CAREER: Leveraging Three-Dimensional Integration Technology for Highly Heterogeneous Systems-on-Chip

Heterogeneous three-dimensional (3D) integration is an emerging paradigm for developing multifunctional systems at a lower cost. The dominant practice targets primarily high performance applications with limited heterogeneity such as logic-on-logic and memory-on-logic integration. On the contrary, this proposal embodies a significantly different vision, in which the focus is on low power highly heterogeneous 3D systems-on-chip (SoCs) with promising applications to the life sciences, energy efficient mobile computing, and environmental control. Despite the recent and growing efforts to develop hybrid 3D ICs, a systematic design and analysis framework does not yet exist. This research fills this need by addressing three interrelated issues of critical importance to this framework: system-wide power, signal, and sensing integrity. Simultaneously satisfying these three design objectives is a significant challenge in tightly coupled 3D SoCs. By considering multiple planes as a single entity, novel circuit- and physical-level design and analysis methodologies will be developed to alleviate this fundamental challenge. The traditional understanding of signal integrity will be extended to consider sensing integrity, an important issue in heterogeneous 3D SoCs, where multiple sensors and sensing electronics are coordinated. The proposed methodologies will be evaluated by developing and fabricating a heterogeneous 3D test chip with application to bio-electronics. The synergy between 3D integration and heterogeneous SoCs provides a paradigm changing vision for integrated electronics with substantial benefits to science, industry, and society at large. At a time when the fundamental limits of traditional scaling are approaching, this synergy brings new opportunities to a variety of applications including More-than-Moore systems. The proposed research enhances the feasibility of this cooperation by targeting critical circuit- and physical-level issues. These research activities will be tightly integrated with educational initiatives at the secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels with participation from minority and underrepresented groups. These efforts will include both traditional activities (such as introducing new courses and promoting undergraduate research) and novel methods that interact with recent pedagogical practices. The PI will also continue to participate in the departmental and local outreach activities such as an engineering summer camp and a science fair, both targeting high school students within the greater New York City area including Long Island. The intertwined objectives of this proposal will guarantee power, signal, and sensing integrity in hybrid 3D SoCs, while contributing toward the advancement of science and diversity in education.