3D ICs for High-Performance Computing Towards Design and Integration

Abstract

When Industry seeks to drive limits of innovation and continue to meet increasing demands for higher performance, reduced power consumption, smaller form factors in electronic devices. Traditional two dimensional integrated circuit (2D IC) designs are moving towards their physical limit and a new frontier is opened, three dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs). Such a revolutionary chip design and packaging allows high performance computing to rise above the last stratosphere and usher in a new age of development. In Semiconductor design, 3D ICs are a paradigm shift from conventional planar structure and an alternative to the challenges. 3D ICs achieve extraordinary levels of performance and functionality by stacking active components vertically and interconnecting them using TSVs. A main advantage of this vertical integration is that it leads to shorter interconnects, lower power consumption, and better signal integrity and that is why it is an attractive solution for many tasks in mobiles, data centers and artificial intelligence systems. With this annunciation of a new dimension of chip design, the industry now moves into new challenges and opportunities. To enable the legacy transition to 3D ICs, a radical overhaul of the entire semiconductor ecosystem is required in terms of thermal management and stress analysis, as well as in design tools and manufacturing processes. This article dives deeper into the design and intergration of 3D IC’s for high performance computing, and talks about challenges involved in full realization of 3D IC’s.