Method and apparatus providing an optical input/output bus through the back side of an integrated circuit die
First Claim
1. An optical bus, comprising:
- an optical unit that generates a plurality of light beams, each one of the plurality of light beams corresponding to one bit line of the optical bus; and
an optical assembly that directs each one of the plurality of light beams through a back side of an integrated circuit die onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical output devices disposed within a semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the optical assembly to direct each one of a plurality of deflected light beams deflected from the plurality of optical output devices onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an apparatus providing an optical input/output bus in an integrated circuit by optically routing input/output signals between integrated circuit nodes. In one embodiment, input/output signals are optically routed back and forth through the back side semiconductor substrate of a flip chip packaged integrated circuit die. An optical assembly used to generate and direct the light beams of the optical bus may be included within a heat sink thermally coupled to the back side silicon substrate of the integrated circuit die. Alternatively, the optical assembly may be embedded into the back side silicon substrate of the integrated circuit die. In operation, a light beam is directed through the back side semiconductor substrate onto an optical modulator. The optical modulator modulates and deflects the light beam. The deflected light beam is routed to a deflector that directs the modulated and deflected light beam through the back side semiconductor substrate onto an optical demodulator.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. An optical bus, comprising:
-
an optical unit that generates a plurality of light beams, each one of the plurality of light beams corresponding to one bit line of the optical bus; and an optical assembly that directs each one of the plurality of light beams through a back side of an integrated circuit die onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical output devices disposed within a semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the optical assembly to direct each one of a plurality of deflected light beams deflected from the plurality of optical output devices onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. An optical bus, comprising:
-
an infrared light source that generates a plurality of light beams, the light source embedded into a back side of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die; a first beam splitter/deflector that directs at least one of the plurality of light beams through the back side of the semiconductor substrate onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical output devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate, the first beam splitter/deflector embedded into the back side of the semiconductor substrate; and a second beam deflector that directs the at least one of the plurality of light beams through the back side of the semiconductor substrate onto an optical input device disposed within the semiconductor substrate, the second beam deflector embedded into the back side of the semiconductor substrate, the second beam deflector optically coupled to receive the at least one of the plurality of light beams from the first beam splitter/deflector. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. An optical bus, comprising:
-
an optical unit that generates a plurality of light beams, each one of the plurality of light beams corresponding to one bit line of the optical bus; and an optical assembly that directs each one of the plurality of light beams through a back side of a first integrated circuit die onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical output devices disposed within a semiconductor substrate of the first integrated circuit die, the first integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side of the first integrated circuit die including the semiconductor substrate of the first integrated circuit die, the optical assembly to direct each one of a plurality of deflected light beams deflected from the plurality of optical output devices onto a corresponding one of a plurality of optical input devices disposed within a semiconductor substrate of a second integrated circuit die, the second integrated circuit die having a front side and a back side, the back side of the second integrated circuit die including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A method of providing an optical bus, comprising:
-
directing a plurality of light beams through a back side of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit die onto corresponding ones of a plurality of optical output devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die; deflecting the plurality of light beams from the plurality of optical output devices such that a plurality of deflected light beams are directed through the back side of the integrated circuit die to an optical assembly; deflecting the plurality of deflected light beams through the back side of the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit onto corresponding ones of a plurality of optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
-
26. A method of providing an optical bus, comprising:
-
embedding a light source that generates a plurality of light beams within a back side of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die; embedding a first beam splitter/deflector within the back side of the semiconductor substrate that directs the plurality of light beams through the back side of the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die onto corresponding first optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die; and embedding a second beam deflector that directs the plurality of light beams through the back side of the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die onto corresponding second optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A method of providing an optical bus, comprising:
-
directing a plurality of light beams through a back side of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit die onto corresponding optical output devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die having a front side and the back side, the back side including the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die; and directing the plurality of light beams deflected from the optical output devices through the back side of the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit onto corresponding optical input devices disposed within the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit die. - View Dependent Claims (31)
-
Specification