Speeding Up 3D Design


2.5D and 3D designs have garnered a lot of attention recently, but when should these solutions be considered and what are the dangers associated with them? Each new packaging option trades off one set of constraints and problems for a different set, and in some cases the gains may not be worth it. For other applications, they have no choice. The tooling in place today makes it possible to de... » read more

Heat Problems Grow With FinFETs, 3D-ICs


From high-end consumer devices to rack-mounted arrays inside of data centers, thermal issues are becoming more serious—and getting much more attention. Driving this shift is the move from single chips to 3D ICs, whether they are interposer-based or stacked die. It’s a well-understood challenge: Die stacking can cause thermal issues because of the lack of a readily accessible thermal diss... » read more

Testing the Waters


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Large semiconductor companies are now testing the waters in 3D design to determine how to best leverage the technology for lower power, better performance and additional architectural flexibility. As such, much work is being done to determine how exactly to achieve an optimum 3D design outcome. 3D is almost by definition an architectural approach to power sav... » read more

Architectural Changes Will Drive Miraculous 3D Gains


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Low-Power High-Performance Engineering sat down with Robert Patti, chief technology officer at Tezzaron Semiconductor, to discuss future challenges with regard to 2.5D and 3D design, including making tradeoffs and technical issues specific to 3D design. Tezzaron currently is working on 3D designs. LPHP: What is the starting point technically to achieve the gre... » read more