Patent ID: 7411807

Claim:
A memory module, comprising: an insulative substrate having a plurality of optical paths extending therethrough; a plurality of memory devices mounted on the substrate, each memory device comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of electrical input and output signal lines fabricated in the semiconductor substrate including electrical data signal lines operable to output electrical read data signals and input electrical write data signals, and electrical address and control signal lines operable to input electrical address and control signals; a plurality of optical receivers fabricated in the semiconductor substrate operably coupling the optical paths in the insulative substrate with corresponding data, control and address signal lines, the receivers being operable to receive optical signals and generate corresponding electrical signals; a plurality of surface emitting lasers fabricated in the semiconductor substrate operably coupling the optical paths in the insulative substrate with corresponding data signal lines, the surface emitting lasers being operable to receive electrical read data signals and generate corresponding optical read data signals; and a memory hub mounted on the insulative substrate, the memory hub having an input/output port and a plurality of optical input terminals and optical output terminals including terminals outputting optical write data signals, terminals inputting optical read data signals, and terminals outputting optical command and address signals, the terminals being coupled to corresponding optical paths in the substrate and being operable to transmit the optical command address and write data signals to the optical receivers in the memory devices, the terminals being further operative to receive the optical read data signals from the surface emitting lasers in the memory devices, the memory hub being operable to receive optical input signals coupled to the input/output port and to apply corresponding optical signals to the terminals of the memory hub, the memory hub being further operable to receive optical signals at the terminals of the memory hub and to apply optical output signals to the input/output port.