Hamed Dalir, PhD, is part of a nationally-funded initiative to develop a transformative three-dimensional optical packaging platform that redefines how data is routed across and between chips. The $5.2M project is led by Ali Adibi, PhD, professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, in partnership with Dalir, Juejun Hu, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues at AIM Photonics, and nHanced Semiconductor. The team aims to unlock new levels of scalability, bandwidth, and energy efficiency by vertically stacking photonic layers and enabling seamless chip-to-chip optical communication.
“3D Densely Integrated Optical Routing Array” is funded by the DARPA Happi Program—a $40M initiative which aims to revolutionize information transmission within microsystems through advanced photonic solutions.
As AI hardware systems grow increasingly complex, traditional electronic interconnects struggle to keep up with the demands for low-latency, high-bandwidth data transfer. This collaborative effort introduces a vertically integrated photonics infrastructure that incorporates multilayer silicon and silicon nitride waveguides, ultra-compact vertical couplers, and dense vertical waveguide arrays embedded in thick substrates. By shifting from lateral wiring to 3D optical interconnects, the team is creating a scalable architecture that minimizes footprint and power consumption while dramatically improving performance.
Dr. Dalir’s team at UF is leading the development of high-efficiency vertical coupling structures and advanced packaging methods that ensure robust alignment and manufacturability at scale. These innovations allow tight integration of multiple optical layers and chiplets, transforming rigid 2D layouts into fully interconnected 3D photonic systems. The effort also includes AI-guided physical design and topological optimization to route thousands of optical links efficiently through the stacked layers.
“We’re no longer limited to a flat world when it comes to photonics,” said Dalir. “This is about building vertically—from wafer to wafer and layer to layer—so data can move freely across optical planes, just as light was meant to.” He added, “Our goal is to deliver the packaging and integration foundation that enables tomorrow’s AI systems to operate at full potential, without being constrained by electrical bottlenecks.”