TSV‐based antenna for on‐chip wireless communication

Abstract

On‐chip wireless interconnects provide signal broadcasting and link shortcuts for improved latency and throughput, useful considering the increase of the number of processing elements on a chip. In this work, a through‐silicon via antenna (TSV_A) for on‐chip wireless communication is proposed. TSV_A significantly improves the wireless interconnect performance over current solutions of on‐chip antennas, which occupy a large area of the chip and are not capable of far‐reaching transmission. Printed circuit board (PCB) prototypes are designed and fabricated to validate the proposed TSV_A. The PCB prototype of the TSV_A has an insertion loss of 5–10 dB at a distance of ≃20 mm, measured in PCB and validated with high fidelity 3D finite element method simulation results. TSV_A has improved path loss, smaller size, and lower manufacturing costs due to the well‐established TSV fabrication process for 3D‐ICs. Projections for an on‐chip 3D‐IC operation indicate up to 40 dB improved signal strength compared to other on‐chip antennas, with an insertion loss of ≃3–5 dB up to a 30 mm distance.