Granted Patent B2

US 12,442,998 · App. 19/170,429 · Granted Oct 14, 2025

Inventors: Philip Winterbottom (San Jose, CA); David Lazovsky (Los Gatos, CA); Ankur Aggarwal (Pleasanton, CA); Martinus Bos (San Jose, CA); Subal Sahni (La Jolla, CA)

Assignee: Celestial AI, Inc.

G02F1/0123G01K7/023G01K7/028G01K7/14G02F1/0113

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. A bridging apparatus for optically joining a first die and a second die, comprising:

a bridge; and

one or more analog/mixed signal (AMS) blocks disposed on the bridge, the one or more AMS blocks each including a respective serializer and deserializer for implementing data serialization and deserialization interfaces between the bridge and the first and second dies to be joined by the bridge, wherein corresponding AMS blocks are respectively connectable to each of the first and second dies to be joined by the bridge using electrical interfaces supporting a communication protocol;

the bridge comprising:

a photonic network comprising a photonic path;

a waveguide, the waveguide being part of the photonic path in the photonic network;

a modulator, the modulator being optically coupled to the photonic path and electrically coupled to a corresponding AMS block;

a photodetector, the photodetector being optically coupled to the photonic path and electrically coupled to a corresponding AMS block;

wherein the bridging apparatus provides a photonic channel for connecting the first and second dies to be joined by the bridge, the photonic channel comprising a serializer, the modulator, the photonic path, the photodetector, and a deserializer, wherein the photonic channel is part of a data communication path provided for the first and second dies.

2. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bridge further comprises a first interconnect region having bondpads arranged in a first bondpad pattern matching with bondpads arranged in a first corresponding bondpad pattern on the first die, and second interconnect region having bondpads arranged in a second bondpad pattern matching with bondpads arranged in a second corresponding bondpad pattern on the second die.

3. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bridge further comprises an electrical inter-connection providing a signal path between a corresponding AMS block and the first or second die, when joined by the bridge.

4. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising the first and second dies, the first and second dies being bonded and electrically coupled to the bridge.

5. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second dies are each electrically connected to respective AMS blocks through electrical paths in the bridge.

6. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising the first and second dies and a first and a second AMS block, wherein the first and second AMS blocks are bonded and electrically coupled to the first die and the second die respectively.

7. The bridging apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first and second AMS blocks abut the first die and the second die respectively.

8. The bridging apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first and second die each have a respective central region, and the first and the second AMS blocks are bonded to the respective central regions of the first die and second die.

9. The bridging apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a compute element is disposed around the central region of the first die.

10. The bridging apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a memory region is disposed around the central region of the first die.

11. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an edge coupler coupled to the photonic network, the edge coupler configured to provide an optical interface to one or more optical fibers.

12. The bridging apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a light engine, the light engine being external to the bridge and optically coupled to the one or more optical fibers, the light engine providing optical signals for transmission on the photonic network to the modulator.

13. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a light engine integrated with the bridge and optically coupled to the modulator.

14. The bridging apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the modulator is configured to modulate the optical signals provided by the light engine.

15. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a modulator driver that is a part of the bridge, wherein a corresponding AMS block is operable to provide a control signal to the modulator driver.

16. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more AMS blocks are abutted to the bridge at a distance less than 50 microns.

17. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication protocol is UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express) or PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express).

18. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the modulator comprises one or more of Mach-Zehnder interferometer, ring modulator, or micro-ring resonator.

19. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bridge further comprises a multiplexer and a demultiplexer, the multiplexer being optical coupled through the photonic network to the modulator, and further optically coupled through the photonic network to provide signals to an optical interface, wherein the multiplexer is configured to perform wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), and the demultiplexer being optically coupled through the photonic network to the photodetector, and further optically coupled through the photonic network to receive signals from the optical interface, wherein the demultiplexer is configured to demultiplex WDM-multiplexed signals.

20. The bridging apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising a second modulator in the bridge, the second modulator optically coupled to the photonic path and electrically coupled to a corresponding AMS block, and wherein the multiplexer receives modulated signals from both the modulator and the second modulator.

21. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bridge is a photonic integrated circuit.

22. The bridging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the modulator comprises a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in combination with a micro-ring resonator.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (7)

References Cited (312)

Cited By (3)

US 12,674,948 US 12,674,949 US 12,699,240