Betting On Glass TSVs


By Ed Sperling There are two big issues when it comes to through-silicon vias. One involves cost. The second involves heat—in particular, how to get heat out of a stacked die and what the thermal coefficient of the TSV will be to make sure it expands at a rate consistent with the SoCs in a package. To address these issues, System-Level Design caught up with Rao Tummala, professor of elect... » read more

TSVs Ease Heat In 3D ICs


By Ann Steffora Mutschler In the evolving discussion of 3D ICs and through silicon via (TSV) technology, a key issue engineering teams are facing today is how to reduce the thermal coefficients between substrates in a stacked die. Simply put, what is the best way to get the heat out of the 2.5 or 3D IC? The answer, of course, is anything but simple. “In a 3D system, the heat hierarchy ... » read more

Business First


The move to stacked die poses some interesting technology challenges and promises significant technology benefits, but the real driver is business—and for this market to work, it has to continue being about business. In the past it was technology first, business last. We are now at the stage where it is business first, technology last. Re-use of entire die as subystems, better use of desig... » read more

New Stacking Issues


Reduced form factors, higher performance, and the demand for lower power necessitate the need for 3D-IC/silicon interposer designs with through-silicon vias (TSVs). That also creates major design challenges in three areas. The verification of power, signal, and reliability integrity—particularly with multi-stacked die on silicon interposer with TSVs—presents issues that can only be overcome... » read more

Bigger Pipes, New Priorities


By Ann Steffora Mutschler From the impact of stacking on memory subsystems to advances in computing architecture, Micron Technology is at the forefront in the memory industry. System-Level Design sat down to discuss challenges, as well as some possible solutions, that plague memory subsystem architects with Scott Graham, general manager for Micron’s Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) and Joe Jeddeloh,... » read more

Experts At The Table: 3D Stacking


By Ed Sperling Semiconductor Manufacturing and Design sat down with Riko Radojcic, director of engineering at Qualcomm; Drew Wingard, CTO at Sonics; Michael White, senior product marketing manager for Calibre physical verification at Mentor Graphics; Jim Hogan, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist; Prasad Subramaniam, vice president of design technology at eSilicon; and Mike Gianfagna, vice pre... » read more

Deja Vu All Over Again


Every now and then you get the feeling you’ve been here before, and with technology this is a persistent theme. Virtualization looks remarkably similar to time sharing, which is what most engineers in their 40s and 50s used when they were in college. And 3D stacking, particularly the 2.5D version, looks eerily like the old MCM, aka multi-chip module. There’s nothing wrong with resurre... » read more

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