CMOS static RAM chip with high-speed optical read and write

Abstract

We present the first demonstration of a dense VLSI RAM technology with high-speed optical read and optical write capability. The CMOS-based Static-RAM technology is capable of parallel optical access with read/write speeds limited by the native RAM access times. We fabricated a 2/spl times/2 mm optoelectronic-VLSI test chip incorporating 800-b storage and 200 optical I/O based on the hybrid integration of GaAs-AlGaAs MQW modulators on CMOS. Results from the photonic-SRAM test-chip confirm 6.2 ns read and 8-ns write capability.