Optoelectronic interconnection technology in the holms system

Abstract

The High-Speed Optoelectronic Memory Systems (HOLMS) project, sponsored by the European Union Information Society Technology program, aims to make the use of board level optical interconnection in information systems practical and economical by developing optoelectronic packaging technology compatible with standard electronic assembly processes. To demonstrate the potential of the technology, it develops a demonstrator system that addresses the most pressing problem of contemporary computer architecture: memory latency. This paper describes the key ideas and some preliminary results of the HOLMS projects focusing on the electronic interconnection technology, in particular optoelectronic packaging issues.

OCDIMM: Scaling the DRAM Memory Wall Using WDM Based Optical Interconnects

“…Another interesting research is regarding a High Speed Opto-Electric Memory System (HOLMS) interface which target memory system interaction to processors via an optical connection. This research acknowledges the need for a controller to DIMM type of interface to take advantage of the known optical networking success in the telecommunications industry [18]. Recently there has been significant amount of work in the design of nanoscale modulators and detectors with support for multiple wavelengths [5], [10]- [12], [19], [20] which can be used to realize the optical interconnect structures inherent in the OCDIMM architecture.…”

Operation of an optoelectronic crossbar switch containing a terabit-per-second free-space optical interconnect

“…The challenges include miniaturization, achieving acceptable manufacturing and environmental tolerances, cost reduction, etc. Such projects, using a range of novel techniques for the implementation of free-space interconnections, are already underway [18].…”

“…However, this restricts the use of Fourier-plane routing techniques. Alternatively, the "planar optics" approach, explored by Jahns [18], [19] offers the option Fig. 5.…”

Design and evaluation of an optical CPU-DRAM interconnect

“…An older research project, the High Speed Opto-Electric Memory System (HOLMS) interface, proposes an optical connection between the memory system and the processor, but acknowledges the need for a controller-to-DIMM interface to take advantage of the known optical networking success in the telecommunications industry [17].…”