RAMPLAS effort seeks 100-Gbps optical RAM

A new project, partially funded by the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-ICT-2009-C), will seek to develop a silcon-based optical random access memory (RAM) device capable of operating at 100 Gbps. The effort, called RAMPLAS, will seek to improve upon the access speeds now supported by Static RAM and DDR3 DRAM devices in a way that can keep pace with advances in processor speeds.

The three-year effort will combine the expertise of six participants:

The Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH; Greece), which will lead the consortium ;

The Technical University of Berlin (Germany);

VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland) ;

PhoeniX Software (the Netherlands) ;

The Institute of Communication and Computer Science (ICCS; Greece) ;

The Tampere University of Technology (Finland).

The consortium says it will rely on advances in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) fabrication technology to develop silicon-based optical RAM chips. Specifically, the RAMPLAS group hopes to combine 1.55-μm Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) gain chips with nanometer-scale SOI waveguide platforms. The participants also hope to develop uncooled InGaAsNSb (dilute nitride-antimonide) SOAs as active elements.

December 15, 2011

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