**Author details**

80 Optical Communication

optoelectronic circuits.

electronic schemes.

The physical aspects include constructing an optoelectronic gate that allows combining single-layer ICs in the two-layer structures and an experimental test of its operability. The assessment of potential of project of a customized device, a matrix processor for the image processing from the standpoint of its performance and of its manufacturability permits to draw the following conclusions about the prospects of the chosen direction of constructing

Despite the fact that the size of one of the components (light modulator) of the optoelectronic logic gate is much larger than the active components of the modern microelectronics because of the wave nature of the optical signal, the performance and manufacturability of specialized devices of this type can greatly exceed similar characteristics of a purely electronic device. This is due to the fact that the number of elementary components in an optoelectronic device is significantly less than that in a purely electronic device with the same functionality. Reducing the number of components results from a local structure of logical connections and from the unidirectional light propagation (in electronic conductors a required direction of motion of the electrons is obtained by using a set of gates). There are virtually no intersections in optical conductors. This greatly facilitates the design of ICs and lets them be cheaper, more reliable and easily manufacturable. High throughput between layers by the means of optical channels gives a hope that an essentially greater performance could be reachable in comparison with purely

Computer aspects of the work are devoted to the foundations of the algorithmic design of 3D ICs based on the formal model of fine-grain parallel computing, Parallel Substitution Algorithm, and to WinALT simulation system, presented in [15, 16]. A family of optoelectronic matrices was developed using WinALT. Comparison of two graphic images in all matrices, which is a main logical operation, is carried out optically exactly the same way as in devices built on the basis of optoelectronic gate. The functions of information storage are carried out electrically. High homogeneity, simplicity of topology and a low complexity of cells are the features of the matrix. A wide range of matrices was built. They vary by a number of layers, by functionality and by ratio of optical and electronic components. The proposed matrices can serve as an ALU basis in a general purpose CPU. The selection of a particular choice depends primarily on the kind of physical parameters, on which a designer can be oriented to, and on the kind of operations that a matrix has to perform. And this requires interaction between experts in different domains: physics, algorithm, programming, etc. The above suggests the following conclusions about the

The system's site must evolve into a fully functional online resource providing the ability to create a network (virtual) team consisting of specialists in different domains, and let them

The mapping of only one version of a fine-grain structure, a reconfigurable CA, to an optoelectronic structure is presented in the paper. There are many fine-grain structures and algorithms for different purposes, which may be of interest for optoelectronic implementation.

directions in which algorithmic design tools are to be developed.

actively participate in a joint development of a 3D IC using the Internet.

Edward G. Kostsov *Institute of Automation and Electrometry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia* 

Sergey V. Piskunov and Mike B. Ostapkevich *Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia* 
