AUSTIN, Texas — (BUSINESS WIRE) — May 23, 2014 — The Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) announced the release of a Chip Thermal Interface Protocol (CTIP) Standard for 3D Integrated Circuits (3D-IC) under the auspices of the Open3D Technical Advisory Board (TAB). The Open3D TAB is chartered to define open standards for design data formats and interfaces to enable interoperable 2.5D and 3D design flows.

The Chip Thermal Interface Protocol (CTIP) facilitates the exchange of thermal design information required to integrate silicon die into 3D-IC stacks, enabling the stack designer to simulate the thermal behavior of the entire stack, thus ensuring that it satisfies die and stack-level requirements. The standard does not assume that the individual die and the complete 3D-IC stack are designed by the same team or same design system, allowing maximum flexibility of die stack and package integration. The CTIP standard will facilitate integration into multi-vendor EDA tool flows used in the design of either the 2D die or the 3D-IC stacks.

Simulating thermal behavior is critical for 3D-IC designs, as areas of high thermal load must be equally distributed throughout the entire stack of die to ensure proper operation in all expected conditions. The CTIP standard provides designers with the ability to share thermal maps and other design information, helping prevent the buildup of thermal stress points. In the case of heterogeneous 2.5D and 3D design stacks, where chips may be sourced by multiple IP vendors and foundries, the need for communication of thermal information between vendors and customers is even more critical in order to have a viable system design.

Additional working groups for Open3D TAB members include developing standards to support:

• Power Distribution Network to ensure that each stack in the die has access to the required power supply characteristics (released May 2013)
• Thermal design and analysis of an entire 3D stack, including thermal constraints between neighboring dies (This release – the document can be found at this link: http://www.si2.org/?page=1810)
• Expression of design constraints into and out of the path-finding and floorplanning stage of the overall design process
• Stress management to ensure that no stack in the die is adversely affected by the stack level stress hot spots or thermal gradients
• Physical verification to facilitate stack level physical DRC verification
• Signal integrity to facilitate stack level electrical modeling

At the upcoming Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco, there will be a 3D Panel: “Design for 3D: Are Standards Leading the Way or Lagging Behind?” at 3PM, on Monday, June 2 in Room 300 at the Moscone Center. Representatives from Qualcomm, Altera, Invensas, eda2asic, and Helic will be speaking. The abstract is located at this link: http://www.si2.org/dac_2014/abstracts/3dpanel_abstract.php

For more information on the Open3D TAB, click here: http://www.si2.org/open3d_index.php

More information on Si2 sponsored activities, including a presentation by Dr. Chenming Hu of UC Berkeley and a press conference with STMicroelectronics and IBM are located at this link: http://www.si2.org/dac_2014/dac_2014_fp.php

Open3D TAB Members:

Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR), AMD (NYSE: AMD), ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS), Atrenta, Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), Fraunhofer Institute, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Helic S.A., IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Invarian, Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: MENT), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), R3Logic, SEMATECH, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN).

About Si2

Si2 is the largest organization of industry-leading semiconductor, systems, EDA and manufacturing companies focused on the development and adoption of standards to improve the way integrated circuits are designed and manufactured. Now in its 26th year, Si2 is uniquely positioned to enable timely collaboration through dedicated staff and a strong implementation focus driven by its member companies. Si2 represents over 100 companies involved in all parts of the silicon supply chain throughout the world, www.si2.org

Silicon Integration Initiative
William Bayer, 512-342-2244, ext. 304