Addressing system-level trimming issues in on-chip nanophotonic networks

Authors:
Christopher Nitta;Matthew Farrens;Venkatesh Akella
Affiliations:
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616;University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616;University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616
Venue:
HPCA '11 Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE 17th International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The basic building block of on-chip nanophotonic interconnects is the microring resonator [14], and these resonators change their resonant wavelengths due to variations in temperature--a problem that can be addressed using a technique called "trimming", which involves correcting the drift via heating and/or current injection. Thus far system researchers have modeled trimming as a per ring fixed cost. In this work we show that at the system level using a fixed cost model is inappropriate--our simulations demonstrate that the cost of heating has a non-linear relationship with the number of rings, and also that current injection can lead to thermal runaway. We show that a very narrow Temperature Control Window (TCW) must be maintained in order for the network to work as desired. However, by exploiting the group drift property of co-located rings, it is possible to create a sliding window scheme which can increase the TCW. We also show that partially athermal rings can alleviate but not eliminate the problem.