Demand calls for more simple and inexpensive technologies for logic-memory bandwidth
The increasing number of applications in smart phones and mobile devices are driving the demand for logic-memory bandwidth to much higher levels without increasing power consumption at the system level. Two of the key factors influencing an integrated circuit’s (IC) bandwidth are the number of logic-memory interconnections (i.e., I/O density) and the length of those connections. Current technology used is both expensive and complex.
New innovation uses high-density interconnections to increase bandwidth between communicating devices
Innovators at Georgia Tech utilized an ultra-small pitch structure that uses ultra-thin glass or silicon interposers, containing ultra-high density through-via interconnections to achieve bandwidth rates of at least ~10 gigabytes/second (GB/s). This innovative structure with its unprecedented density of interconnections — allowing 3D ICs to be stacked with or without TSVs — greatly increases bandwidth between the communicating devices.
This invention aims to achieve high bandwidth in telecommunication processes, via the use of new methods and structures. It is comprised of ultra-thin glass or silicon interposers, creating ultra-short interconnections, and ultra-fine pitch conductive through via structures, using novel process methods to fabricate such interposers.
- Scalable: With connections above, below, and beside the interpose
- Lower cost: Less complex manufacturing through interposer-package integration
- Testable: Both before and after device integration
- Thermally flexible: With options for localized thermal isolation and conduction.
This technology is ideal for applications requiring a variety of heterogeneous ICs — such as logic, memory, graphics, power, wireless, and sensors — that normally cannot be integrated into a single IC.