SEMATECH Forum promotes 3D interconnect standards development

ALBANY, USA: SEMATECH announced a new online 3D Standards Dashboard solution to help meet the demand for an open, centralized forum for members of the 3D interconnect community to discuss and exchange information on standards activities.

The 3D Standards Dashboard aims to promote the development of standards and encourage widespread participation in standardization efforts for heterogeneous 3D integration. Standards development organizations (SDOs) participating in the 3D Dashboard include IEEE Standards Association, JEDEC, SEMI, and Si2.

Due to the tremendous benefits of higher performance, increased functionality, and cost reduction, adoption of 3D integration is rapidly spreading to a wide variety of companies across the semiconductor and MEMS industries. Despite its high potential, a lack of uniform standards and a limited understanding of key manufacturing parameters threaten to delay introduction of high-volume products.

The set of standards required by the industry are broad in scope and standardization activities span many different groups, resulting in a very large and complex standards landscape. The challenge for the standardization community is to improve information sharing of standardization processes to accelerate the development and adoption of 3D standards.

The 3D Standards Dashboard, initiated and managed by SEMATECH’s 3D Enablement Center, provides a definitive resource that enables information sharing and communication of 3D standard activities across the supply chain. Companies involved in 3D production can use the 3D Standards Dashboard to find existing standards as well as to identify and track standards development activities in areas such as design, testing and production.

Additionally, the 3D Standards Dashboard provides a proactive forum for facilitating collaborative discussions on perceived gaps in standardization activities and for identifying which SDO will best meet the need for a specific standardization activity.

“The development and adoption of 3D standards to ensure interoperability will require collaboration and participation across the supply chain, particularly more communication and information sharing between the design, test, and manufacturing communities,” said Larry Smith, Enablement Center manager. “The main objective of the 3D Standards Dashboard is to have a public and centralized forum for SDOs involved in standards development to identify risk areas and determine gaps related to all necessary standards for 3D interconnects.”

“Testing the dies and interconnects of a stacked IC requires an orchestrated test access architecture that spans across the entire stack, but for which the design-for-test (DfT) features need to be implemented by the individual die makers,” said Erik Jan Marinissen, principal scientist at imec in Leuven Belgium, and Chair of the IEEE P1838TM Working Group which aims to standardize a "Test Access Architecture for Three-Dimensional Stacked Integrated Circuits."

"Through its Test Technology Standards Committee, IEEE is already home to many popular DfT standards, such as IEEE 1149.1TM and IEEE 1500TM. Hence, it is a natural continuation to develop the extension of chip DfT for the 3D domain under the umbrella of IEEE."

“Several JEDEC committees and task groups covering a broad range of technologies have invested years of effort in laying the groundwork for 3D IC standards. With interest in 3D IC technology reaching an all-time high, JEDEC is delighted to partner with SEMATECH and other SDO’s to inform the industry of ongoing efforts, and to help facilitate the wide range of standards needed to enable and grow the market for this critical technology,” said John Kelly, JEDEC president.

"Given the urgent need to develop the standards that will enable high-volume, cost-competitive manufacturing of 3D-ICs, it is critical to avoid duplication of efforts between SDOs,” said Paul Trio, senior manager, NA Standards Operations, SEMI North America. “SEMI will be frequently updating its 3D-IC manufacturing standards efforts on the dashboard, ensuring that the industry is kept aware of our progress."

"Si2 is pleased to participate in this SEMATECH activity," says Sumit DasGupta, senior VP of Engineering, Si2. “We have been working with these industry groups to ensure that all the differently-focused efforts in the complex development of 3D ICs are addressing each group’s area of specific expertise. We see the SEMATECH Standards Dashboard as an excellent way to show the industry how these organizations can work together to ensure all the issues involved in 3D IC design and manufacturing are addressed in a timely manner.”