Integrated GHz silicon photonic interconnect with micrometer-scale modulators and detectors

We report an optical link on silicon using micrometer-scale ring-resonator enhanced silicon modulators and waveguide-integrated germanium photodetectors. We show 3 Gbps operation of the link with 0.5 V modulator voltage swing and 1.0 V detector bias. The total energy consumption for such a link is estimated to be similar to 120 fJ/bit. Such a compact and low power monolithic link is an essential step towards large-scale on-chip optical interconnects for future microprocessors. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America