Predictive Software Scheduling as an Early-Warning Hint Layer for Optical Engine Thermal Drift in Heterogeneous SoIC Packaging

TL;DR

This paper discusses a predictive scheduling approach to mitigate thermal drift in optical engines within advanced heterogeneous SoIC packaging, addressing critical thermal-optical coupling challenges at the 2 nm node.

Contribution

It introduces a novel early-warning hint layer that predicts thermal drift effects, enhancing reliability in co-packaged optical systems.

Findings

Thermal drift significantly impacts optical resonator performance.

Predictive scheduling can reduce bit error rate degradation.

Thermal-optical coupling challenges are critical at 2 nm node.

Abstract

As semiconductor scaling reaches the A16 / 2 nm node, the integration of co-packaged optics (CPO) via TSMC's Co-Packaged Optics Ultra Engine (COUPE) architecture introduces critical thermal-optical coupling challenges. Micro-ring resonators embedded in the Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) layer are exquisitely sensitive to temperature: a deviation of merely +-1.7 nm in resonant wavelength causes measurable Bit Error Rate (BER) degradation.