3-D Thermal Model With Lateral Thermal Resistance for Fast Thermal Analysis of Complex Stacked Structures

Abstract

With increasing density and complexity in 3-D integrated circuits, thermal management has become a major design challenge. In this paper, we present a precise 3-D thermal analysis model incorporating lateral thermal resistance, based on physical structure and material thermal properties. Analytical expressions for lateral thermal resistance and capacitance are derived, enabling accurate thermal modeling of complex 3-D stacked structures. We incorporate these analytical expressions into the RC-Tensorial Analysis Network (RC-TAN) framework, resulting in the 3-D RC-TAN method, which enhances computational efficiency while maintaining high accuracy. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the 3-D RC-TAN method outperforms traditional 1-D thermal analysis approaches, offering more than a 97% reduction in computation time compared with finite element method (FEM).