US Patent 10212496 High port count switching module, apparatus, and method

A high port count switching module includes a plurality of switching circuits disposed on a glass interposer, wherein the plurality of switching circuits each include cross-point switches configured to perform switching at a full signal rate; and a plurality of optical transceivers disposed on the glass interposer and communicatively coupled to the plurality of switching circuits. The glass interposer has i) a low dielectric loss, relative to a silicon, organic, or ceramic interposer, to allow wideband data transmission, ii) a smooth surface, resulting in smooth metal traces to minimize high-frequency skin effect loss, iii) a coefficient of thermal expansion that is matched to the plurality of switching circuits to minimize stresses, and iv) thermal isolation among the plurality of switching circuits due to low thermal conductivity of glass.