Patent ID: 7915699

Claim:
An integrated circuit chip, comprising: an active face upon which active circuitry and signal pads reside, and a back face without active circuitry or signal pads opposite the active face; an electromagnetic via in a substrate of the integrated circuit chip that facilitates communication between signal pads on the integrated circuit chip and signal pads on a second integrated circuit chip, wherein the substrate of the integrated circuit chip is a solid block of a single material that is fabricated from a substance through which one or more predetermined types of electromagnetic signals can pass; wherein the electromagnetic via couples the signal pads on the active face of the integrated circuit chip to the back face of the integrated circuit chip so that the integrated circuit chip can communicate with the second integrated circuit chip while the back face of the integrated circuit chip is adjacent to the active face of the second integrated circuit chip; wherein the electromagnetic via facilitates non-conductive signaling through the solid substrate of the integrated circuit chip; wherein electromagnetic signal is received through the electromagnetic via by a smart pixel in the integrated circuit chip, wherein the smart pixel is one of a set of smart pixels fabricated in the integrated circuit chip, and wherein each smart pixel includes a separate circuit in the smart pixel for performing a dedicated function for the smart pixel.