OPTICAL INTERCONNECT STRUCTURE IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM

A multi-chip processor/memory arrangement (20) is shown which includes a plurality of modules (22), also referred to herein as chips. The modules (22) are interconnected there between by an optical interconnect structure (24) also referred to herein as optical interconnect fabric. The basic concept underlining the structure of the arrangement (20) is to position the processing elements and memory cells on the small chips (22) which are fabricated in mass production based on inexpensive technology, for example, 0.25 micron technology and interconnected with the optical interconnect fabric (24). Packaged with the optical interconnect structure (24), a plurality of inexpensive chips (22) provides sufficient performance but for a small fraction of the cost of the processor/memory argument implemented on a single large computer chips (0.065 micron chip).