US-Taiwan Planning VIsits: Novel Sensor Designs for Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits

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The goal of this CNIC proposal is to catalyze an international collaboration between Missouri University of Science and Technology (USA) and Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan). The focus of the research effort is to design test chips along with silicon measurements to preliminarily demonstrate the efficacy of two novel sensor designs for three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs): a temperature-stress co-sensor and a crack sensor. The former is the first-of-its-kind that avoids the conventional time-consuming sensor calibration process by self-calibrating based on the reciprocity between temperature and stress. The latter is the first-of-its-kind that detects cracks based on a single DC voltage measurement, which eliminates the need of conventional X-ray or other optical imaging equipment. Both sensors are small in size, which allows for massive on-chip deployment. 3D ICs are already available in the low-power embedded domain. In addition, low-power hand-held devices are expected to commercialize this technology in 2013-2014. There is also a significant interest from the high-performance computing domain on this technology. Moreover, the 3D IC industry is actively engaged in research and development activities to identify and overcome manufacturing challenges. However, little is known on what design and post-silicon technologies are available and required to improve thermo-mechanical reliability of 3D ICs. This collaborative research effort will initiate a new research direction to fill a critical gap that is delaying the mainstream acceptance of 3D IC technology. In addition, the proposed activities will expose the associated graduate student to international research experience; they will enable a solid long-term collaboration with ITRI; and they will provide US students with rich IC design knowledge from Taiwan?s semiconductor industry through webinars. This CNIC award is funded by the International Science and Engineering (ISE) section of the Office of International and Integrative Activities, with co-funding from the Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (ENG/CCSS).