic integrated circuit chip includes multiple photonic integrated circuit sub-modules, each of which has the same circuit structure.

[0094] In an optional embodiment, the photonic integrated circuit chip 201 further includes a third optical coupler (not shown) and an optical power splitter (not shown). The third optical coupler is configured to input light from an off-chip light source into the photonic integrated circuit chip 201. The optical power splitter is optically connected to the third optical coupler and is configured to split one input light into multiple output lights, each of which has substantially the same power, and the multiple output lights are transmitted to respective modulators 302.

[0095] In some embodiments, the first optical switching unit 304 may be a 1x2 optical switching unit. In some embodiments, the first optical switching unit 304 may be a MEMS optical path switching unit or a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) optical path switching unit. As shown in FIG4, the first optical switching unit 304 may adopt a Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure, specifically including: a first beam splitter 408 having one optical input port and two optical output ports; a second beam splitter 407 having two optical input ports and two optical output ports; and two phase shifters 406, which are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter 408 and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter 407. In some embodiments, the phase shifter 406 is an electro-optic or thermo-optic phase shifter, and by controlling the upper and lower arms of the electro-optic or thermo-optic phase shifter 406, the phase of the optical signal can be changed and the output port of the optical signal can be selected by using the interference effect.

[0096] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG3, the on-chip optical switch 300 includes a plurality of second optical switching units 405. The optical interconnect module further includes an optical switching control analog electrical chip (not shown), configured to control the plurality of second optical switching units 405 to select the transmission path of the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch, so that the optical signal is output from at least one of the plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch. In some embodiments, the on-chip optical switch 300 is an 8×8 strictly non-blocking optical switch, consisting of 64 2×2 optical switching units 405. By controlling the signal output port of each switching unit, any path combination between the 8 input channels and 8 output channels in FIG3 can be realized, and the insertion loss on each path is path-independent. Thus, the topology from the input end to the output end of the system can be changed. In specific applications, the 8×8 silicon photonics switch can be further laterally repeated to meet greater bandwidth switching requirements. The optical switch structure in this embodiment is an exemplary structure; depending on actual needs, it can be any n×n non-blocking optical switch. Reconfigurable optical interconnects can change network topology for different artificial intelligence applications, optimize data migration efficiency, and improve computing system performance.

[0097] In some embodiments, the second optical switching unit 405 may be an MZI optical path switching unit.

[0098] In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 5, the second optical switching unit employs an MZI optical path switching unit, which includes two beam splitters 407, each beam splitter 407 having two optical input ports and two optical output ports; and two phase shifters 406, which are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of one beam splitter 407 and the two optical input ports of the other beam splitter 407. It can be seen that the second optical switching unit can also employ a Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure, where the phase of the input optical signal can be changed by controlling the phase shifters 406 in the upper and lower arms, and the output port of the output optical signal can be selected using the interference effect.

[0099] In some embodiments, the modulator 302 includes at least one of the following: a micro-ring modulator, a Mach-Zehnder modulator, and an electroabsorption modulator. The detector 306 includes a micro-ring detector or a photodiode.

[0100] In some embodiments, each photonic integrated circuit submodule further includes a third optical switching unit (not shown). The detector or demultiplexer is optically connected to the on-chip optical switch and the second optical coupler through the third optical switching unit. The number of detectors or detector arrays is equal to the number of modulators or modulator arrays. Specifically, the third optical switching unit includes a first optical input port, a second optical input port, and an optical output port. The first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the second optical coupler. The second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to an optical output port of the on-chip optical switch. The optical output port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the detector or the demultiplexer. By controlling the third optical switching unit, the first optical input port of the third optical switching unit can be connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit, or the second optical input port of the third optical switching unit can be connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit.

[0101] In some embodiments, the third optical switching unit is disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the on-chip optical switch, and on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the second optical coupler.

[0102] In some implementations, the third optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit. By setting up the third optical switching unit, a detector / detector array can be used to receive optical signals from the on-chip optical switch and optical signals from the second optical coupler at different times, thereby reducing the number of detectors / detector arrays.

[0103] Considering that existing technologies achieve point-to-point full interconnection between computing modules on a general-purpose motherboard via PCB traces, which cannot meet the bandwidth requirements between each pair of computing modules, the aforementioned optical interconnect module can be used. This allows for more uniform bandwidth distribution within and between nodes, facilitating large-scale expansion of computing modules. Furthermore, reconfigurable optical interconnects can modify network topology for different artificial intelligence applications, optimize data migration efficiency, and improve computing system performance.

[0104] In some embodiments, the aforementioned optical interconnect module can be housed in an optical interconnect expansion card for connection (e.g., plug-and-play) with a corresponding computing device. Figures 6 and 7 illustrate an exemplary embodiment of an optical interconnect expansion card. Because the optical interconnect module features reconfigurable optical interconnect, this optical interconnect expansion card can also be referred to as a reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion card. As shown in Figures 6 and 7, the reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion card 100 includes a PCB board 207, an optical interconnect module 200, a laser module 205, an optical fiber interface 206, an electrical communication interface (e.g., a high-speed interface 211), a retimer 208, a voltage regulation module 209 (e.g., 54V to 12V), a voltage regulation module 210 (12V to a voltage rail (i.e., the maximum voltage input range)), etc.

[0105] The optical interconnect module 200 is disposed on the PCB board 207 and can be any of the optical interconnect modules described in the above embodiments or implementations, including a photonic integrated circuit chip 201, a transceiver analog electrical chip 202, and a corresponding substrate 204. The laser module 205 is disposed on the PCB board 207 and is optically connected to the optical interconnect module 200 via a third fiber array 203 to input light into the optical interconnect module 200. The fiber optic interface 206 is disposed on the PCB board 207 and is optically connected to the optical interconnect module 200 via additional first and second external fiber arrays to achieve optical communication with the optical interconnect module 200. The high-speed interface 211 is disposed on the PCB board 207 and is used to receive the first digital signal and / or transmit a second digital electrical signal. A re-timer 208 is mounted on the PCB board 207 and is communicatively connected to the high-speed interface 211 and the optical interconnect module 200. It is used to reshape a first digital electrical signal and transmit the reshaped signal to the optical interconnect module 200; and / or to reshape a second digital electrical signal received from the optical interconnect module 200 and transmit it via the electrical communication interface. Each re-timer 208 has multiple communication channels, and multiple electrical communication interfaces have multiple communication channels. The total number of communication channels of the re-timers 208 is equal to the total number of telecommunication channels of the electrical communication interfaces. The re-timers 208 are communicatively connected to the optical interconnect module 200 via PCB board traces.

[0106] The high-speed interface 211 receives electrical signals from an information transmitting device, such as a computing module. These signals are re-formed via a re-timer 208. The re-formed high-speed electrical signal is then transmitted to the edge of the optical interconnect module 200 via traces on the packaging substrate and a shorter PCB board 207. It is further transmitted to the corresponding transceiver analog electrical chip 202 via metal traces and through-silicon vias 212 on the substrate 204. After signal amplification and electro-optic / photoelectric conversion by the components of the analog electrical chip 202 and the photonic integrated circuit chip 201, the signal is transmitted via optical fiber, and optical path reconstruction is performed within the photonic integrated circuit chip 201. For example, the optical interconnect module 200 receives a laser generated by a laser module 205, and the electrical signal received by the transceiver analog electrical chip 202 is modulated into the laser by a modulator to obtain an information-carrying optical signal. This optical signal undergoes optical path reconstruction via a first optical switching unit and an on-chip optical switch within the photonic integrated circuit chip, and is then output to the communication peer (e.g., another computing module) via optical fiber and optical fiber interface 206. On the other hand, the optical signal received through the optical fiber interface 206 and the optical fiber is photoelectrically converted by the detector of the optical interconnect module 200, and the resulting electrical signal is sent to the receiving end (e.g., a computing module) through the transceiver analog electrical chip 202, the retimer 208 and the high-speed interface 211.

[0107] In one exemplary embodiment, the optical interconnect expansion card 100 can be used to communicatively connect multiple computing modules to form a computing device. As shown in FIG8, the computing device includes: multiple computing modules 101 (for example, in this embodiment, a computing module is formed by carrying one or more computing chips on an OAM board; the example in FIG8 is eight OAM boards carrying computing chips, numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively), multiple reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion cards 100 (for example, eight optical interconnect expansion cards), and a PCB board 102. The PCB board 102 can be a UBB universal motherboard. In some embodiments, the eight computing modules 101 are connected to the reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion cards 100 through PCB board traces 103 on the PCB board 102 to form an eight-card system. The computing modules 101 have high-speed long-distance SerDes interfaces to communicate with the high-speed interface 211 of the reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion cards 100. The reconfigurable optical interconnect expansion card 100 (specifically, the first optical switching unit 204 and the on-chip optical switch 200) can reconfigure the connection topology between the eight computing modules 101. For example, the connection topology between computing modules 101 (numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) can be changed in real time to be fully interconnected externally (Figure 10A), fully interconnected internally (Figure 10B), a ring (Figure 10C), or point-to-point (Figure 10D). Therefore, the communication bandwidth between computing module 0 and computing module 1 can be switched in real time between bandwidth B (Figure 10B: full interconnection), bandwidth 4B (Figure 10C: ring), and bandwidth 8B (Figure 10D: point-to-point). This can match the bandwidth requirements of different communication algorithms, improve bandwidth utilization, and thus improve the overall operating efficiency of the artificial intelligence computing system.

[0108] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 9, the aforementioned eight-card system can be interconnected with the optical interconnect expansion card 100 and the switch 500 via optical fiber connection 501 to form a larger-scale computing system. The switch 500 can be an optical path switch or an electrical switch with an optical module. In other words, embodiments of the present invention also relate to a computing system comprising: a plurality of the aforementioned computing devices; at least one switch; and multiple optical interconnect expansion cards of the plurality of computing devices communicatively connected to the at least one switch via optical fibers to connect the plurality of computing devices. Depending on the specific application requirements, the computing devices can be horizontally expanded to give the computing system greater computing power, thereby meeting the requirements of large-scale artificial intelligence models.

[0109] Those skilled in the art should understand that the above-disclosed embodiments are merely implementations of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the patent protection claimed in this invention. Equivalent variations made according to the embodiments of the present invention are still within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

[0110] Furthermore, the technical solution of the present invention can also be described as follows:

[0111] Example 1: A photonic integrated circuit chip, comprising one or more photonic integrated circuit sub-modules, each of the photonic integrated circuit sub-modules comprising:

[0112] A plurality of first optical switching units, each first optical switching unit including a first optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, and each first optical switching unit configured to selectively output an optical signal input to its first optical input port via its first optical output port or its second optical output port;

[0113] At least one on-chip optical switch having multiple optical input ports and multiple optical output ports, wherein the multiple optical input ports are optically connected to the second optical output ports of multiple first optical switching units respectively, and the on-chip optical switch is configured to selectively output an optical signal input from any one of its multiple optical input ports via at least one of its multiple optical output ports;

[0114] Multiple modulators are optically connected to the corresponding first optical input ports of the multiple first optical switching units and configured to modulate information carried by electrical signals into the optical signals;

[0115] Multiple detectors, at least a portion of which are optically connected to multiple optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch;

[0116] A plurality of first optical couplers configured to optically connect the first optical output ports of a plurality of first optical switching units to a first external fiber array; and

[0117] A second optical coupler, which is optically connected to at least a portion of the plurality of detectors, is configured to transmit optical signals from a second external fiber array to that portion of the plurality of detectors.

[0118] Example 2: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1, characterized in that each photonic integrated circuit sub-module further includes multiple wavelength multiplexers and multiple demultiplexers;

[0119] The plurality of modulators are configured into a plurality of modulator arrays, and the plurality of detectors are configured into a plurality of detector arrays;

[0120] The modulator array is optically connected to the corresponding first optical switching unit through the wavelength multiplexer. Each wavelength multiplexer has multiple optical input ports and one optical output port. Each of the multiple optical input ports of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a modulator in the modulator array, and one optical output port of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a first optical input port of the first optical switching unit.

[0121] The detector array is optically connected to the corresponding optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler via the demultiplexer. Each demultiplexer has one optical input port and multiple optical output ports. One optical input port of the demultiplexer is connected to one optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler. Each of the multiple optical output ports of the demultiplexer is connected to one of the detectors in the detector array.

[0122] Example 3: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1 or 2, characterized in that,

[0123] The number of detectors or detector arrays is twice that of modulators or modulator arrays, wherein a portion of the detectors or detector arrays is connected to the on-chip optical switch and another portion is connected to the second optical coupler.

[0124] Example 4: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1 or 2, characterized in that each photonic integrated circuit submodule further includes a third optical switching unit, the detector or demultiplexer is optically connected to the on-chip optical switch and the second optical coupler through the third optical switching unit, and the number of the detector or detector array is equal to the number of the modulator or modulator array.

[0125] Example 5: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 4, characterized in that the third optical switching unit includes a first optical input port, a second optical input port, and an optical output port. The first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the second optical coupler. The second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to an optical output port of the on-chip optical switch. The optical output port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the detector or the demultiplexer. By controlling the third optical switching unit, the first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit, or the second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit.

[0126] Example 6: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 4, characterized in that the third optical switching unit is respectively disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the on-chip optical switch, and disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the second optical coupler.

[0127] Example 7: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 4, characterized in that the third optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit.

[0128] Example 8: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1 or 2, characterized in that the on-chip optical switch includes a plurality of second optical switching units;

[0129] The plurality of second optical switching units select the transmission path of the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch, so that the optical signal is output from at least one of the plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

[0130] Example 9: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 8, characterized in that the first optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit; and / or

[0131] The second optical switching unit is an MZI optical path switching unit.

[0132] Example 10: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 9, characterized in that the first optical switching unit is an MZI optical path switching unit, which includes:

[0133] The first beam splitter has one optical input port and two optical output ports;

[0134] The second beam splitter has two optical input ports and two optical output ports; and

[0135] Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

[0136] Example 11: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 8, characterized in that the second optical switching unit comprises:

[0137] Two beam splitters, each beam splitter having two optical input ports and two optical output ports, the two beam splitters including a first beam splitter and a second beam splitter;

[0138] Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

[0139] Example 12: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1 or 2, characterized in that the modulator includes at least one of the following: a micro-ring modulator, a Mach-Zehnder modulator, and an electroabsorption modulator;

[0140] And / or, the detector includes a microring detector or a photodiode.

[0141] Example 13: The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in Example 1 or 2, characterized in that each photonic integrated circuit sub-module further includes:

[0142] A third optical coupler is configured to input light from an off-chip light source into the photonic integrated circuit submodule;

[0143] An optical power splitter, which is optically connected to the third optical coupler, is configured to split an input light into multiple output lights, each of which has substantially the same power, and the multiple output lights are transmitted to modulators.

[0144] Example 14: An optical interconnect module comprising a photonic integrated circuit chip and a transceiver analog electrical chip as described in any one of Examples 1 to 13;

[0145] The transceiver analog electrical chip is configured to convert a received first digital electrical signal into a driving analog electrical signal and transmit the driving analog electrical signal carrying the information to at least one of a plurality of modulators in the photonic integrated circuit chip, or to receive a received analog electrical signal output by at least one of a plurality of detectors in the photonic integrated circuit chip and convert the received analog electrical signal into a second digital electrical signal.

[0146] The modulator is configured to modulate the information carried by the driving analog electrical signal into the optical signal.

[0147] Example 15: The optical interconnect module as described in Example 14, characterized in that the transceiver analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit chip, and receives the first digital electrical signal and / or transmits the second digital electrical signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

[0148] Example 16: The optical interconnect module as described in Example 14, characterized in that the optical interconnect module further includes an optical switching control analog electrical chip, which is configured to correspond to the on-chip optical switch in the photonic integrated circuit chip, and is configured to control a plurality of second optical switching units of the on-chip optical switch to select the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch according to a preset transmission path, so that the optical signal is output from a preset optical output port among a plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

[0149] Example 17: The optical interconnect module as described in Example 16, characterized in that the optical switching control analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit, and receives the optical switching control analog signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

[0150] Example 18: The optical interconnect module as described in Example 14 is characterized in that it further includes a substrate, the photonic integrated circuit chip is mounted on the substrate, and the transceiver analog electrical chip is mounted on the photonic integrated circuit optical chip on the other side of the substrate.

[0151] Example 19: An optical interconnect expansion card, comprising:

[0152] First PCB board;

[0153] The optical interconnect module as described in any one of Embodiments 14 to 18 is disposed on the first PCB board;

[0154] Multiple fiber optic interfaces are mounted on the first PCB board and are optically connected to the optical interconnect module via the first external fiber optic array and the second external fiber optic array to achieve optical communication with the optical interconnect module.

[0155] Multiple electrical communication interfaces are disposed on the first PCB board for receiving the first digital signal and / or transmitting the second digital electrical signal;

[0156] Multiple re-timers, mounted on the first PCB board, are communicatively connected to the electrical communication interface and the optical interconnect module. They are used to reshape the first digital electrical signal and transmit the reshaped electrical signal to the optical interconnect module; and / or reshape the second digital electrical signal received from the optical interconnect module and transmit it through the electrical communication interface.

[0157] Example 20: The optical interconnect expansion card as described in Example 19, characterized in that,

[0158] Each of the retimers has multiple communication channels, and the multiple electrical communication interfaces have multiple communication channels. The total number of communication channels of the retimers is equal to the total number of telecommunication channels of the electrical communication interfaces.

[0159] Example 21: The optical interconnect expansion card as described in Example 19, characterized in that,

[0160] The re-timer is communicatively connected to the optical interconnect module via traces on the first PCB board.

[0161] Example 22: The optical interconnect expansion card as described in Example 19 is characterized in that it further includes a laser module, which is disposed on the first PCB board and optically connected to the optical interconnect module through a third fiber array to input a laser beam to the optical interconnect module.

[0162] Example 23: A computing device comprising:

[0163] Multiple computing modules;

[0164] Multiple optical interconnect expansion cards as described in any one of Examples 19 to 22;

[0165] The plurality of computing modules are communicatively connected to the plurality of optical interconnect expansion cards.

[0166] Example 24: The computing device as described in Example 23, characterized in that it further includes a second PCB board.

[0167] The multiple computing modules are mounted on the second PCB board.

[0168] The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards are plugged into the second PCB board.

[0169] The multiple computing modules are communicatively connected to the multiple optical interconnect expansion cards via traces on the second PCB board.

[0170] Example 25: A computing system comprising:

[0171] Multiple computing devices as described in Embodiment 23 or 24;

[0172] At least one switch;

[0173] The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards of the multiple computing devices are communicatively connected to the at least one switch via optical fiber to connect the multiple computing devices.

[0174] Example 26: The computing system as described in Example 25, characterized in that the switch includes: an optical path switch or an electrical switch with an optical module, wherein the optical module is used for optical communication with the optical interconnect expansion card.

Claims

1. A photonic integrated circuit chip, comprising one or more photonic integrated circuit sub-modules, each of the photonic integrated circuit sub-modules comprising: A plurality of first optical switching units, each first optical switching unit including a first optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, and each first optical switching unit configured to selectively output an optical signal input to its first optical input port via its first optical output port or its second optical output port; At least one on-chip optical switch having multiple optical input ports and multiple optical output ports, wherein the multiple optical input ports are optically connected to the second optical output ports of multiple first optical switching units respectively, and the on-chip optical switch is configured to selectively output an optical signal input from any one of its multiple optical input ports via at least one of its multiple optical output ports; Multiple modulators are optically connected to the corresponding first optical input ports of the multiple first optical switching units and configured to modulate information carried by electrical signals into the optical signals; Multiple detectors, at least a portion of which are optically connected to multiple optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch; A plurality of first optical couplers configured to optically connect the first optical output ports of a plurality of first optical switching units to a first external fiber array; and A second optical coupler, which is optically connected to at least a portion of the plurality of detectors, is configured to transmit optical signals from a second external fiber array to that portion of the plurality of detectors.

2. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 1, wherein, Each of the aforementioned photonic integrated circuit submodules also includes multiple wavelength multiplexers and multiple demultiplexers; The plurality of modulators are configured into a plurality of modulator arrays, and the plurality of detectors are configured into a plurality of detector arrays; The modulator array is optically connected to the corresponding first optical switching unit through the wavelength multiplexer. Each wavelength multiplexer has multiple optical input ports and one optical output port. Each of the multiple optical input ports of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a modulator in the modulator array, and one optical output port of the wavelength multiplexer is connected to a first optical input port of the first optical switching unit. The detector array is optically connected to the corresponding optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler via the demultiplexer. Each demultiplexer has one optical input port and multiple optical output ports. One optical input port of the demultiplexer is connected to one optical output port of the on-chip optical switch or the second optical coupler. Each of the multiple optical output ports of the demultiplexer is connected to one of the detectors in the detector array.

3. The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The number of detectors or detector arrays is twice that of modulators or modulator arrays, wherein a portion of the detectors or detector arrays is connected to the on-chip optical switch and another portion is connected to the second optical coupler.

4. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 1 or 2, wherein, Each of the photonic integrated circuit submodules further includes a third optical switching unit. The detector or demultiplexer is optically connected to the on-chip optical switch and the second optical coupler through the third optical switching unit. The number of detectors or detector arrays is equal to the number of modulators or modulator arrays.

5. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 4, wherein, The third optical switching unit includes a first optical input port, a second optical input port, and an optical output port. The first optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the second optical coupler. The second optical input port of the third optical switching unit is connected to an optical output port of the on-chip optical switch. The optical output port of the third optical switching unit is connected to the detector or the demultiplexer. By controlling the third optical switching unit, the first optical input port of the third optical switching unit can be connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit, or the second optical input port of the third optical switching unit can be connected to the optical output port of the third optical switching unit.

6. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 4, wherein, The third optical switching unit is respectively disposed on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the on-chip optical switch, and on the optical path connecting the detector or detector array to the second optical coupler.

7. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 4, wherein, The third optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit.

8. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The on-chip optical switch includes multiple second optical switching units; The plurality of second optical switching units select the transmission path of the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch, so that the optical signal is output from at least one of the plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

9. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 8, wherein, The first optical switching unit is a MEMS optical path switching unit or an MZI optical path switching unit; and / or The second optical switching unit is an MZI optical path switching unit.

10. The photonic integrated circuit chip of claim 9, wherein, The first optical switching unit is an MZI optical path switching unit, which includes: The first beam splitter has one optical input port and two optical output ports; The second beam splitter has two optical input ports and two optical output ports; and Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

11. The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The second optical switching unit includes: Two beam splitters, each beam splitter having two optical input ports and two optical output ports, the two beam splitters including a first beam splitter and a second beam splitter; Two phase shifters are respectively connected between the two optical output ports of the first beam splitter and the two optical input ports of the second beam splitter.

12. The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The modulator includes at least one of the following: a micro-ring modulator, a Mach-Zehnder modulator, and an electroabsorption modulator; And / or, the detector includes a microring detector or a photodiode.

13. The photonic integrated circuit chip as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, Each of the aforementioned photonic integrated circuit sub-modules also includes: A third optical coupler is configured to input light from an off-chip light source into the photonic integrated circuit submodule; An optical power splitter, which is optically connected to the third optical coupler, is configured to split an input light into multiple output lights, each of which has substantially the same power, and the multiple output lights are transmitted to modulators.

14. An optical interconnect module comprising a photonic integrated circuit chip as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 and an analog electrical chip for transceiver; in, The transceiver analog electrical chip is configured to convert a received first digital electrical signal into a driving analog electrical signal and transmit the driving analog electrical signal carrying the information to at least one of a plurality of modulators in the photonic integrated circuit chip, or to receive a received analog electrical signal output by at least one of a plurality of detectors in the photonic integrated circuit chip and convert the received analog electrical signal into a second digital electrical signal. The modulator is configured to modulate the information carried by the driving analog electrical signal into the optical signal.

15. The optical interconnect module as described in claim 14, characterized in that, The transceiver analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit chip, and receives the first digital electrical signal and / or transmits the second digital electrical signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

16. The optical interconnect module as described in claim 14, characterized in that, The optical interconnect module further includes an optical switching control analog electrical chip, which is configured to correspond to the on-chip optical switch in the photonic integrated circuit chip and to control a plurality of second optical switching units of the on-chip optical switch to select the optical signal input to the on-chip optical switch according to a preset transmission path, so that the optical signal is output from a preset optical output port among a plurality of optical output ports of the on-chip optical switch.

17. The optical interconnect module as described in claim 16, characterized in that, The optical switching control analog electrical chip is disposed above the photonic integrated circuit, and receives the optical switching control analog signal through a conductive via penetrating the photonic integrated circuit chip.

18. The optical interconnect module as described in claim 14, characterized in that, It also includes a substrate, on which the photonic integrated circuit chip is mounted, and on the other side of the photonic integrated circuit chip opposite to the substrate.

19. An optical interconnect expansion card, comprising: First PCB board; The optical interconnect module as described in any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein the optical interconnect module is disposed on the first PCB board; Multiple fiber optic interfaces are mounted on the first PCB board and are optically connected to the optical interconnect module via the first external fiber optic array and the second external fiber optic array to achieve optical communication with the optical interconnect module. Multiple electrical communication interfaces are disposed on the first PCB board for receiving the first digital signal and / or transmitting the second digital electrical signal; Multiple re-timers, mounted on the first PCB board, are communicatively connected to the electrical communication interface and the optical interconnect module. They are used to reshape the first digital electrical signal and transmit the reshaped electrical signal to the optical interconnect module; and / or reshape the second digital electrical signal received from the optical interconnect module and transmit it through the electrical communication interface.

20. The optical interconnect expansion card as described in claim 19, characterized in that, Each of the retimers has multiple communication channels, and the multiple electrical communication interfaces have multiple communication channels. The total number of communication channels of the retimers is equal to the total number of telecommunication channels of the electrical communication interfaces.

21. The optical interconnect expansion card as described in claim 19, characterized in that, The re-timer is communicatively connected to the optical interconnect module via traces on the first PCB board.

22. The optical interconnect expansion card as described in claim 19, characterized in that, It also includes a laser module, which is mounted on the first PCB board and optically connected to the optical interconnect module via a third fiber array to input a laser beam to the optical interconnect module.

23. A computing device comprising: Multiple computing modules; Multiple optical interconnect expansion cards as described in any one of claims 19 to 22; The plurality of computing modules are communicatively connected to the plurality of optical interconnect expansion cards.

24. The computing device as claimed in claim 23, characterized in that, It also includes a second PCB board. The multiple computing modules are mounted on the second PCB board. The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards are plugged into the second PCB board. The multiple computing modules are communicatively connected to the multiple optical interconnect expansion cards via traces on the second PCB board.

25. A computing system comprising: Multiple computing devices as described in claim 23 or 24; At least one switch; The multiple optical interconnect expansion cards of the multiple computing devices are communicatively connected to the at least one switch via optical fiber to connect the multiple computing devices.

26. The computing system as described in claim 25, characterized in that, The switch includes: an optical path switch or an electrical switch with an optical module, wherein the optical module is used for optical communication with the optical interconnect expansion card.

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