WO2013152707A1 - Clock signal transmission apparatus - Google Patents

Clock signal transmission apparatus Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013152707A1
WO2013152707A1 PCT/CN2013/073921 CN2013073921W WO2013152707A1 WO 2013152707 A1 WO2013152707 A1 WO 2013152707A1 CN 2013073921 W CN2013073921 W CN 2013073921W WO 2013152707 A1 WO2013152707 A1 WO 2013152707A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
light
clock signal
transmission apparatus
signal transmission
light emitting
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/CN2013/073921
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Lei Guo
Yuan Li
Original Assignee
Lei Guo
Yuan Li
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Lei Guo, Yuan Li filed Critical Lei Guo
Publication of WO2013152707A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013152707A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/04—Generating or distributing clock signals or signals derived directly therefrom
    • G06F1/10—Distribution of clock signals, e.g. skew
    • G06F1/105—Distribution of clock signals, e.g. skew in which the distribution is at least partially optical
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
    • G09G3/20—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
    • G09G3/22—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters using controlled light sources
    • G09G3/30—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters using controlled light sources using electroluminescent panels
    • G09G3/32—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters using controlled light sources using electroluminescent panels semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B10/00—Transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio-waves, e.g. infrared, visible or ultraviolet light, or employing corpuscular radiation, e.g. quantum communication
    • H04B10/80—Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water
    • H04B10/801—Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections
    • H04B10/803—Free space interconnects, e.g. between circuit boards or chips
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L25/00—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof
    • H01L25/03—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes
    • H01L25/04—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes the devices not having separate containers
    • H01L25/075—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes the devices not having separate containers the devices being of a type provided for in group H01L33/00
    • H01L25/0753—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes the devices not having separate containers the devices being of a type provided for in group H01L33/00 the devices being arranged next to each other
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L2924/00—Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
    • H01L2924/0001—Technical content checked by a classifier
    • H01L2924/0002—Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L33/00—Semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L33/48—Semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by the semiconductor body packages
    • H01L33/58—Optical field-shaping elements
    • H01L33/60—Reflective elements

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit field, and more particularly to a clock signal transmission apparatus.
  • a large scale global clock distribution network is usually required to transmit a synchronous clock signal to a sub-circuits of respective functional modules.
  • the global clock distribution network is required to have features of globality, synchronicity and consistency.
  • the clock distribution network is commonly realized by an electrical interconnection, such as copper interconnection or aluminium interconnection. This solution has disadvantages as follows.
  • the clock signal and other circuit signals may be interfered with each other because of parasitic effects such as parasitic capacitors and inductors caused by the metal interconnection. That is, in one aspect, the clock distribution network may be interfered by other circuit signals to generate a random fluctuation, thus influencing a function and a performance of the circuit, in another aspect, other circuit signals may be interfered by the clock signal with full swing charge/discharge.
  • the clock distribution network needs a large amount of buffer drive circuits and metal interconnections, which occupy a lot of area of the circuit chip, thus increasing a chip cost.
  • the present disclosure is aimed to solve at least one of the problems existing in the prior art to at least some extent.
  • a clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: a modulator for receiving a clock signal and modulating a light emitting device according to the clock signal; the light emitting device for emitting a light signal corresponding to the clock signal; and an integrated circuit chip comprising: at least one light-to-electricity converter for converting the light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator for demodulating the electric signal to obtain the clock signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises: a light guide plate contacted with the integrated circuit chip for guiding the light signal to at least one light-to-electricity converter to make the at least one light-to-electricity converter generate the electric signal according to the light signal, in which a light entrance surface of the light guide plate is contacted with the light emitting device.
  • the light guide plate comprises: a light guiding layer contacted with the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device respectively; and a reflecting layer formed on a surface of the light guiding layer not contacted with the integrated circuit chip or the light emitting device.
  • the substrate of the integrated circuit chip is used as the light guide plate.
  • a transparent dielectric is filled between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
  • a light- shading structure is formed between a region apart from each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
  • a photonic crystal structure is formed between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate to realize a selective pass or cut-off of lights with different wavelengths.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a plurality of integrated circuit chips stacked vertically, wherein the light guiding layer is formed between adjacent integrated circuit chips.
  • the light emitting device comprises any one of a light emitting diode, a resonant cavity light emitting diode, a laser diode, an organic light emitting diode and a quantum dot light emitting device.
  • the light-to-electricity converter is an optoelectronic detector with Si, SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material.
  • the modulator is integrated on the integrated circuit chip or with the light emitting device.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a clock generation module integrated on the integrated circuit chip or being an independent chip.
  • the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device are integrated together by packaging.
  • the light emitting device is formed on a substrate of the integrated circuit chip by epitaxial growth.
  • the light emitting device is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
  • the light signal is a polychromatic light signal with lights with different wavelengths.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus has following advantages. 1. With the clock signal transmission apparatus, a light is used as a signal transmission medium. Delay caused by light transmission is very small and may be negligible in most applications. Compared with a conventional electrical interconnection, the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality. Moreover, the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus uses a light guide plate to distribute light so as to enable the light signal to be transmitted to individual regions of the integrated circuit chip.
  • this clock signal transmission apparatus has simple structure and low cost.
  • Lights with different wavelengths are used to realize a multiplexing, multiple clock domains and a complex logic.
  • circuits with two clock signals may work simultaneously by disposing a red light sensitive optoelectronic sensor and a blue light sensitive optoelectronic sensor at different regions of the integrated circuit chip respectively.
  • Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • Fig. 2a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
  • Fig. 2b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line A- A' shown in Fig. 2a;
  • Fig. 3a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;
  • Fig. 3b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line B-B' shown in Fig. 3a;
  • Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • Fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a photonic crystal structure
  • Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a light guide plate
  • Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • a clock signal transmission apparatus is provided.
  • Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2 and a modulator 4.
  • the integrated circuit chip 1 may comprise: at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 for converting a light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator (not shown) for demodulating the electric signal to obtain a clock signal.
  • a size of the integrated circuit chip 1 is small enough so that a light emitted by the light emitting device 2 may be directly transmitted to the light-to-electricity converter 11 on the integrated circuit chip 1 without using a light guide plate.
  • the light-to-electricity converter 11 may be an optoelectronic detector with Si, SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material.
  • the light emitting device 2 may be a light emitting diode (LED), a resonant cavity light emitting diode (RC-LED), a laser diode (LD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or a quantum dot light emitting device.
  • the modulator 4 is used for receiving the clock signal and modulating the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal.
  • the light emitting device 2 is adopted to generate the light signal corresponding to the clock signal.
  • the modulator 4 also comprises a drive circuit for driving the light emitting device 2. It should be noted that the number of the light-to-electricity converters 11 shown in the drawings is exemplary, and the particular number may be set according to practical requirements.
  • the modulator 4 may be integrated on the integrated circuit chip 1 or with the light emitting device 2. To this end, a reference numeral of the modulator 4 is not shown in most drawings.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a clock generation module 5, which may be integrated on the integrated circuit chip 1 or be an independent chip. To this end, a reference numeral of the clock generation module 5 is not shown in most drawings.
  • a working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus is as follows: the modulator 4 receives a clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light signal is transmitted to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the electric signal is demodulated to generate the clock signal by the at least one demodulator.
  • the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip.
  • a light is used as a signal transmission medium.
  • the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of simple structure and low cost.
  • Fig. 2a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • Fig. 2b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line A-A' shown in Fig. 2a, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3 and a modulator 4 (not shown).
  • the integrated circuit chip 1 comprises six light-to-electricity converters 11 and six demodulators (not shown).
  • the light guide plate 3 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1 for guiding the light signal to the six light-to-electricity converters 11 to make the six light-to-electricity converters generate the electric signal according to the light signal.
  • a light entrance surface of the light guide plate 3 is contacted with the light emitting device 2. Because the light emitted from a local position of the light emitting device 2 can be uniformly transmitted to a larger region (such as a region covering the integrated circuit chip 1) by the light guide plate 3 so as to arrive each light-to-electricity converter 11, as shown in Fig. 2b. In this way, a position of the integrated circuit chip 1 is not required to be disposed corresponding to that of the light emitting device 2, as long as the light can be transmitted to each light-to-electricity converter 11.
  • respective elements may be flexibly disposed on the integrated circuit chip 1, that is, light-to-electricity converters 11 may be disposed flexibly, and a relative position between the light emitting device 2 and the light guide plate 3 may be determined flexibly.
  • the light emitting device 2 is disposed at sides of the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light guide plate 3.
  • the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light emitting device 2 may be integrated together by packaging.
  • Fig. 3a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • Fig. 3b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line B-B' shown in Fig. 3a, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3 and a modulator 4 (not shown).
  • the light emitting device 2 is disposed on a substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 and under the light guide plate 3.
  • the light emitting device 2 may be formed on the substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 by epitaxial growth, particularly by heterogeneously epitaxial growth.
  • the light emitting device 2 is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
  • a working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus is as follows: the modulator 4 receives a clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light guide plate 3 guides the light signal to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 so as to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the at least one demodulator demodulates the electric signal to generate the clock signal.
  • the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip.
  • Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3, a modulator 4 and a clock generation module 5.
  • the integrated circuit chip 1 comprises at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 and at least one demodulator 13.
  • Each light-to-electricity converter 11 is connected with one demodulator 13.
  • the demodulator 13 comprises a transimpedance amplifier circuit for amplifying an optoelectronic signal and demodulating an electric signal from the light-to-electricity converter 11 into a clock signal.
  • a demodulating mode of the demodulator 13 is corresponding to a modulating mode of the modulator 4.
  • the light emitting device 2 and the modulator 4 are disposed at sides of the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light guide plate 3, and the modulator 4 is connected with the clock generation module 5.
  • the light guide plate 3 comprises a light guiding layer 31 and a reflecting layer 32. A light entrance surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the light emitting device 2, and a light exit surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1.
  • the reflecting layer 32 is formed on a surface of the light guiding layer 31 not contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1 or the light emitting device 2 so as to reduce a loss of the light signal.
  • a working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus is as follows: the clock generation module 5 generates a clock signal, the modulator 4 receives the clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light guide plate 3 guides the light signal to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 so as to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the at least one demodulator 13 demodulates the electric signal so as to generate the clock signal.
  • the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip via a light medium.
  • the light-to-electricity converter 11 may be an optoelectronic detector with Si,
  • SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material An optoelectronic detector with a material of Si or SiGe commonly used in a CMOS process is preferred, because this type of optoelectronic detector has advantages of small area, high sensitivity, low power consumption, compatibility with current Si-CMOS process, low cost, and small buffer circuit area.
  • the light-to-electricity converter 11 is disposed in the integrated circuit chip 1, there is a dielectric interlayer on the light-to-electricity converters 11, and there is a substrate under the light-to-electricity converters 11. Therefore, it is required that an opening is formed in the dielectric interlayer or the substrate and a transparent insulating dielectric is filled in the opening.
  • a position of the opening depends on a position of the light guide plate 3. For example, if the light guide plate 3 is disposed on the integrated circuit chip 1, the opening is formed in the dielectric interlayer; and if the light guide plate 3 is disposed under the integrated circuit chip 1, the opening is formed in the substrate.
  • the transparent insulating dielectric filled in the opening may be Si0 2 , Si 3 N 4 , etc.
  • Si which is transparent to the far infrared light signal
  • Si which is transparent to the far infrared light signal
  • a group III-V material or a Ge based material which is fit for the far infrared light signal, may be selected as the material of the light emitting device 2 and the light-to-electricity converter 11.
  • a light- shading structure may be formed between a region apart from each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3.
  • the light- shading structure may be formed by coating a nontransparent material on the surfaces of each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3.
  • the metal interconnections or metal fillings existing between layers of the integrated circuit chip 1 may be used to shade the light signal so as to prevent the light signal from reaching the substrate area of the integrated circuit chip 1, thus avoiding other parasitic optoelectronic effects.
  • the light emitting device 2 may be any one of a LED, a RC-LED, a LD, an OLED or a quantum dot light emitting device. These types of light emitting devices have advantages of low cost, low power consumption and enough high modulating rate. According to current research data, a modulating rate of the LD may be 10G bits per second, a modulating rate of the LED may be several hundred megabits per second. Preferably, the light emitting device 2 is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
  • the modulator 4 is used for receiving the clock signal and modulating the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal so as to enable the light emitting device 2 to turn on/off according to certain frequency and duty ratio.
  • a multi-clock signal may be obtained by a modulation of the modulator 4.
  • the multi-clock signal controls LEDs or LDs with different colors in the light emitting device 2 to emit lights with different wavelengths (such as a red light or a blue light).
  • each light-to-electricity converter 11 is disposed corresponding to one wavelength, for example, one light-to-electricity converter 11 is a red light optoelectronic sensor or a blue light optoelectronic sensor. Because the light signals of different wavelengths transmit independently without interference with each other, a distributed transmission of the multi-clock signal may be realized in this way.
  • a photonic crystal structure 14 is formed between each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3 to realize a selective pass or cut-off of lights with different wavelengths, thus realizing the transmission of the multi-clock signal.
  • the photonic crystal structure 14 may be one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional.
  • the photonic crystal structure 14 has a one-dimensional linear grating structure, which belongs to a mature technique and is easy to fabricate.
  • the one-dimensional linear grating structure may be realized by a periodic linear structure, which is formed by an alternate periodic arrangement of two kinds of dielectric layers with different refractive indices. A spacing of the periodic linear structure approximates to a wavelength of the light to pass the periodic linear structure, so as to allow the light with specific wavelength to pass or cut-off.
  • the light guide plate 3 comprises a light guiding layer 31 and a reflecting layer 32.
  • a light entrance surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the light emitting device 2, and a light exit surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1.
  • the light guiding layer 31 may be formed by depositing a BeO crystal layer on a top surface of the integrated circuit chip 1.
  • the light guiding layer 31 may be replaced by a wedge structure, as shown in Fig. 6. In this way, the light can be distributed and transmitted by a total reflection characteristic of the wedge structure.
  • the reflecting layer 32 may use a metal total reflection mirror or a distributed Bragg reflector to reduce a light leakage.
  • Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a modulator 4 and a clock generation module 5.
  • the integrated circuit chip 1 comprises at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 and at least one demodulator 13.
  • a material of a substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 is Si
  • the light signal emitted from the light emitting device 2 is a far infrared light unabsorbed by Si, so that the substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 is used for guiding the light and thus an additional light guide plate is not required.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment has an advantage of simple structure.
  • Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a three-dimensional clock signal transmission apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises a plurality of integrated circuit chips 1 stacked vertically, in which a light guiding layer 31 is formed between adjacent integrated circuit chips 1, and a light emitting device 2 is formed at sides of the plurality of stacked integrated circuit chips 1.
  • a light signal corresponding to a clock signal and emitted from the light emitting device 2 is guided to light-to-electricity converters 11 in the plurality of integrated circuit chips 1 by the light guiding layers 31.
  • This three-dimensional clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment is applicable for a multi-stacked integrated circuit chip.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus has following advantages.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus a light is used as a signal transmission medium. Compared with a conventional electrical interconnection, the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality. Moreover, the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus.
  • the clock signal transmission apparatus uses a light guide plate to distribute light so as to enable the light signal to be transmitted to individual regions of the integrated circuit chip.
  • this clock signal transmission apparatus has simple structure and low cost.
  • Lights with different wavelengths are used to realize a multiplexing, multiple clock domains and a complex logic.
  • circuits with two clock signals may work simultaneously by disposing a red light sensitive optoelectronic sensor and a blue light sensitive optoelectronic sensor at different regions of the integrated circuit chip respectively.

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Abstract

A clock signal transmission apparatus is provided. The clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: a modulator (4) for receiving a clock signal and modulating a light emitting device (2) according to the clock signal; the light emitting device (2) for emitting a light signal corresponding to the clock signal; and an integrated circuit chip (1) comprising: at least one light-to-electricity converter (11) for converting the light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator (13) for demodulating the electric signal to obtain the clock signal.

Description

CLOCK SIGNAL TRANSMISSION APPARATUS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority to and benefits of Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201210102132.6, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of P. R. China on April 9, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
The present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit field, and more particularly to a clock signal transmission apparatus.
BACKGROUND
In an integrated circuit chip, particularly a digital integrated circuit chip, a large scale global clock distribution network is usually required to transmit a synchronous clock signal to a sub-circuits of respective functional modules. The global clock distribution network is required to have features of globality, synchronicity and consistency. Currently, the clock distribution network is commonly realized by an electrical interconnection, such as copper interconnection or aluminium interconnection. This solution has disadvantages as follows.
1. Parasitic capacitors caused by a large amount of complicated metal interconnections will be charged or discharged repeatedly during a working process of the integrated circuit chip. Thus, a large amount of buffer circuits are required to be added in the integrated circuit chip to drive such capacitor loads, which causes a power waste. In some cases, a power consumed in the clock distribution network accounts for 30 -40 or even higher of a total power consumption of the integrated circuit chip.
2. If an area of the integrated circuit chip is larger, the metal interconnections will be accordingly longer, thus generating a larger interconnection delay. Therefore, the clock signals in different positions are inharmonious and difficult to synchronize. Moreover, a circuit design and simulation will be time-consuming.
3. The clock signal and other circuit signals may be interfered with each other because of parasitic effects such as parasitic capacitors and inductors caused by the metal interconnection. That is, in one aspect, the clock distribution network may be interfered by other circuit signals to generate a random fluctuation, thus influencing a function and a performance of the circuit, in another aspect, other circuit signals may be interfered by the clock signal with full swing charge/discharge.
4. The clock distribution network needs a large amount of buffer drive circuits and metal interconnections, which occupy a lot of area of the circuit chip, thus increasing a chip cost.
In addition, an optical interconnection process based on wave-guide or holographic technique has been developed in recent years. This process needs to use complicated devices, such as wave guide, reflector, photonic crystal structure or holographic image device. Therefore, large numbers of elements need to be used, this process is complicated in design and noncompatible with a conventional CMOS fabrication process, and the circuit chip is difficult to be scaled down, thus limiting the application of this process.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure is aimed to solve at least one of the problems existing in the prior art to at least some extent.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a clock signal transmission apparatus is provided. The clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: a modulator for receiving a clock signal and modulating a light emitting device according to the clock signal; the light emitting device for emitting a light signal corresponding to the clock signal; and an integrated circuit chip comprising: at least one light-to-electricity converter for converting the light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator for demodulating the electric signal to obtain the clock signal.
In one embodiment, the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises: a light guide plate contacted with the integrated circuit chip for guiding the light signal to at least one light-to-electricity converter to make the at least one light-to-electricity converter generate the electric signal according to the light signal, in which a light entrance surface of the light guide plate is contacted with the light emitting device.
In one embodiment, the light guide plate comprises: a light guiding layer contacted with the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device respectively; and a reflecting layer formed on a surface of the light guiding layer not contacted with the integrated circuit chip or the light emitting device.
In one embodiment, when a material of a substrate of the integrated circuit chip is Si and the light signal is a far infrared light unabsorbed by Si, the substrate of the integrated circuit chip is used as the light guide plate.
In one embodiment, a transparent dielectric is filled between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
In one embodiment, a light- shading structure is formed between a region apart from each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
In one embodiment, a photonic crystal structure is formed between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate to realize a selective pass or cut-off of lights with different wavelengths.
In one embodiment, the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a plurality of integrated circuit chips stacked vertically, wherein the light guiding layer is formed between adjacent integrated circuit chips.
In one embodiment, the light emitting device comprises any one of a light emitting diode, a resonant cavity light emitting diode, a laser diode, an organic light emitting diode and a quantum dot light emitting device.
In one embodiment, the light-to-electricity converter is an optoelectronic detector with Si, SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material.
In one embodiment, the modulator is integrated on the integrated circuit chip or with the light emitting device.
In one embodiment, the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a clock generation module integrated on the integrated circuit chip or being an independent chip.
In one embodiment, the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device are integrated together by packaging.
In one embodiment, the light emitting device is formed on a substrate of the integrated circuit chip by epitaxial growth.
In one embodiment, the light emitting device is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
In one embodiment, the light signal is a polychromatic light signal with lights with different wavelengths.
The clock signal transmission apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure has following advantages. 1. With the clock signal transmission apparatus, a light is used as a signal transmission medium. Delay caused by light transmission is very small and may be negligible in most applications. Compared with a conventional electrical interconnection, the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality. Moreover, the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus.
2. The clock signal transmission apparatus uses a light guide plate to distribute light so as to enable the light signal to be transmitted to individual regions of the integrated circuit chip.
Compared with other optical interconnection techniques, this clock signal transmission apparatus has simple structure and low cost.
3. Lights with different wavelengths are used to realize a multiplexing, multiple clock domains and a complex logic. Taking an integrated circuit chip with a red light emitting device and a blue light emitting device as an example, circuits with two clock signals may work simultaneously by disposing a red light sensitive optoelectronic sensor and a blue light sensitive optoelectronic sensor at different regions of the integrated circuit chip respectively.
Additional aspects and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent in part from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 2a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 2b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line A- A' shown in Fig. 2a; Fig. 3a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 3b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line B-B' shown in Fig. 3a;
Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a photonic crystal structure;
Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a light guide plate;
Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure; and
Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail in the following descriptions, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar elements and elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions. The embodiments described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings are explanatory and illustrative, which are used to generally understand the present disclosure. The embodiments shall not be construed to limit the present disclosure.
In the specification, terms such as "first" and "second" are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance. In addition, Terms concerning attachments, coupling and the like, such as "connected" and "interconnected", refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments or relationships, unless expressly described otherwise.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a clock signal transmission apparatus is provided. Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 1, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2 and a modulator 4. The integrated circuit chip 1 may comprise: at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 for converting a light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator (not shown) for demodulating the electric signal to obtain a clock signal. In this case, a size of the integrated circuit chip 1 is small enough so that a light emitted by the light emitting device 2 may be directly transmitted to the light-to-electricity converter 11 on the integrated circuit chip 1 without using a light guide plate.
The light-to-electricity converter 11 may be an optoelectronic detector with Si, SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material. The light emitting device 2 may be a light emitting diode (LED), a resonant cavity light emitting diode (RC-LED), a laser diode (LD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or a quantum dot light emitting device. The modulator 4 is used for receiving the clock signal and modulating the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal. The light emitting device 2 is adopted to generate the light signal corresponding to the clock signal. The modulator 4 also comprises a drive circuit for driving the light emitting device 2. It should be noted that the number of the light-to-electricity converters 11 shown in the drawings is exemplary, and the particular number may be set according to practical requirements.
In one embodiment, the modulator 4 may be integrated on the integrated circuit chip 1 or with the light emitting device 2. To this end, a reference numeral of the modulator 4 is not shown in most drawings.
In one embodiment, the clock signal transmission apparatus further comprises a clock generation module 5, which may be integrated on the integrated circuit chip 1 or be an independent chip. To this end, a reference numeral of the clock generation module 5 is not shown in most drawings.
A working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment is as follows: the modulator 4 receives a clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light signal is transmitted to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the electric signal is demodulated to generate the clock signal by the at least one demodulator. In this way, the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip. With the clock signal transmission apparatus, a light is used as a signal transmission medium.
Compared with a conventional electrical interconnection, the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality. Moreover, the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus. Furthermore, the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of simple structure and low cost.
Fig. 2a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 2b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line A-A' shown in Fig. 2a, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal. As shown in Figs. 2a- 2b, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3 and a modulator 4 (not shown). The integrated circuit chip 1 comprises six light-to-electricity converters 11 and six demodulators (not shown). It should be noted that, six light-to-electricity converters in this embodiment is merely explanatory and illustrative, but should not be construed to limit the present disclosure. In practice, the number of the light-to-electricity converters is determined according to the requirement of the integrated circuit chip.
The light guide plate 3 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1 for guiding the light signal to the six light-to-electricity converters 11 to make the six light-to-electricity converters generate the electric signal according to the light signal. A light entrance surface of the light guide plate 3 is contacted with the light emitting device 2. Because the light emitted from a local position of the light emitting device 2 can be uniformly transmitted to a larger region (such as a region covering the integrated circuit chip 1) by the light guide plate 3 so as to arrive each light-to-electricity converter 11, as shown in Fig. 2b. In this way, a position of the integrated circuit chip 1 is not required to be disposed corresponding to that of the light emitting device 2, as long as the light can be transmitted to each light-to-electricity converter 11. Therefore, respective elements may be flexibly disposed on the integrated circuit chip 1, that is, light-to-electricity converters 11 may be disposed flexibly, and a relative position between the light emitting device 2 and the light guide plate 3 may be determined flexibly. For example, the light emitting device 2 is disposed at sides of the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light guide plate 3. In this case, the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light emitting device 2 may be integrated together by packaging.
Fig. 3a is a schematic perspective view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 3b is a schematic cross-sectional view of the clock signal transmission apparatus along line B-B' shown in Fig. 3a, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal. Similar to Figs. 2a-2b, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3 and a modulator 4 (not shown). A difference between these two embodiments lies in that, as shown in Figs. 3a-3b, the light emitting device 2 is disposed on a substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 and under the light guide plate 3. In this case, the light emitting device 2 may be formed on the substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 by epitaxial growth, particularly by heterogeneously epitaxial growth. In one embodiment, the light emitting device 2 is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
A working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus according to these two embodiments is as follows: the modulator 4 receives a clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light guide plate 3 guides the light signal to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 so as to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the at least one demodulator demodulates the electric signal to generate the clock signal. In this way, the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip.
Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal. As shown in Fig. 4, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a light guide plate 3, a modulator 4 and a clock generation module 5. Similarly, the integrated circuit chip 1 comprises at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 and at least one demodulator 13. Each light-to-electricity converter 11 is connected with one demodulator 13. The demodulator 13 comprises a transimpedance amplifier circuit for amplifying an optoelectronic signal and demodulating an electric signal from the light-to-electricity converter 11 into a clock signal. A demodulating mode of the demodulator 13 is corresponding to a modulating mode of the modulator 4. The light emitting device 2 and the modulator 4 are disposed at sides of the integrated circuit chip 1 and the light guide plate 3, and the modulator 4 is connected with the clock generation module 5. The light guide plate 3 comprises a light guiding layer 31 and a reflecting layer 32. A light entrance surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the light emitting device 2, and a light exit surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1. The reflecting layer 32 is formed on a surface of the light guiding layer 31 not contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1 or the light emitting device 2 so as to reduce a loss of the light signal.
A working procedure of the clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment is as follows: the clock generation module 5 generates a clock signal, the modulator 4 receives the clock signal and modulates the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal, the light emitting device 2 emits a light signal corresponding to the clock signal, then the light guide plate 3 guides the light signal to the at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 so as to generate a corresponding electric signal, and then the at least one demodulator 13 demodulates the electric signal so as to generate the clock signal. In this way, the clock signal is synchronously transmitted on the whole integrated chip via a light medium.
Specifically, the light-to-electricity converter 11 may be an optoelectronic detector with Si,
SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material. An optoelectronic detector with a material of Si or SiGe commonly used in a CMOS process is preferred, because this type of optoelectronic detector has advantages of small area, high sensitivity, low power consumption, compatibility with current Si-CMOS process, low cost, and small buffer circuit area.
In addition, the light-to-electricity converter 11 is disposed in the integrated circuit chip 1, there is a dielectric interlayer on the light-to-electricity converters 11, and there is a substrate under the light-to-electricity converters 11. Therefore, it is required that an opening is formed in the dielectric interlayer or the substrate and a transparent insulating dielectric is filled in the opening. A position of the opening depends on a position of the light guide plate 3. For example, if the light guide plate 3 is disposed on the integrated circuit chip 1, the opening is formed in the dielectric interlayer; and if the light guide plate 3 is disposed under the integrated circuit chip 1, the opening is formed in the substrate. The transparent insulating dielectric filled in the opening may be Si02, Si3N4, etc.
For a far infrared light signal with a larger wavelength, Si, which is transparent to the far infrared light signal, may be selected as the material of the light guide plate 3 or a light guiding dielectric. In this case, a group III-V material or a Ge based material, which is fit for the far infrared light signal, may be selected as the material of the light emitting device 2 and the light-to-electricity converter 11.
A light- shading structure may be formed between a region apart from each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3. The light- shading structure may be formed by coating a nontransparent material on the surfaces of each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3. Alternatively, the metal interconnections or metal fillings existing between layers of the integrated circuit chip 1 may be used to shade the light signal so as to prevent the light signal from reaching the substrate area of the integrated circuit chip 1, thus avoiding other parasitic optoelectronic effects.
The light emitting device 2 may be any one of a LED, a RC-LED, a LD, an OLED or a quantum dot light emitting device. These types of light emitting devices have advantages of low cost, low power consumption and enough high modulating rate. According to current research data, a modulating rate of the LD may be 10G bits per second, a modulating rate of the LED may be several hundred megabits per second. Preferably, the light emitting device 2 is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
The modulator 4 is used for receiving the clock signal and modulating the light emitting device 2 according to the clock signal so as to enable the light emitting device 2 to turn on/off according to certain frequency and duty ratio. In a preferred embodiment, a multi-clock signal may be obtained by a modulation of the modulator 4. The multi-clock signal controls LEDs or LDs with different colors in the light emitting device 2 to emit lights with different wavelengths (such as a red light or a blue light). In this case, each light-to-electricity converter 11 is disposed corresponding to one wavelength, for example, one light-to-electricity converter 11 is a red light optoelectronic sensor or a blue light optoelectronic sensor. Because the light signals of different wavelengths transmit independently without interference with each other, a distributed transmission of the multi-clock signal may be realized in this way.
In a preferred embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, a photonic crystal structure 14 is formed between each light-to-electricity converter 11 and the light guide plate 3 to realize a selective pass or cut-off of lights with different wavelengths, thus realizing the transmission of the multi-clock signal. As shown in Fig. 5, the photonic crystal structure 14 may be one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Preferably, the photonic crystal structure 14 has a one-dimensional linear grating structure, which belongs to a mature technique and is easy to fabricate. For example, the one-dimensional linear grating structure may be realized by a periodic linear structure, which is formed by an alternate periodic arrangement of two kinds of dielectric layers with different refractive indices. A spacing of the periodic linear structure approximates to a wavelength of the light to pass the periodic linear structure, so as to allow the light with specific wavelength to pass or cut-off.
The light guide plate 3 comprises a light guiding layer 31 and a reflecting layer 32. A light entrance surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the light emitting device 2, and a light exit surface of the light guiding layer 31 is contacted with the integrated circuit chip 1. The light guiding layer 31 may be formed by depositing a BeO crystal layer on a top surface of the integrated circuit chip 1. Alternatively, the light guiding layer 31 may be replaced by a wedge structure, as shown in Fig. 6. In this way, the light can be distributed and transmitted by a total reflection characteristic of the wedge structure. The reflecting layer 32 may use a metal total reflection mirror or a distributed Bragg reflector to reduce a light leakage.
Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a clock signal transmission apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal. As shown in Fig. 7, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises: an integrated circuit chip 1, a light emitting device 2, a modulator 4 and a clock generation module 5. Similarly, the integrated circuit chip 1 comprises at least one light-to-electricity converter 11 and at least one demodulator 13. In this embodiment, a material of a substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 is Si, and the light signal emitted from the light emitting device 2 is a far infrared light unabsorbed by Si, so that the substrate of the integrated circuit chip 1 is used for guiding the light and thus an additional light guide plate is not required. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment has an advantage of simple structure.
Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a three-dimensional clock signal transmission apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which respective arrows represent a transmission direction of a light signal. As shown in Fig. 8, the clock signal transmission apparatus comprises a plurality of integrated circuit chips 1 stacked vertically, in which a light guiding layer 31 is formed between adjacent integrated circuit chips 1, and a light emitting device 2 is formed at sides of the plurality of stacked integrated circuit chips 1. A light signal corresponding to a clock signal and emitted from the light emitting device 2 is guided to light-to-electricity converters 11 in the plurality of integrated circuit chips 1 by the light guiding layers 31. This three-dimensional clock signal transmission apparatus according to this embodiment is applicable for a multi-stacked integrated circuit chip.
The clock signal transmission apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure has following advantages.
1. With the clock signal transmission apparatus, a light is used as a signal transmission medium. Compared with a conventional electrical interconnection, the light signal transmits independently and has advantages of noninterference with each other, so that the clock signal transmission apparatus may have advantages of small delay, low power consumption, and resistance to electromagnetic interference and the clock signal may be synchronously transmitted easily and have high signal quality. Moreover, the clock signal transmission apparatus may work at a higher frequency than a pure electric clock signal transmission apparatus.
2. The clock signal transmission apparatus uses a light guide plate to distribute light so as to enable the light signal to be transmitted to individual regions of the integrated circuit chip.
Compared with other optical interconnection techniques, this clock signal transmission apparatus has simple structure and low cost.
3. Lights with different wavelengths are used to realize a multiplexing, multiple clock domains and a complex logic. Taking an integrated circuit chip with a red light emitting device and a blue light emitting device as an example, circuits with two clock signals may work simultaneously by disposing a red light sensitive optoelectronic sensor and a blue light sensitive optoelectronic sensor at different regions of the integrated circuit chip respectively.
Reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment", "some embodiments", "one embodiment", "an example", "a specific examples", or "some examples" means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as "in some embodiments", "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment", "an example", "a specific examples", or "some examples" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, alternatives, and modifications may be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit and principles of the disclosure. Such changes, alternatives, and modifications all fall into the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A clock signal transmission apparatus, comprising:
a modulator for receiving a clock signal and modulating a light emitting device according to the clock signal;
the light emitting device for emitting a light signal corresponding to the clock signal; and an integrated circuit chip comprising: at least one light-to-electricity converter for converting the light signal into an electric signal, and at least one demodulator for demodulating the electric signal to obtain the clock signal.
2. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a light guide plate contacted with the integrated circuit chip for guiding the light signal to at least one light-to-electricity converter to make the at least one light-to-electricity converter generate the electric signal according to the light signal,
wherein a light entrance surface of the light guide plate is contacted with the light emitting device.
3. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the light guide plate comprises:
a light guiding layer contacted with the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device respectively; and
a reflecting layer formed on a surface of the light guiding layer not contacted with the integrated circuit chip or the light emitting device.
4. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when a material of a substrate of the integrated circuit chip is Si and the light signal is a far infrared light unabsorbed by Si, the substrate of the integrated circuit chip is used as the light guide plate.
5. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a transparent dielectric is filled between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
6. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a light- shading structure is formed between a region apart from each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate.
7. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a photonic crystal structure is formed between each light-to-electricity converter and the light guide plate to realize a selective pass or cut-off of lights with different wavelengths.
8. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a plurality of integrated circuit chips stacked vertically, wherein the light guiding layer is formed between adjacent integrated circuit chips.
9. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the light emitting device comprises any one of a light emitting diode, a resonant cavity light emitting diode, a laser diode, an organic light emitting diode and a quantum dot light emitting device.
10. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-9, wherein the light-to-electricity converter is an optoelectronic detector with Si, SiGe, Ge or a group III-V semiconductor material.
11. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the modulator is integrated on the integrated circuit chip or with the light emitting device.
12. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-11, further comprising a clock generation module integrated on the integrated circuit chip or being an independent chip.
13. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-12, wherein the integrated circuit chip and the light emitting device are integrated together by packaging.
14. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-13, wherein the light emitting device is formed on a substrate of the integrated circuit chip by epitaxial growth.
15. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the light emitting device is a heterogeneously integrated on-chip light emitting device with a group III-V or II- VI semiconductor material.
16. The clock signal transmission apparatus according to any of claims 1-15, wherein the light signal is a polychromatic light signal with lights with different wavelengths.
PCT/CN2013/073921 2012-04-09 2013-04-09 Clock signal transmission apparatus WO2013152707A1 (en)

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