Dynamic Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array

Abstract

Optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs) can readily enable both fast reconfiguration and numerous reconfiguration contexts using an optical holographic memory and optical wide-band reconfiguration connections. Such devices present the possibility of large virtual gate-count very large scale integrations (VLSIs). However, the real gate-count of the VLSI part of the devices is too small–only 80. Moreover, the reconfiguration speed is not sufficiently fast: 16 to 20 µs. For those reasons, this paper clarifies the architecture issues and presents a new architecture of a dynamic optically reconfigurable gate array (DORGA) to improve them. In addition, a comparison is made of results obtained using the previously proposed devices and DORGAs under the same environment. Finally, this paper presents a new design of a 51,272-gate-count DORGA with the new architecture.

A Dynamically Reconfigurable Device

“…Because of that feature, even when long-term functions are required, a certain refresh cycle enables such function implementations. Therefore, a Dynamic Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array (Dynamic ORGA) architecture without a long-term storable configuration memory was proposed (7). A photodiode invariably has junction capacitance.…”

Fault Tolerance of Programmable Devices

“…Figure 2 depicts the gate array structure of a first prototype ORGA-VLSI chip. The ORGA-VLSI chip was fabricated using a 0.35 µm triple-metal CMOS process (8). The photograph of a board is portrayed in Fig.…”

Optoelectronic Device using a Liquid Crystal Holographic Memory

“…Moreover, recently, optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs) with a holographic memory have been developed [5]- [7], [11]- [14], [21]- [23]. The gate array of this optoelectronic device has a fine grain gate array structure similar to those of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) [8]- [10].…”

“…The ORGA architecture has features of rapid reconfiguration and numerous reconfiguration contexts. Such an optical reconfiguration architecture often uses liquid crystal spatial light modulators as holographic memory media [11]- [14], [21]- [23]. Therefore, this chapter first presents the characteristics of a liquid crystal holographic memory to generate binary patterns.…”

“…Nevertheless, an important problem remains: simultaneously increasing the internal reconfiguration memory while maintaining the gate density is extremely difficult. For that reason, optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs) [5]- [7], [11]- [14], [21]- [23] have been developed to provide two capabilities: rapid reconfiguration and numerous reconfiguration contexts. Such optical reconfiguration architecture often uses liquid crystal spatial light modulators as a holographic memory [11]- [14], [21]- [23].…”