Packaging optoelectronic stacked processors and free-space optical interconnects

Combining the advantages of 3D chip packaging and optoelectronic array interconnect technologies, it is possible to bring a low-power ultra-compact hardware solutions to systems requiring fast processing and handling of large data arrays. Providing optoelectronic I/O to 3D chip stacks using VCSEL arrays with associated drivers, especially designed optical receivers, and micro-optics to direct the optical signals provide the most efficient way to communicate between the stacks. By integrating these components with a set of packaging techniques ranging from silicon microbench to plastic molded lenses, the practical superiority of this approach in terms of system speed, power and volume metrics is explored.