Yield improvement of 3D ICs in the presence of defects in through signal vias

Abstract

Through signal vias (TSVs) in 3D ICs suffer from thermo-mechanical stress, and may fail or attain plasticity resulting in significant yield loss. We present a novel set of strategies for yield improvement in the presence of defects in through signal vias in heterogeneous 3D system-on-chip. Monte-Carlo simulation results show that our strategy can improve the yield of 3D ICs significantly. Furthermore, we estimate the parametric yield and present a quantitative analysis of the impact of our approach on chip area, power, performance and chip revenue that can improve profitability. Our results suggest that the proposed strategies can be very useful in yield-aware 3D design.