Patent ID: 7280381

Claim:
A system memory, comprising: a carrier substrate; a controller attached to the carrier substrate to transmit and receive optical signals; a first memory module attached to the carrier substrate proximate the controller, the first memory module including a first module substrate and a first memory device attached to the first module substrate; and a second memory module attached to the carrier substrate proximate the first memory module and opposite from the controller, the second memory module including a second module substrate, a second memory device attached to the second module substrate, and an optical transmitter/receiver unit operatively coupled to the second memory device, the first and second memory modules having longitudinal axes in an approximately parallel arrangement with the controller being spaced apart from the first and second memory modules along a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal axes, the first and second memory modules being staged on the carrier substrate such that the second memory module is offset from the first memory module along the longitudinal axis of the second memory module by an amount sufficient to provide an unobstructed path for optical signals between the controller and the optical transmitter/receiver unit of the second memory module.