| 摘要 |
An apparatus for transferring data on and off of an integrated circuit in a network node. The present invention pertains to an arrangement of the transmitters and receivers (30, 50), along with processing circuitry and optical fibers (100, 110), so that signals are routed efficiently for a given type of architecture, such as ring, star, and crossbars. In one embodiment, the chip has a silicon substrate and direct interconnection with optical fibers (100, 110). In one embodiment, the transmitters and receivers (30, 50) are interdigitated to provide bi-directional optical channels. An additional feature of the invention is the mating of the optical fibers to the transmitters and receivers, such that there is a direct correspondence on both ends of the optic fibers (100, 110). The optical fibers of the transmitters and receivers can be grouped together to allow reconfiguration of different topology or to improve system performance by bundling together certain fibers. |
