title: Integrated photonics with programmable non-volatile memory.
abstract: Silicon photonics integrated circuits (Si-PIC) with well-established active and passive building elements are progressing towards large-scale commercialization in optical communications and high speed optical interconnects applications. However, current Si-PICs do not have memory capabilities, in particular, the non-volatile memory functionality for energy efficient data storage. Here, we propose an electrically programmable, multi-level non-volatile photonics memory cell (PMC) fabricated by standard complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes. A micro-ring resonator (MRR) was built using the PMC to optically read the memory states. Switching energy smaller than 20 pJ was achieved. Additionally, a MRR memory array was employed to demonstrate a four-bit memory read capacity. Theoretically, this can be increased up to ~400 times using a 100 nm free spectral range broadband light source. The fundamental concept of this design provides a route to eliminate the von Neumann bottleneck. The energy-efficient optical storage can complement on-chip optical interconnects for neutral networking, memory input/output interfaces and other computational intensive applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.|State Key Laboratory on Integrated opto-electronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Xian-Shu
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Andy Eu-Jin
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Tsung-Yang
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Liow
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Lian-Xi
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Xiao-Guang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore 117685.
authors.forename: Guo-Qiang
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Lo