The Role of Co-Packaged Optics in our Connected Future – Prof. Anthony Chan Carusone (University of Toronto, Alphawave Semi)

Talk Title: The Role of Co-Packaged Optics in our Connected Future

Speaker: Prof. Anthony Chan Carusone

Time: March 23, from 5:00 – 6:00 PM

Location: GB119

Abstract: Progress in computation and communication is increasingly bottlenecked by integrated circuit I/O. CMOS technology scaling has enabled the integration of hundreds of complete modems operating over 100Gbps on a single chip. Whereas optical links were previously reserved for communication over 100’s of kilometres, they are now the primary solution for chip-to-chip links above 100 Gbps over any distance beyond a few metres. Co-packaged optics (CPO) bring optics right to the perimeter of our electronic integrated circuits, and may therefore appear to be a natural continuation of this trend. Indeed, CPO holds the promise of simultaneously lowering system power consumption, decreasing I/O latency, and increasing the total bandwidth of chip I/O.  And yet, at the same time, it has the potential to increase the power density, increase the cost, and limit the bandwidth density of our chip I/O. This talk will clarify these seeming contradictions, and paint a realistic picture of CPO’s role in future connectivity.

Bio: Dr. Tony Chan Carusone has taught and researched integrated circuits and systems in academia and industry for over 20 years. He has been a faculty member at the University of Toronto since completing his Ph.D. there in 2002. He and his graduate students have received eight best-paper awards at leading conferences for their work on chip-to-chip and optical communication circuits, analog-to-digital conversion, and precise clock generation. He has also been a consultant to industry since 1997, and in 2022 became the Chief Technology Officer of Alphawave Semi in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Chan Carusone was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society 2015-2017 and served on the Technical Program Committee of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference from 2015-2021. He has co-authored the latest editions of the classic textbooks “Analog Integrated Circuit Design” along with D. Johns and K. Martin, and “Microelectronic Circuits” along with A. Sedra and K.C. Smith. He was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs in 2009, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 2010-2017 and is now Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Letters.  He is a Fellow of the IEEE.