the oe device 24 operates at a wavelength where the oe substrate chip 28 is transparent in nature and whereby the resultant optical beam is emitted or detected through the oe substrate the emitted light can be readily coupled to polymer based waveguides which are easily routed across the circuit board 12 to other optical modules not shown alternatively the waveguide 14 can be embedded within the circuit board although in this embodiment it is shown as being positioned on the circuit board the light emitted from the oe device is focused by a lens 32 which is reflected by turning mirror 16 and coupled into the core of the waveguide 14 as illustrated in the embodiment of the optical module 40 of fig2 of the drawings in which components similar to or identical with those in fig1 are designated with the same reference numerals the circuit board 12 has the oe chip positioned thereon with the oe device at the upper surface of the chip which supports a waveguide which also is supported on the circuit board a silicon chip 20 is positioned by means of a ball grid array 22 on the circuit board 12 and connected to.