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INSiAVA comes to light
The story of INSiAVA The computer industry is faced with The innovation race to solve
FO CU S
the so-called interconnect dilemma, the chip-to-chip interconnect
(injection-enhanced silicon a challenge that was predicted dilemma continues within a
decades ago by the co-founder of chequered environment. So-called
in avalanche) started with Intel, Gordon Moore. “breakthrough” technologies are
announced almost on a daily
a vision in the early 1990s.
In its quest to solve the chip-to-chip basis that claim to turn around the
I NNO V AT IO N
interconnect problem, INSiAVA (Pty) interconnect problem.
It is a story interwoven with
Ltd, a privately owned company
foresight, flawless timing, a established by the University of However, INSiAVA’s competitive and
Pretoria as the commercialisation strategic advantage lies in the fact
methodological approach to vehicle of its silicon electroluminescent that most chip-to-chip interconnect
technology (the generation of light “solutions” are not compatible with
both business and research, from an electrical current), recently CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-
achieved another critical milestone. semiconductor) standards, which
and – above all – discipline. means that they cannot be used in
Farsighted thinking the industry’s mega-billion dollar
silicon-based plants.
As early as 1990, Prof Monuko
du Plessis, Director of the Carl Prof Du Plessis’ vision to use silicon-
and Emily Fuchs Institute for based optical technology is therefore
Microelectronics (CEFIM) at the one of the computing industry’s
University of Pretoria, spearheaded potentially most sought-after new
CEFIM’s research efforts to focus on technologies.
optical communication as the way to
solve the chip-to-chip and on-chip A phased process
interconnect problem. This prophetic
insight turned out to be immensely According to Gerrie Mostert, who is
accurate in terms of the way in which responsible for operationalising the
the industry unfolded. start-up venture, INSiAVA (Pty) Ltd,
and building its intellectual property
As a result, Prof Du Plessis focused (IP) portfolio, the project has been
CEFIM’s research efforts on the conducted in phases since it kicked
generation of light in silicon, in off in the early 1990s.
particular. Why silicon? Because 99%
of the world’s computer chips are A balance between the registration
created in silicon. The US$100-billion of international patents and the
industry, dominated by industry giants publication of more than 50 local and
such as Intel, ST Microelectronics and international peer-reviewed articles
Mitsubishi, is based on the production in accredited scientific journals has
of silicon chips in extremely controlled, been a critical balancing act that
maximum-purity silicon wafer plants the team has managed to achieve
– operating under the most highly successfully.
restrictive contamination requirements.
“In the process, publications were
Grasping the implication of this, often delayed due to first patenting
Prof Du Plessis purposefully steered key aspects of the technology. Without
the microelectronic research at the the first two granted USA patents on
University of Pretoria towards light the silicon light-emitting technology, no
generation from silicon, as opposed investor would have been interested in
to any other medium, in order to find the technology. The discipline to delay
synergies with the industry’s existing publications and to file patents at
mega-billion dollar investment in the right time has been crucial in our
silicon plants. journey thus far,” says Mostert.
I N N O V A T I O N F O C U S 6 I N N O V A T E 5 2 0 1 0
The number of
components that can be
placed on an integrated
circuit has doubled every
two years, and this trend
is expected to continue.
– Gordon Moore,
co-founder of Intel
F E A T U R E S 7 I N N O V A T E 5 2 0 1 0
To date, INSiAVA has filed patent
Moore’s Law: applications for a suite of 12 different
inventions, which all underpin vital
breakthroughs and/or technological
how it created the building blocks along the INSiAVA
research path.
interconnect dilemma Phase I and Phase II of the project
focused on creating and developing
the silicon light source.
Current delay trend Phase III focused on making the
silicon light source more efficient,
while identifying a range of potential
applications. It was underpinned by
the key research objective to improve
Delay
the external quantum efficiency of the
light source from 0.01% to 0.1%.
Transistor Interconnect delay This objective was achieved in
delay (RC time constant) November 2009.
“Getting the power efficiency right
50 to 100nm remains a critical aspect and will
continue to form the focus for the
Dimension of integrated circuit structures fourth phase of development,” says
Mostert. Power efficiency refers to
1. Moore’s Law and circuit delay. the fraction of the electrical power
input that converts to usable optical
power output.
In 1965, Gordon E Moore, co- 90 nanometer, the resulting delay is
founder of Intel, noted that the such that it offsets the gain of going Phase IV is primarily aimed at
number of transistors in integrated smaller. This affects the reliability and improving the power efficiency, as well
circuits has doubled every two years overall performance of the circuit. as commercialising the technology.
since the first integrated circuit was It will culminate in the first niche
invented in 1958. He predicted that This phenomenon is widely known applications once the technology
this trend was set to continue. This as “the interconnect dilemma”. meets industry specifications for each
phenomenon is popularly known potential application.
as Moore’s Law. The driving forces One approach to resolve the
behind Moore’s Law were increased interconnect dilemma is to “Research priorities include
processing speed and increased communicate optically (by means improving the power efficiency
functionality, while cost remained of light) between and on computer ratio by experimenting with device
low by having it all available on a chips instead of through metal wires. structure and device design, as well
single chip. The interconnect lines as integrated circuit design.
(copper wires) between transistors Long-distance optical fibre
on chips and between chips have communication is not a new The development programme will also
become thinner, increasingly technology. The challenge of explore surface effects and a silicon
affecting the processing speed. long-distance optical data transfer germanium (Si-Ge) heterojunction
was solved many years ago. The as techniques to improve the power
This reduction in size of the current challenge is to resolve this efficiency,” notes Mostert.
transistors and their interconnecting between and on computer chips.
copper wires meant increased An economically viable solution to The ultimate objective is to achieve
interconnect delays. When the this challenge has been evading the a data transmission rate of 10 Gb/s
transistor size reaches about 100 or computing industry for years. (gigabits per second) within the next
three years.
I N N O V A T I O N F O C U S 8 I N N O V A T E 5 2 0 1 0
According to Mostert, the industry
would not be able to ignore such
transmission rates in a fully CMOS-
compatible technology. “High-
Project profile
speed data communication is a
On 25 October 2010, the Chairperson of INSiAVA (Pty) Ltd,
killer application and will remain
Prof Robin Crewe, announced the approval of a R30 million
our highest priority for the next few
investment in the company over three years by its current
years,” he says. “But there might
shareholders, the University of Pretoria and the South African
also be other attractive applications
Intellectual Property Fund (SAIP Fund), managed by Triumph
that can be developed and
Venture Capital (Pty) Ltd. This marks the imminent launch of
commercialised in parallel by teams
Phase IV of the development of the INSiAVA silicon-based light
dedicated to those applications.”
source technology. The project has proceeded according to
the following course since 1990:
The road to commercialisation
Phase I (1990–2004) Phase III (2007–2010)
A paramount aspect of the
commercialisation process is to consult The University of Pretoria, with The SAIP Fund invested R15 million
and engage with industry to get advice funding received from the Carl and in the project.
on how to approach the research and Emily Fuchs Foundation, made a
development within the commercial substantial investment of several Phase IV (2011–2013)
requirements of the industry. million rand into the project.
An investment of R30 million over
“With R3.6 million in our back pockets Phase II (2004–2006) three years in INSiAVA (Pty) Ltd
at the start of Phase II, we travelled was approved by the shareholders,
overseas to meet with key role- The project received joint funding the SAIP Fund and the University of
players in the computer and venture from the University of Pretoria and the Pretoria, in October 2010.
capital industries to get advice on Innovation Fund of the Department of
how to approach this project,” tells Science and Technology.
Mostert. This, coupled with
Prof Du Plessis’ far-sighted vision transfer is regaining the interest of The solution for the chip-to-chip
to narrow down research efforts to industry. There is a revitalised sense optical interconnect might come
silicon-based optical solutions in of urgency to find a chip-to-chip from South Africa – an achievement
the early 1990s and the discipline of solution, not only promising research that would be remarkable by any
filing patent applications at the right results,” says Mostert. standard. “We are at least a front-
time, made a significant difference to runner in the race,” concluded
INSiAVA’s significant progress to date. Phase IV of the research and the Mostert. “That, in itself, is already an
funding that has recently been secured achievement of note.”
According to the August 2002 issue of mark the start of another exciting phase
IEEE Spectrum, the scientific journal of in INSiAVA’s history that will eventually
the International Institute of Electrical solve the interconnect dilemma.
and Electronic Engineers, short-range
optical data communication was likely
to unfold as follows:
2002: computer to computer
2004–2007: board to board
2007–2012: chip to chip
2013: on-chip optical interconnects
The industry has fallen behind on the
chip-to-chip solution due to the sheer
technical challenge thereof. “After
three to four years of lower budgets
for research efforts, optical data
I N N O V A T I O N F O C U S 9 I N N O V A T E 5 2 0 1 0
