Clock and Power Distribution Networks for 3-D Integrated Circuits (original) (raw)
Related papers
Clock Distribution Networks in 3-D Integrated Systems
IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, 2000
3-D integration is an important technology that addresses fundamental limitations in on-chip interconnects. Several design issues related to 3-D circuits, such as multiplane synchronization, however, need to be addressed. A comparison of three 3-D clock distribution network topologies is presented in this paper. Good agreement is shown between the modeled and experimental results of a 3-D test circuit composed of three device planes. Successful operation of the 3-D test circuit at 1.4 GHz is demonstrated. Clock skew, clock delay, signal slew, and power dissipation measurements for the different clock topologies are also provided. The measurements suggest that each topology provides certain advantages and disadvantages in terms of different performance criteria. The proper choice, consequently, of a clock distribution network is not dictated by a single design objective but rather by the overall 3-D system design requirements including availability of resources and number of bonded planes.
Clock distribution networks for 3-D ictegrated Circuits
2008 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, 2008
Three-dimensional (3-D) integration is an important technology that addresses fundamental limitations of on-chip interconnects. Several design issues related to 3-D circuits, such as multi-plane synchronization, however, need to be addressed. A comparison of three 3-D clock distribution network topologies is presented in this paper. Experimental results of a 3-D test circuit manufactured by the MIT Lincoln Laboratories are also described. Successful operation of the 3-D test circuit at 1.4 GHz is demonstrated. Clock skew and power dissipation measurements for the different clock topologies are also provided.
Interconnect-Based Design Methodologies for Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits
Proceedings of the IEEE, 2000
| Design techniques for three-dimensional (3-D) ICs considerably lag the significant strides achieved in 3-D manufacturing technologies. Advanced design methodologies for two-dimensional circuits are not sufficient to manage the added complexity caused by the third dimension. Consequently, design methodologies that efficiently handle the added complexity and inherent heterogeneity of 3-D circuits are necessary. These 3-D design methodologies should support robust and reliable 3-D circuits while considering different forms of vertical integration, such as system-in-package and 3-D ICs with fine grain vertical interconnections. Global signaling issues, such as clock and power distribution networks, are further exacerbated in vertical integration due to the limited number of package pins, the distance of these pins from other planes within the 3-D system, and the impedance characteristics of the through silicon vias (TSVs). In addition to these dedicated networks, global signaling techniques that incorporate the diverse traits of complex 3-D systems are required. One possible approach, potentially significantly reducing the complexity of interconnect issues in 3-D circuits, is 3-D networks-on-chip (NoC). Design methodologies that exploit the diversity of 3-D structures to further enhance the performance of multiplane integrated systems are necessary. The longest interconnects within a 3-D circuit are those interconnects comprising several TSVs and traversing multiple physical planes. Consequently, minimizing the delay of the interplane nets is of great importance. By considering the nonuniform impedance characteristics of the interplane interconnects while placing the TSVs, the delay of these nets is decreased. In addition, the difference in electrical behavior between the horizontal and vertical interconnects suggests that asymmetric structures can be useful candidates for distributing the clock signal within a 3-D circuit. A 3-D test circuit fabricated with a 180 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, manufactured by MIT Lincoln Laboratories, exploring several clock distribution topologies is described. Correct operation at 1 GHz has been demonstrated. Several 3-D NoC topologies incorporating dissimilar 3-D interconnect structures are reviewed as a promising solution for communication limited
Proceedings of the Ieee, 2009
| Design techniques for three-dimensional (3-D) ICs considerably lag the significant strides achieved in 3-D manufacturing technologies. Advanced design methodologies for two-dimensional circuits are not sufficient to manage the added complexity caused by the third dimension. Consequently, design methodologies that efficiently handle the added complexity and inherent heterogeneity of 3-D circuits are necessary. These 3-D design methodologies should support robust and reliable 3-D circuits while considering different forms of vertical integration, such as system-in-package and 3-D ICs with fine grain vertical interconnections. Global signaling issues, such as clock and power distribution networks, are further exacerbated in vertical integration due to the limited number of package pins, the distance of these pins from other planes within the 3-D system, and the impedance characteristics of the through silicon vias (TSVs). In addition to these dedicated networks, global signaling techniques that incorporate the diverse traits of complex 3-D systems are required. One possible approach, potentially significantly reducing the complexity of interconnect issues in 3-D circuits, is 3-D networks-on-chip (NoC). Design methodologies that exploit the diversity of 3-D structures to further enhance the performance of multiplane integrated systems are necessary. The longest interconnects within a 3-D circuit are those interconnects comprising several TSVs and traversing multiple physical planes. Consequently, minimizing the delay of the interplane nets is of great importance. By considering the nonuniform impedance characteristics of the interplane interconnects while placing the TSVs, the delay of these nets is decreased. In addition, the difference in electrical behavior between the horizontal and vertical interconnects suggests that asymmetric structures can be useful candidates for distributing the clock signal within a 3-D circuit. A 3-D test circuit fabricated with a 180 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, manufactured by MIT Lincoln Laboratories, exploring several clock distribution topologies is described. Correct operation at 1 GHz has been demonstrated. Several 3-D NoC topologies incorporating dissimilar 3-D interconnect structures are reviewed as a promising solution for communication limited
System-level performance evaluation of three-dimensional integrated circuits
IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, 2000
As the critical dimensions in VLSI design continue to shrink, system performance of integrated circuits (ICs) will be increasingly dominated by interconnect delay [1]. For the technology generations approaching 50 nm and beyond, innovative system architectures and interconnect technologies will be required to meet the projected system performance [2]. Interconnect material solutions such as copper and low-k inter-level dielectric (ILD) offer only a limited improvement in system performance. Significant and scalable solutions to the interconnect delay problem will require fundamental changes in system design, architecture, and fabrication technologies. Three-dimensional (3-D) ICs can alleviate interconnect delay problems by offering flexibility in system design, placement and routing. They (3-D ICs) can be formed by vertical integration of multiple device layers using wafer bonding, recrystallization, or selective epitaxial growth. The flexibility to place devices along the vertical dimension allows higher device density and smaller form factor in 3-D ICs. The critical signal path that may limit system performance can also be shortened to achieve faster clock speed. By 3-D integration, device layers fabricated with different front-end process technologies can be stacked along the 3 rd dimension to form systems-on-a-chip [3]. In this thesis work, opportunities and challenges for 3-D integration of logic networks, microprocessors, and programmable logic have been explored based on system-level modeling and analysis. A stochastic wire-length distribution model has been derived to predict interconnection complexity in 3-D ICs. As more device layers are integrated, the 3-D wire-length distribution becomes narrower compared to that of 2-D ICs, resulting in a significant reduction in the number and length of semi-global and global wires. In 3-D ICs with 2-4 device layers, 30%-50% reduction in wire-length can be achieved. Besides performance modeling, thermal analysis has also been performed to assess power dissipation and heat removal issues in 3-D ICs. The total capacitance associated with signal interconnects and clock networks can be reduced by 3-D integration, leading to lower power dissipation for system performance comparable to that of 2-D ICs. However, for higher system performance in 3-D ICs, power dissipation increases significantly, and it is likely that innovative cooling techniques will be needed for reliable operation of devices and interconnects.
Interconnect-Based Design Methodologies for Three-Dimensional
Proceedings of the IEEE
| Design techniques for three-dimensional (3-D) ICs considerably lag the significant strides achieved in 3-D manufacturing technologies. Advanced design methodologies for two-dimensional circuits are not sufficient to manage the added complexity caused by the third dimension. Consequently, design methodologies that efficiently handle the added complexity and inherent heterogeneity of 3-D circuits are necessary. These 3-D design methodologies should support robust and reliable 3-D circuits while considering different forms of vertical integration, such as system-in-package and 3-D ICs with fine grain vertical interconnections. Global signaling issues, such as clock and power distribution networks, are further exacerbated in vertical integration due to the limited number of package pins, the distance of these pins from other planes within the 3-D system, and the impedance characteristics of the through silicon vias (TSVs). In addition to these dedicated networks, global signaling techniques that incorporate the diverse traits of complex 3-D systems are required. One possible approach, potentially significantly reducing the complexity of interconnect issues in 3-D circuits, is 3-D networks-on-chip (NoC). Design methodologies that exploit the diversity of 3-D structures to further enhance the performance of multiplane integrated systems are necessary. The longest interconnects within a 3-D circuit are those interconnects comprising several TSVs and traversing multiple physical planes. Consequently, minimizing the delay of the interplane nets is of great importance. By considering the nonuniform impedance characteristics of the interplane interconnects while placing the TSVs, the delay of these nets is decreased. In addition, the difference in electrical behavior between the horizontal and vertical interconnects suggests that asymmetric structures can be useful candidates for distributing the clock signal within a 3-D circuit. A 3-D test circuit fabricated with a 180 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, manufactured by MIT Lincoln Laboratories, exploring several clock distribution topologies is described. Correct operation at 1 GHz has been demonstrated. Several 3-D NoC topologies incorporating dissimilar 3-D interconnect structures are reviewed as a promising solution for communication limited
Comparisons of Conventional, 3-D, Optical, and RF Interconnects for On-Chip Clock Distribution
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 2004
This paper analyses the performance of different interconnect technologies for on-chip clock distribution, including conventional, three-dimensional (3D), optical, and RF interconnects. Skew, power, and area usage were estimated for each of these technologies based on the 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Our results indicate that most of the skew and power are associated with local clock distribution. Consequently, since the alternative clock distribution approaches that have been proposed focus on global clock distribution, we have not found significant advantages over conventional clock distribution in terms of skew and power. Furthermore, it was found that low skews could be attained with conventional clock distribution schemes if the clock signals are not scaled down.
A Study of 3-D Power Delivery Networks With Multiple Clock Domains
Ongoing advancements in 3-D manufacturing are enabling 3-D ICs to contain several processing cores, hardware accelerators, and dedicated peripherals. Most of these functional units operate with independent clock frequencies for power management reasons or simply for being hard intellectual properties. Thus, as diverse and heterogeneous circuits can be implemented on a 3-D IC, it also leads to the use of multiple clock domains. While these domains allow many functional units to run in parallel to exploit 3-D potentials, they also introduce power delivery challenges. This paper proposes an efficient analysis for assessing the worst case power supply noise on 3-D power delivery networks (PDNs) with multiple clock domains. This paper discusses power and thermal integrity issues that arise from multiple clock domains that share the same 3-D global PDN. We first examine power supply noise distribution on each tier and investigate scenarios that lead to worst case noise. Thermal analyses are also performed and heat distribution among clock domains and tiers is examined. In addition, the impact of clock domain structure and frequency on the overall power supply noise and temperature distribution has been quantified. Experiments show that the multiclock domains can induce excessive noise and the through-silicon-vias can contribute to power supply noise and heat transfer among tiers. This paper presents a summary of guidelines for modeling, analyzing, and exploring a design of reliable 3-D PDNs with multiple clock domains.
Power-supply-network design in 3D integrated systems
2011 12th International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design, 2011
Three-dimensional integration (3D IC) technology has been gaining significant interest from the VLSI community for several years. However, layout-level explorations of the impact of 3D technology have only recently been introduced. This work examines both static and dynamic power-supply noise in a layoutlevel 3D design prototype, and the impact of possible 3D-specific changes to the power-supply network design and topology. Our results show that distributing power-supply TSVs throughout the design with finer pitch than the C4 supply bumps lowers both IR-drop and dynamic noise in our 3D system. In fact, using a distributed TSV topology lowers dynamic noise by 13.3% compared to a 2D system with less total power dissipation. We also show several other 3D-specific supply network changes and their impact on both IR-drop and dynamic noise. II. 3D AND FLIP-CHIP POWER NETS High performance 3D systems will generally use flipchip style packaging to increase off-chip interconnect density and reduce parasitics. Flip-chip power distribution systems are commonly laid out as grids. High-level metal layers are reserved for laying out a coarse-grained grid with large wires that connects a regular array of power and ground C4 bumps. A fine-grained mesh provides local distribution and connects to lower-level-metal power rings or standard-cell row distribution wiring. Most commercial products today have C4
Exploring compromises among timing, power and temperature in three-dimensional integrated circuits
Proceedings of the 43rd annual conference on Design automation - DAC '06, 2006
Three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DICs) have the potential to reduce interconnect lengths and improve digital system performance. However, heat removal is more difficult in 3DICs, and the higher temperatures increase delay and leakage power, potentially negating the performance improvement. Thermal vias can help to remove heat, but they create routing congestion, which also leads to longer interconnects. It is therefore very difficult to tell whether or not a particular system may benefit from 3D integration. In order to help understand this trade-off, physical design experiments were performed on a low-power and a high-performance design in an existing 3DIC technology. Each design was partitioned and routed with varying numbers of tiers and thermal-via densities. A thermal-analysis methodology is developed to predict the final performance. Results show that the lowest energy per operation and delay are achieved with 4 or 5 tiers. These results show a reduction in energy and delay of up to 27% and 20% compared to a traditional 2DIC approach. In addition, it is shown that thermal-vias offer no performance benefit for the low-power system and only marginal benefit for the high-performance system.