Design and Implementation of Reconfigurable Optoelectronic Integrated Chips

Dear Colleagues,

Reconfigurable optoelectronic integrated chips (ROEICs) have been the subject of much interest in recent years due to their potential applications in artificial intelligence (AI) and optical communication systems. This Special Issue is chiefly concerned with the following aspects of ROEICs: 3D ROEICs, silicon photonics, co-packaged optics (CPO), reconfigurations in optical neural networks (ONNs), sensing, integrated storage and computing chips, the reconfigurability of nonlinear activation functions, and other related topics. The details of each topic will be briefly introduced in the following paragraphs.

• Topic 1: Silicon Photonics and Critical Devices

Silicon photonics is a rising star in the semiconductor industry. It utilizes the mature CMOS production line to fabricate photonic integrated circuits on SOI substrates and has the potential to integrate Si/Ge optoelectronic devices with III-V laser or lithium niobate platforms. Silicon photonics is believed to have a prosperous future, and thus could be an ideal platform for future ROEIC applications. Companies including TSMC, Intel, and UMEC have been investigating and establishing production lines for silicon photonics. We welcome the submission of manuscripts on new devices, systems, applications, and chips based on silicon photonics.

• Topic 2: Co-Packaged Optics (CPO)

CPO was proposed to address the bandwidth and energy-consuming bottleneck experienced with all copper interconnections or pluggable optical components. CPO based on ROEICs could provide a better solution for future inter-chip communication and data pre-processing. We seek submissions that focus on new techniques related to 2.5D and 3D CPO and new CPO architectures.

• Topic 3: Optical Neural Networks (ONNs)

In terms of ONNs based on ROEICs, this Special Issue will cover devices such as waveguides, micro-ring resonators (MRRs), and Mach–Zehnder interferometers (MZIs), which are utilized to dynamically modulate the phase, amplitude, or path of optical signals through thermo-optic or electro-optic effects. Articles on structural reconfiguration, meta-surfaces, the reconfigurability of nonlinear activation functions, spatial light calculations, diffraction neural networks, and any systems or devices that could make use of ONNs would meet our criteria.

• Topic 4: In-Sensor Computing Chips

In-sensor computing chips employ a different chip design approach compared to the conventional von Neumann architecture, integrating sensing and computation functionalities to reduce the volume of data transmitted and achieve a parallel working principle similar to the human retina. Articles on chip designs based on novel architectures, materials, and device structures will be warmly received.

• Topic 5: 3D Integration:

The 3D ROEIC is a novel technology that could pave the way toward high-efficiency optical interconnection and data processing, thus benefiting communication, quantum computing, and imaging applications. New theoretical or experimental works that demonstrate advanced manufacturing processes, performance optimization, and applied research into 3D ROEICs in fields such as beam manipulation, optical communication, and optical computing are sought.

This Special Issue aims to highlight advances in the development, modeling, simulation, and implementation of ROEICs, from the component device level to that of complete systems.

Dr. Jiyuan Zheng
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Chips is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• reconfigurable photonic integrated circuits
• optical computing
• silicon photonics
• in-sensor computing
• optoelectronics