TCI Tester: Tester for Through Chip Interface

Abstract

TCI [1] is an inductive coupling wireless chip-to-chip interface. For forming a link with TCI, the transmitter coils are placed just above receivers’ ones, and data are transferred between them through the magnetic field. Each TCI channel needs two inductors, one for a high-speed clock signal (1-8GHz) and the other for the data directly transfer digital data synchronized with the clock signal without any modulation. TCI has the following advantages. First, the inductor consists of common wires in the CMOS process technology without the particular process technology, unlike the TSV. Also, ESD (Electro Static Discharge) protection device is unnecessary, since TCI is electrically contact-less.