Theory of all-silicon two-photon receivers for monolithic on-chip interconnects

We theoretically analyze the use of an all-silicon PIN two-photon absorption detector integrated in a deep-submicron CMOS technology as a receiver for on-chip interconnects. Exploiting a new type of nanocavity with deep sub-wavelength light confinement, a low capacitance detector integrated with a CMOS amplifier front-end can provide a logic-level voltage output at 5 Gbps even when operating at low quantum efficiency and at BER levels suitable for on-chip signaling for a transmitter energy of just 1 fJ/bit.