RF-TSV design, modeling and application for 3D multi-core computer systems

The state-of-the-art multi-core computer systems are based on Very Large Scale three Dimensional (3D) Integrated circuits (VLSI). In order to provide high-speed vertical data transmission in such 3D systems, efficient Through-Silicon Via (TSV) technology is critically important. In this paper, various Radio Frequency (RF) TSV designs and models are proposed. Specifically, the Cu-plug TSV with surrounding ground TSVs is used as the baseline structure. For further improvement, the dielectric coaxial and novel air-gap coaxial TSVs are introduced. Using the empirical parameters of these coaxial TSVs, the simulation results are obtained demonstrating that these coaxial RF-TSVs can provide two-order higher of cut-off frequencies than the Cu-plug TSVs. Based on these new RF-TSV technologies, we propose a novel 3D multi-core computer system as well as new architectures for manipulating the interfaces between RF and baseband circuit. Taking into consideration the scaling down of IC manufacture technologies, predictions for the performance of future generations of circuits are made. With simulation results indicating energy per bit and area per bit being reduced by 7% and 11% respectively, we can conclude that the proposed method is a worthwhile guideline for the design of future multi-core computer ICs.     

Experimental characterization of coaxial through silicon vias for 3D integration

Coaxial through silicon via (TSV) technology is gaining considerable interest as a 3D packaging solution due to its superior performance compared to the current existing TSV technology. By confining signal propagation within the coaxial TSV shield, signal attenuation from the lossy silicon substrate is eliminated, and unintentional signal coupling is avoided. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a coaxial TSV 3D fabrication process. Next, the fabricated coaxial TSVs are characterized using s-parameters for high frequency analysis. The s-parameter data indicates the coaxial TSVs confine electromagnetic propagation by extracting the inductance and capacitance of the device. Lastly, we demonstrate the coaxial TSVs reduce signal attenuation and time delay by 35% and 25% respectively compared to the shield-less standard TSV technology. In addition, the coaxial interconnect significantly decreases electromagnetic coupling compared to traditional TSV architectures. The improved signal attenuation and high isolation of the coaxial TSV make it an excellent option for 3D packaging applications expanding into the millimeter wave regime.     

Novel through-silicon vias for enhanced signal integrity in 3D integrated systems

In this paper, a new type of through-silicon via (TSV) for via-first process namely bare TSV, is proposed and analyzed with the aim of mitigating noise coupling problems in 3D integrated systems for advanced technology nodes. The bare TSVs have no insulation layers, and are divided into two types: bare signal TSVs and bare ground TSVs. First, by solving Poisson''s equation for cylindrical P-N junctions, the bare signal TSVs are shown to be equivalent to conventional signal TSVs according to the simulation results. Then the bare ground TSV is proved to have improved noise-absorption capability when compared with a conventional ground TSV. Also, the proposed bare TSVs offer more advantages to circuits than other noise isolation methods, because the original circuit design, routing and placement can be retained after the application of the bare TSVs.     

Repair the faulty TSVs with the improved FNS-CAC codec

Through-silicon via (TSV) is a key enabling technology for the emerging 3-dimension (3D) integrated circuits (ICs). However, the crosstalk between the neighboring TSVs is one of the important sources of the soft faults. To suppress the crosstalk, the Fibonacci-numeral-system-based crosstalk avoidance code ( FNS-CAC) is an effective scheme. Meanwhile, the self-repair schemes are often used to deal with the hard faults, but the repaired results may change the mapping between signals to TSVs, thus may reduce the crosstalk suppression ability of FNS-CAC. A TSV self-repair technique with an improved FNS-CAC codec is proposed in this work. The codec is designed based on the improved Fibonacci numeral system (FNS) adders, which are adaptive to the health states of TSVs. The proposed self-repair technique is able to suppress the crosstalk and repair the faulty TSVs simultaneously. The simulation and analysis results show that the proposed scheme keeps the crosstalk suppression ability of the original FNS-CAC, and it has higher reparability than the local self-repair schemes, such as the signal-switching-based and the signal-shifting-based counterparts.     

三维叠层DRAM封装中硅通孔开路缺陷的模拟

采用硅通孔(TSV)技术的三维堆叠封装,是一种很有前途的解决方案,可提供微处理器低延迟,高带宽的DRAM通道.然而,在3D DRAM电路中,大量的TSV互连结构,很容易产生开路缺陷和耦合噪声,从而导致了新的测试挑战.通过大量的模拟研究.本文模拟了在三维DRAM电路的字线与位线中出现的TSV开路缺陷的故障行为,它作为有效...     

Scaling trends of power noise in 3-D ICs

Power supply noise in three-dimensional integrated circuits (3-D ICs) considering scaled CMOS and through silicon via (TSV) technologies is the focus of this paper. A TSV and inductance aware cell-based 3-D power network model is proposed and evaluated. Constant TSV aspect ratio and constant TSV area penalty scaling, as two scenarios of TSV technology scaling, are discussed. A comparison of power noise among via-first, via-middle, and via-last TSV technologies with CMOS scaling is also presented. When the TSV technology is a primary bottleneck in high performance 3-D ICs, an increasing TSV area penalty should be adopted to produce lower power noise. As a promising TSV technology, via-middle TSVs are shown to produce the lowest power noise with CMOS technology scaling.     

Fabrication and stress analysis of annular-trench-isolated TSV

The large mismatches among the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of the metal via, insulator liner, and Si substrate of the through-silicon via (TSV) induce thermal stresses within and around the TSV during thermal-cycled fabrication processes. Reduction of thermal stress in the Si substrate is important for minimizing the deviations in the device characteristics. An annular-trench-isolated (ATI) structure was proposed for the TSV to solve the thermal issues, which occur during the three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuit (IC) integration, by stress redistribution. The concept of ATI TSV is based on retaining a Si-ring between the metal core and insulator layer during the fabrication process. We realized the ATI TSV using a via-last fabrication approach, with two deep silicon etching processes (Bosch processes) for the insulator layer and the metal core. Parylene-HT was utilized as the insulator to achieve high uniformity. With a vacuum-assisted filling system, the vias were filled with a solder material. ATI TSVs with diameters of 10 μm and 2-μm-thick Parylene-HT insulation layers were demonstrated. Studies on the thermal stress levels of the ATI TSV were carried out by finite-element method (FEM) simulation, along with comparisons with regular and annular TSVs. We revealed that the ATI TSV shows lower thermal stresses in the Si substrate than the regular and annular TSVs. The ATI TSV is a possible candidate for 3D IC integration with stress-sensitive devices.     

Algorithms for TSV resource sharing and optimization in designing 3D stacked ICs

Under the current process and layer bonding technology for the TSV (through-silicon-via) based 3D ICs, it is known that the TSV resource is one of the major sources of the function failure of the chip. Furthermore, TSV takes much larger size and pitch than the normal logic components. For this reason, a careful allocation of the TSV resource has been required in 3D IC designs, and several works have been proposed to allocate minimal TSVs. This work also addresses the problem of TSV allocation and optimization, but overcomes one of the critical limitations of the previous works, which is the unawareness or no exploitation of the possibility of TSV resource sharing, previously merely resorting to a simple binding of the data transfers to TSVs. This is because the previous 3D layer partitioners have performed TSV allocation and minimization without any link to the data transfer information accessible from the high-level synthesis flow. This work proposes a set of TSV resource sharing and optimization algorithms (as a post-processing of 3D layer partitioning) by utilizing the life time information of the data transfers taken from the high-level synthesis. Specifically, we propose three algorithms for TSV resource sharing and optimization, which can be selectively applied depending on the sharing granularity and design complexity: (1) word-level TSV sharing, (2) bit-level TSV sharing, and (3) TSV refinement combined with register replication. Through experiments with benchmark designs, it is confirmed that our proposed algorithms are able to reduce the number of TSVs by 41.1% on average in word-level TSV sharing and 26.0% in bit-level TSV sharing compared with the results produced by the conventional layer partitioning with no TSV sharing while still meeting the timing constraint of designs.     

Three-Stage Optimization of Pre-Bond Diagnosis of TSV Defects

Pre-bond TSV testing and defect identification is important for yield assurance of 3D stacked devices. Building on a recently proposed pre-bond TSV probing procedure, this paper develops a three-stage optimization method named “SOS3” to greatly reduce TSV test time without losing the capability of identifying given number of faulty TSVs. The optimization stages are as follows. First, an integer linear programming (ILP) model generates a near-optimal set of test sessions for pre-bond defective TSV diagnosis. Second, an iterative greedy procedure sequences the application of those test sessions for quicker diagnosis. Third, a TSV defect identification algorithm terminates testing as quickly as possible, often before all sessions are applied. Extensive simulation experiments are done for various TSV networks and the results show that the SOS3 framework greatly speeds up the pre-bond TSV test.     

一种对三维芯片中硅通孔进行完整建模与寄生参数提取的有效方法

针对三维芯片中硅通孔（through-silicon via, TSV）的准确电学建模问题,本文提出了一种电阻电容（RC）电路模型以及相应的有效参数提取技术。该电路模型同时考虑了半导体效应与静电场影响,适合于低频与中频的电路信号范围。该方法采用一种基于悬浮随机行走（floating random walk, FRW）算法的静电场电容提取技术,然后将它与刻画半导体效应的MOS电容结合,形成等效电路模型。与Synopsys公司软件Sdevice所采用的对静电场/半导体效应进行完整仿真的方法相比,本文方法计算效率更高,并且也能处理一般的TSV电路版图。对多个含TSV的结构进行了计算实验,结果验证了本文方法在从10KHz到1GHz频率范围内的建模准确性,也显示出它相比Sdevice方法最多有47倍的加速比。     

考虑温度因素的3D芯片TSV容错结构设计

相比于2D芯片,3D芯片具有更高的功率密度和更低的热导率。针对散热问题,多层3D芯片一般采用具有较高热导率的铜填充硅通孔(TSV)。为提高3D芯片的成品率,在温度条件限制下,对3D芯片进行TSV的容错结构设计非常重要。分析了带有TSV的3D芯片温度模型,提出了3D芯片温度模型的TSV修复方法。根据温度要求设计总的TSV数,将这些TSV分为若干个组,每组由m个信号TSV和n个冗余TSV组成,实现了组内和组间信号的TSV修复。实验结果表明,该TSV容错结构不仅有较高修复效率,而且具有较好散热效果。     

Edge effect aware low-power crosstalk avoidance technique for 3D integration

Metal wires and through silicon vias (TSVs) are frequently performance bottlenecks of 3D ICs due to their high capacitive crosstalk which can be reduced using coding techniques. In this work we show that existing TSV crosstalk avoidance codes (CACs) are impractical for real applications due to the edge effects in TSV bundles. Additionally, these 3D CACs do not reduce the metal wire crosstalk and dramatically increase the power consumption of 2D and 3D interconnects. This work presents a 3D CAC which overcomes previous limitations. The method is based on an intelligent fixed mapping of the bits of existing 2D CACs onto rectangular or hexagonal TSV arrangements. Simulation results, obtained by circuit simulations in combination with an electromagnetic field solver, show that existing 3D CACs only reduce the TSV crosstalk by a maximum of 9.4%, provide no optimization of the metal wire crosstalk and induce an increase in the interconnect power consumption by about 50%. In contrast, the presented technique requires less hardware and reduces the maximum crosstalk of modern TSV and metal wire buses by 37.8% and 47.6%, respectively, while leaving their power consumption almost unaffected. Alternatively, our technique can reduce the TSV and metal wire crosstalk peaks by 20.3% and 47.7%, respectively, while additionally providing a reduction in the TSV and metal wire power consumption by 5.3% and 21.9%, respectively.     

Air-gap-based RF coaxial TSV and its characteristic analysis

Many 3D IC applications such as MEMS and RF systems require Through-Silicon Via （TSV） with operations for high-speed vertical communication. In this paper, we introduce a novel air-gap coaxial TSV that is suiTab, for such RF applications. Firstly, the detailed fabrication process is described to explain how to acquire such a structure. Then, an Resistor Inductance Conductance Capacitance （RLGC） model is developed to profile the transverse electromagnetic field effect of the proposed air-gap TSV. The model is further verified by a 3D field solver program through the S-parameter comparison. With reference to the numerically simulated results, this analytical model delivers a maximum deviation of less than 6%0, on the conditions of varying diameters, outer to inner radius ratios, and SU-8 central angles, etc. Taking advantages of scalability of the model, a number of air-gap-based TSV designs are simulated, providing 1.6-4.0 times higher bandwidth than the con- ventional coaxial TSVs and leading to an efficient high frequency vertical RF interconnection solution for 3D ICs.     

双根锥形硅通孔结构的精确RLGC电路模型

A fast RLGC circuit model with analytical expression is proposed for the dual tapered through-silicon via （TSV） structure in three-dimensional integrated circuits under different slope angles at the wide frequency region. By describing the electrical characteristics of the dual tapered TSV structure, the RLGC parameters are extracted based on the numerical integration method. The RLGC model includes metal resistance, metal inductance, substrate resistance, outer inductance with skin effect and eddy effect taken into account. The proposed analytical model is verified to be nearly as accurate as the Q3D extractor but more efficient.     

Three-dimensional switchbox multiplexing in emerging 3D-FPGAs to reduce chip footprint and improve TSV usage

Three-dimensional integration technology is proposed to break down long wires and increase integration level of emerging complex designs. However, efficiency of this technology heavily depends on the usage of Through-Silicon Vias. TSVs are key solutions for cooling the 3D-chips but they occupy considerable silicon area. Therefore, reducing the number of required TSVs in routing step is very critical in 3D-chips. In this paper, a TSV multiplexing approach is proposed to reduce the number of required routing TSV. We proposed two multiplexed 3D-switchbox architectures. In the first architecture, the TSVs inside the switchboxes are multiplexed while in the second architecture, TSVs are multiplexed between the switchboxes. Moreover, a routing algorithm is suggested to route the FPGA using the multiplexed switchboxes to evaluate the proposed architectures. Experimental results show that the presented architectures and algorithms reduce the number of used TSVs by 64.58% and 71.27% on average for the first and second architectures respectively, in cost of a negligible overheads in total wire length and auxiliary switches.     

Closed-Form Expressions of 3-D Via Resistance, Inductance, and Capacitance

Closed-form expressions of the resistance, capacitance, and inductance for interplane 3-D vias are presented in this paper. The closed-form expressions account for the 3-D via length, diameter, dielectric thickness, and spacing to ground. A 3-D numerical simulation is used to extract electromagnetic solutions of the resistance, capacitance, and inductance for comparison with the closed-form expressions, revealing good agreement between simulation and the physical models. The maximum error for the resistance, capacitance, and inductance is less than 8%.      

Thermal expansion behavior of through-silicon-via structures in three-dimensional microelectronic packaging

Thermo-mechanical reliability is an important issue for the development and deployment of the through-silicon-via (TSV) technology in three-dimensional (3D) microelectronic packaging. The mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between the array of copper (Cu) lines and the surrounding silicon (Si), upon temperature variation, affects the overall thermal expansion behavior of the whole TSV structure itself and generates an internal stress state. In this work we use the finite element method to numerically study the effective in-plane CTE of the Si/Cu composite structure. A 3D unit-cell approach is undertaken, which takes into account uniformly distributed TSVs in the Si chip. Results of the temperature-dependent effective CTE can be used as model input for simulating larger-scale 3D packages where the Si/Cu TSV structure is treated as a homogeneous material. We also examine the evolution of stress and deformation fields, and identify potential reliability concerns associated with the thermal loading.     

三维集成电路中TSV-TSV的耦合分析与优化

TSV-TSV耦合会对三维集成电路的性能造成影响,主要的负面效应就是引入了耦合噪声。为了能够在初期设计阶段准确的估计TSV间的耦合强度,本文首先提出了存在于TSV间的基于二端口网络的阻抗级耦合通道模型,然后推导出了TSV间的耦合强度公式用来描述TSV-TSV耦合效应。通过与三维全波仿真结果的对比,公式的准确度得到了验证。另外,本文提出了一种减小TSV间耦合强度的设计方法。通过SPICE仿真,所提出设计方法不仅可以应用在简单TSV-TSV的电路结构中,还可以应用在含有多个TSV的复杂电路结构中,从而体现了所提出设计方法的可行性,并且为设计者提供了改善三维集成电路电学性能的可能性。     

X-ray inspection of TSV defects with self-organizing map network and Otsu algorithm

Through-silicon via (TSV) is one of the most critical elements in 3D integration, where defects such as unfilled bottom and holes are very common. Thus, defect detection is of great importance to improve products quality. In this work, a non-destructive TSV defect detection method using X-ray imaging is introduced. Seven features representative of TSVs are extracted from the images, and then inputted into a self-organizing map (SOM) network for classification and testing. The results demonstrate that the normal TSVs and defective TSVs can be distinguished obviously by SOM network. The voids inside the TSVs are further located qualitatively using the Otsu algorithm and verified by the SEM images. These prove the feasibility of X-ray inspection of TSV defects with SOM network and Otsu algorithm.