Design of optically coupled three dimensional common memory for parallel processor system

1 . I n t r o d u c t i o n The o p t i c a l l y c o u p l e d t h r e e d i m e n s i o n a l common memory ( c a l l e d 3D-OCC memory h e r e a f t e r ) i a a newly p roposed i n t e l l i g e n t memory f o r h i g h speed p a r a l l e l p r o c e s s i n g i n c o m p u t a t i o n [ l ] . Rapid t r a n s f e r of memory d a t a and t h e i r s i m u l t a n e o u s use by many CPU's are key i s s u e s f o r a c h i e v i n g u l t r a f a s t p a r a l l e l p r o c e s s i n g . The 3 D O C C memory i a a b l e t o t r a n s f e r a l a r g e b l o c k of d a t a w i t h v e r y h i g h speed by means of o p t i c a l c o u p l i n g in t h e v e r t i c a l d i r e c t i o n , v h i l e t h e c o n v e n t i o n a l memory o p e r a t i o n i s c a r r i e d o u t in t h e h o r i a o n t a l p l s n e . A l s o , s t o r e d d a t a i n t h e c o m m o n memory c a n b e a c c e s s e d by many p r o o e s s o r a v i t h o u t c o l l i s i o n . T h i s p a p e r d e s c r i b e 8 t h e d e a i g n methodology o f s u c h 3D-OCC memory w i t h t h e c a p a c i t y of 4 K b i t a x l b i t x 4 l a y e r s b a s e d on 2pm CMOS t e c h n o l o g y .