Three-dimensional Integrated Circuits: Design, EDA, and Architecture

The emerging three-dimensional (3D) integration technology is one of the promising solutions to overcome the barriers in interconnection scaling, thereby offering an opportunity to continue performance improvements using CMOS technology. As the fabrication of 3D integrated circuits has become viable, developing CAD tools and architectural techniques are imperative for the successful adoption of 3D integration technology. In this article, we first give a brief introduction on the 3D integration technology, and then review the EDA challenges and solutions that can enable the adoption of 3D ICs, and finally present design and architectural techniques on the application of 3D ICs, including a survey of various approaches to design future 3D ICs, leveraging the benefits of fast latency, higher bandwidth, and heterogeneous integration capability that are offered by 3D technology.