Project RAMPLAS targets the first 100GHz optical RAM silicon chips

Enschede, the Netherlands, November 15th, 2011. Six parties are teaming up to participate in the research project Ramplas, "100 Gbps Optical RAM on-chip: silicon-based, integrated Optical RAM enabling High-Speed Applications in Computing and Communications ", which is partly funded by the European Commission. The project aims to develop the first 100Gbps optical random access memory chip.

For over two decades the ICT sector witnesses the steadily increasing gap between processor and memory speed that is commonly referred to as the Memory Wall”. Current electronic RAM (random access memory) is too slow to keep up with the increased processor speeds, creating a bottleneck in system performance. To address this, the RAMPLAS consortium will revisit RAM fundamentals and will lay the foundation for a new optical RAM technology and for optical RAM-enabled ultra-fast computing architectures. The consortium will develop the first 100Gbps optical Random Access Memory chips exploiting photonic integration technologies at the Silicon-on-Insulator platform. An increase of RAM access speeds by two orders of magnitude is expected and the power consumption will decrease 50% compared to existing state-of-the-art electronic RAM modules. Moreover, RAMPLAS intends to foster a new framework of the required disciplines for its effective application in the fields of Computing, Communications and Test & Measurement technologies.

The consortium, headed by the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, CERTH, (Greece), comprises the Technical University of Berlin (Germany), VTT (Finland), PhoeniX Software (the Netherlands), Institute of Communication and Computer Science, ICCS, (Greece) and the Tampere University of Technology (Finland). The project officially started on September 1, 2011, and will run for three years. The project will share open information through its newly launched website: www.ict-ramplas.eu .

About PhoeniX Software:
PhoeniX Software is a privately held company based in Enschede, the Netherlands. Founded in 2003, PhoeniX Software has to date significant presence in the photonics industry as supplier and developer of state of the art photonic simulation tools at the physical and sub-system layer. In addition to that it delivers chip and mask design software and a manufacturing execution system dedicated to micro- and nano- technology fabrication processes. PhoeniX Software has a proven track record in European projects (DRIESO, PI-Oxide, Pythia, Apache, Helios, Paradigm). PhoeniX Software will work on design and simulation support, as well as develop the numerical tools that are needed to obtain the goals set out in the project.

PhoeniX will mainly focus on the development of the software tools required for the design and simulation of RAMPLAS modules. Moreover, it will be the main contributor to the design of the dilute nitride SOAs as well as the RAMPLAS RAM chips. PhoeniX leads WP7.

PhoeniX Software
Hengelosestraat 705
7521 PA Enschede
the Netherlands

Press Contact:
Twan Korthorst
info@phoenixbv.com

This release was published on openPR.