Dalir’s CHIP Lab Works To Revolutionize Low-Power Components for AI Hardware Accelerators

The University of Florida’s Center for Heterogeneous Integration and Photonics (CHIP Lab), led by Hamed Dalir, Ph.D., has been awarded up to $435,000 by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, to pioneer a transformative approach to analog-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analog (DAC) conversion for next-generation AI accelerator processors. The project is a joint effort with Mahdi Nikdast, Ph.D., of Colorado State University, a recognized leader in photonic interconnects and circuit-level optimization.

The initiative aims to eliminate longstanding bottlenecks in signal conversion by developing a novel integrated architecture that directly bridges optical, photonic, analog, and digital domains. Unlike conventional systems that rely on multiple discrete components—each contributing to latency and energy inefficiency—this new class of converters uses engineered phase-change materials (PCMs) and tailored optical loss elements to perform domain conversion in a single compact unit.

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