Patent ID: 7490189

Claim:
A multi-chip switch, comprising: a first semiconductor die; a second semiconductor die; wherein each of the first semiconductor die and the second semiconductor die comprises: a plurality of proximity connectors proximate to a surface of the semiconductor die, wherein the semiconductor die is communicates signals by capacitive coupling using one or more of the plurality of proximity connectors; wherein the plurality of proximity connectors comprise a plurality of input ports to receive the signals, and a plurality of output ports to output the signals; and a plurality of switching elements to selectively couple the plurality of input ports to the plurality of output ports in accordance with a set of control signals, wherein the set of control signals corresponds to a configuration of the switch; a bridge chip capacitively coupled to the plurality of proximity connectors on the first semiconductor die and the plurality of proximity connectors on the second semiconductor die to provide communication paths which enable the first semiconductor die and the second semiconductor die collectively function as part of the multi-chip switch; wherein the bisection bandwidth across the bridge chip equals the full bandwidth of the multi-chip switch.