Advanced Packaging For Automotive Chips


Multiple types of chips may be better than one for dealing with large amounts and different types of data, but in automotive applications it's not entirely clear how or even whether they should be packaged together. The biggest problem with electronics in vehicles is the extreme range of temperatures, both within and outside of vehicles. Without adequate cooling, chips can age prematurely, s... » read more

Missing Interposer Abstractions And Standards


The design and analysis of an SoC based on an interposer is not for the faint of heart today, but the industry is aware of the challenges and is attempting to solve them. Until that happens, however, it will be a technique that only large companies can deploy because they need to treat everything almost as if it were a single die. The construction of large systems uses techniques, such as ab... » read more

A New Multi-Stimuli-Based Simulation Method for ESD Design Verification


Abstract: "This paper analyzes TCAD ESD simulation for both HBM zapping using real-world HBM ESD waveforms as stimuli and TLP testing using square wave TLP pulse trains as stimuli. It concludes that TCAD ESD simulation using either HBM waveforms or TLP pulse trains, alone, is insufficient. We introduce a new mixed-mode simulation flow using combined HBM and TLP stimuli to achieve ESD design pr... » read more

HBM2E Raises The Bar For Memory Bandwidth


AI/ML training capabilities are growing at a rate of 10X per year driving rapid improvements in every aspect of computing hardware and software. HBM2E memory is the ideal solution for the high bandwidth requirements of AI/ML training, but entails additional design considerations given its 2.5D architecture. Designers can realize the full benefits of HBM2E memory with the silicon-proven memory s... » read more

Architecting Interposers


An interposer performs a similar function as a printed circuit board (PCB), but when the interposer is moved inside a package the impact is significant. Neither legacy PCB nor IC design tools can fully perform the necessary design and analysis tasks. But perhaps even more important, adding an interposer to a design may require organizational changes. Today, leading-edge companies have shown ... » read more

HBM3 Memory: Break Through To Greater Bandwidth


AI/ML’s demands for greater bandwidth are insatiable driving rapid improvements in every aspect of computing hardware and software. HBM memory is the ideal solution for the high bandwidth requirements of AI/ML training, but it entails additional design considerations given its 2.5D architecture. Now we’re on the verge of a new generation of HBM that will raise memory and capacity to new hei... » read more

Data Tsunami Pushes Boundaries Of IC Interconnects


Rapid increases in machine-generated data are fueling demand for higher-performance multi-core computing, forcing design teams to rethink the movement of data on-chip, off-chip, and between chips in a package. In the past, this was largely handled by the on-chip interconnects, which often were a secondary consideration in the design. But with the rising volumes of data in markets ranging fro... » read more

On the Road To Higher Memory Bandwidth


In the decade since HBM was first announced, we’ve seen two-and-a-half generations of the standard come to market. HBM’s “wide and slow” architecture debuted first at a data rate of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) running over a 1024-bit wide interface. The product of that data rate and that interface width provided a bandwidth of 128 gigabytes per second (GB/s). In 2016, HBM2 doubled the s... » read more

Will Monolithic 3D DRAM Happen?


As DRAM scaling slows, the industry will need to look for other ways to keep pushing for more and cheaper bits of memory. The most common way of escaping the limits of planar scaling is to add the third dimension to the architecture. There are two ways to accomplish that. One is in a package, which is already happening. The second is to sale the die into the Z axis, which which has been a to... » read more

Sweeping Changes Ahead For Systems Design


Data centers are undergoing a fundamental change, shifting from standard processing models to more data-centric approaches based upon customized hardware, less movement of data, and more pooling of resources. Driven by a flood of web searches, Bitcoin mining, video streaming, data centers are in a race to provide the most efficient and fastest processing possible. But because there are so ma... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →