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

该CNIC提案的目标是促进密苏里州科技大学（美国）和工业技术研究院（台湾）之间的国际合作。研究工作的重点是设计测试芯片沿着硅测量，初步证明了两种新型传感器设计的三维集成电路（3D IC）的功效：温度-应力共传感器和裂纹传感器。前者是第一次，避免了传统的耗时的传感器校准过程中的温度和应力之间的相互作用的基础上进行自校准。后者是首款基于单次直流电压测量检测裂纹的同类产品，无需使用传统的X射线或其他光学成像设备。这两种传感器的尺寸都很小，可以进行大规模的片上部署。3D IC已经在低功耗嵌入式领域中可用。此外，低功率手持设备预计将在2013-2014年实现这项技术的商业化。高性能计算领域对该技术也有很大的兴趣。此外，3D IC行业积极参与研发活动，以识别和克服制造挑战。然而，很少有人知道什么设计和后硅技术是可用的，并需要提高热机械可靠性的3D IC。这一合作研究工作将开创一个新的研究方向，以填补延迟3D IC技术主流接受的关键空白。此外，拟议的活动将使相关研究生接触国际研究经验;它们将实现与伊特里的稳固长期合作;它们将为美国学生提供来自台湾的丰富IC设计知识？通过网络研讨会的半导体行业。该奖项由国际和综合活动办公室的国际科学与工程（伊势）部门资助，并由通信，电路和传感系统（ENG/CCSS）共同资助。

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).