Sub-1nm Wireless Local Interconnect and Photonic Millimeter Wave ULSI with the Optoelectronic Microwave CMOS Technology - Will The Cutoff Frequency and Clock Speed Races Resume?

Traditionally, CMOS is not considered a microwave nor light emitting device. Similar to laser or LED, and microwave devices, Photonic Millimeter Wave CMOS transistors are both light as well as microwave emitting devices. Ultra-low-resistance tunnel lasers, tunnel and avalanche millimeter wave diodes (in the drain region), avalanche photon sensors (in the well and channel regions) and MOSFET are fabricated as one integral transistor. When the MOSFET is on, all other devices are on. When the MOSFET is off, all other devices are also turned off. Potentially, CMOS may outperform these discrete lasers and microwave diodes for better quantum efficiency, reliability, and thermal stability.<br/><br/>Ever since AMD releases the 64-bits Athlon processor in around 2005-2006, the clock speed race for ASIC and processors has been almost stopped. Improvements of performance rely on parallel processing, multiple cores, or 3-dimensional packages. The limitation of clock speed is partially due to the RC and other delays, and electronic design and architecture, while silicon CMOS cutoff frequency may reach as high as 300GHz. With the laser millimeter wave CMOS technology, optical microwave computing may resume the races to extremely high clock speeds, with amplified bandwidth and wireless micro ULSI.<br/><br/>In modern societies, wireless tools, such as computers, printers, and cell phones, are replacing almost all the wired electronic tools. For RF ASICs and ULSI, typically there are many layers of backend metals, and wired local interconnects. Many of these metal wires can be eliminated by wireless designs, using new models simulated with the Photonic Microwave CMOS. The very large number (billions or even a trillion) and multiple layers of metal wires seen in ASICs and ULSI significantly retard the cutoff frequency, signal or clock speeds.<br/><br/>Using microwave photonic CMOS, transistor cutoff frequencies can be extended to beyond 300GHz and well into the Terahertz range. In this report, we will discuss the following:<br/><br/>Process integration and circuit design implementing microwave photonic CMOS to reduce the number of metal wires.<br/>Powered optical waveguides that substantially increase the CMOS output current and speed.<br/>Microwave computing and ASIC - using the polarized, filtered, and multiplexed technologies.<br/>Micro-antenna designs and microwave filters for photonic microwave computing.<br/>SRAM designs - how to design an ultra-fast microwave photonic SRAM for sub-1nm wireless processors.<br/>CMOS VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) and Millimeter Wave CMOS - how to achieve 3D wireless and optical designs.<br/>How to design logic gates with nonlinear optical materials and optical filters / polarizers.<br/>How wireless microwave photonic CMOS and optical computing may resume the cutoff frequency and clock speed races for terahertz operations, by replacing many of the metal wires with central micro antennas and microwave filters / polarizers.<br/><br/>We will also illustrate how to design wireless ASICs using negative-resistance tunnel and avalanche microwave CMOS (IMPATT, BARITT). Transferred electronic effects and photon-accelerated avalanche microwave generation significantly improve the CMOS speed and ASIC cutoff frequencies.