Three-dimensional (3D) integration is a promising alternative option to traditional two-dimensional (2D) planar chips. The 3D integration is mainly concerned with the communication infrastructure between different stacked dies of future multicore system-on-chip (SoC) and network-on-chip (NoC). Among several 3D integration technologies, the through silicon via (TSV) approach is the most promising one and therefore is the focus of the majority of 3D integration R&D activities. However, there are challenges that should be overcome before the production of TSV-based 3D integrated circuits (ICs) becomes possible, e.g., electrical modeling challenges, thermal and power challenges, technological challenges, design methodology challenges, and computer-aided design (CAD) tool development challenges. The manufacturability of TSV-based 3D-ICs is an important issue for realizing real 3D-ICs designs.
3D/TSV TechnologyThe small-scale production of integrated circuits (ICs) started in the early 1960s. The modern-day ICs may have billions of transistors. The functionality scales by reducing the size of the transistors and also by increasing the transistor count per unit area of the processor die. More transistors are added to processors with each technology node. System-on-chip (SoC) was introduced in order to integrate all the components on a single substrate. SoC has incredible functionality, having processor, digital logic, memory, embedded intelligence, and analog components on a single die. However, interconnect length is a critical issue for SoC due to increase in the chip dimensions. Mixed signal integration is another issue for present-day SoC as the noisy digital part cannot be placed in close proximity to the sensitive analog part. In addition to this, same technology node has to be followed for different components of SoC which may place stringent requirements on analog and radio frequency (RF) components. Three-dimensional (3D) integration with through silicon vias (TSVs) is, therefore, an obvious choice for mixed technology applications compared to SoC. In other words, increasing drive for the integration of different