Fast 3D Integrated Circuit Placement Methodology using Merging Technique

In the recent years the advancement in the field of microelectronics integrated circuit (IC) design technologies proved to be a boon for design and development of various advanced systems in-terms of its reduction in form factor, low power, high speed and with increased capacity to incorporate more designs. These systems provide phenomenal advantage for armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) design to develop miniaturised low power, high performance sub-systems. One such emerging high-end technology to be used to develop systems with high capabilities for AFVs is discussed in this paper. Three dimensional IC design is one of the emerging field used to develop high density heterogeneous systems in a reduced form factor. A novel grouping based partitioning and merge based placement (GPMP) methodology for 3D ICs to reduce through silicon vias (TSVs) count and placement time is proposed. Unlike state-of-the-art techniques, the proposed methodology does not suffer from initial overlap of cells during intra-layer placement which reduces the placement time. Connectivity based grouping and partitioning ensures less number of TSVs and merge based placement further reduces intra layer wire-length. The proposed GPMP methodology has been extensively against the IBMPLACE database and performance has been compared with the latest techniques resulting in 12 per cent improvement in wire-length, 13 per cent reduction in TSV and 1.1x improvement in placement time

Impact of gate-level clustering on automated system partitioning of 3D-ICs

When partitioning gate-level netlists using graphs, it is beneficial to cluster gates to reduce the order of the graph and preserve some characteristics of the circuit that the partitioning might degrade. Gate clustering is even more important for netlist partitioning targeting 3D system integration. In this paper, we make the argument that the choice of clustering method for 3D-ICs partitioning is not trivial and deserves careful consideration. To support our claim, we implemented three clustering methods that were used prior to partitioning two synthetic designs representing two extremes of the circuits medium/long interconnect diversity spectrum. Automatically partitioned netlists are then placed and routed in 3D to compare the impact of clustering methods on several metrics. From our experiments, we see that the clustering method indeed has a different impact depending on the design considered and that a circuit-blind, universal partitioning method is not the way to go, with wire-length savings of up to 31%, total power of up to 22%, and effective frequency of up to 15% compared to other methods. Furthermore, we highlight that 3D-ICs open new opportunities to design systems with a denser interconnect, drastically reducing the design utilization of circuits that would not be considered viable in 2D.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Physical design methodologies for monolithic 3D ICs

The objective of this research is to develop physical design methodologies for monolithic 3D ICs and use them to evaluate the improvements in the power-performance envelope offered over 2D ICs. In addition, design-for-test (DfT) techniques essential for the adoption of shorter term through-silicon-via (TSV) based 3D ICs are explored. Testing of TSV-based 3D ICs is one of the last challenges facing their commercialization. First, a pre-bond testable 3D scan chain construction technique is developed. Next, a transition-delay-fault test architecture is presented, along with a study on how to mitigate IR-drop. Finally, to facilitate partitioning, a quick and accurate framework for test-TSV estimation is developed. Block-level monolithic 3D ICs will be the first to emerge, as significant IP can be reused. However, no physical design flows exist, and hence a monolithic 3D floorplanning framework is developed. Next, inter-tier performance differences that arise due to the not yet mature fabrication process are investigated and modeled. Finally, an inter-tier performance-difference aware floorplanner is presented, and it is demonstrated that high quality 3D floorplans are achievable even under these inter-tier differences. Monolithic 3D offers sufficient integration density to place individual gates in three dimensions and connect them together. However, no tools or techniques exist that can take advantage of the high integration density offered. Therefore, a gate-level framework that leverages existing 2D ICs tools is presented. This framework also provides congestion modeling and produces results that minimize routing congestion. Next, this framework is extended to commercial 2D IC tools, so that steps such as timing optimization and clock tree synthesis can be applied. Finally, a voltage-drop-aware partitioning technique is presented that can alleviate IR-drop issues, without any impact on the performance or maximum operating temperature of the chip.Ph.D

A survey on scheduling and mapping techniques in 3D Network-on-chip

Network-on-Chips (NoCs) have been widely employed in the design of multiprocessor system-on-chips (MPSoCs) as a scalable communication solution. NoCs enable communications between on-chip Intellectual Property (IP) cores and allow those cores to achieve higher performance by outsourcing their communication tasks. Mapping and Scheduling methodologies are key elements in assigning application tasks, allocating the tasks to the IPs, and organising communication among them to achieve some specified objectives. The goal of this paper is to present a detailed state-of-the-art of research in the field of mapping and scheduling of applications on 3D NoC, classifying the works based on several dimensions and giving some potential research directions

Investigation into yield and reliability enhancement of TSV-based three-dimensional integration circuits

Three dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs) have been acknowledged as a promising technology to overcome the interconnect delay bottleneck brought by continuous CMOS scaling. Recent research shows that through-silicon-vias (TSVs), which act as vertical links between layers, pose yield and reliability challenges for 3D design. This thesis presents three original contributions.The first contribution presents a grouping-based technique to improve the yield of 3D ICs under manufacturing TSV defects, where regular and redundant TSVs are partitioned into groups. In each group, signals can select good TSVs using rerouting multiplexers avoiding defective TSVs. Grouping ratio (regular to redundant TSVs in one group) has an impact on yield and hardware overhead. Mathematical probabilistic models are presented for yield analysis under the influence of independent and clustering defect distributions. Simulation results using MATLAB show that for a given number of TSVs and TSV failure rate, careful selection of grouping ratio results in achieving 100% yield at minimal hardware cost (number of multiplexers and redundant TSVs) in comparison to a design that does not exploit TSV grouping ratios. The second contribution presents an efficient online fault tolerance technique based on redundant TSVs, to detect TSV manufacturing defects and address thermal-induced reliability issue. The proposed technique accounts for both fault detection and recovery in the presence of three TSV defects: voids, delamination between TSV and landing pad, and TSV short-to-substrate. Simulations using HSPICE and ModelSim are carried out to validate fault detection and recovery. Results show that regular and redundant TSVs can be divided into groups to minimise area overhead without affecting the fault tolerance capability of the technique. Synthesis results using 130-nm design library show that 100% repair capability can be achieved with low area overhead (4% for the best case). The last contribution proposes a technique with joint consideration of temperature mitigation and fault tolerance without introducing additional redundant TSVs. This is achieved by reusing spare TSVs that are frequently deployed for improving yield and reliability in 3D ICs. The proposed technique consists of two steps: TSV determination step, which is for achieving optimal partition between regular and spare TSVs into groups; The second step is TSV placement, where temperature mitigation is targeted while optimizing total wirelength and routing difference. Simulation results show that using the proposed technique, 100% repair capability is achieved across all (five) benchmarks with an average temperature reduction of 75.2? (34.1%) (best case is 99.8? (58.5%)), while increasing wirelength by a small amount

High-performance Global Routing for Trillion-gate Systems-on-Chips.

Due to aggressive transistor scaling, modern-day CMOS circuits have continually increased in both complexity and productivity. Modern semiconductor designs have narrower and more resistive wires, thereby shifting the performance bottleneck to interconnect delay. These trends considerably impact timing closure and call for improvements in high-performance physical design tools to keep pace with the current state of IC innovation. As leading-edge designs may incorporate tens of millions of gates, algorithm and software scalability are crucial to achieving reasonable turnaround time. Moreover, with decreasing device sizes, optimizing traditional objectives is no longer sufficient. Our research focuses on (i) expanding the capabilities of standalone global routing, (ii) extending global routing for use in different design applications, and (iii) integrating routing within broader physical design optimizations and flows, e.g., congestion-driven placement. Our first global router relies on integer-linear programming (ILP), and can solve fairly large problem instances to optimality. Our second iterative global router relies on Lagrangian relaxation, where we relax the routing violation constraints to allowing routing overflow at a penalty. In both approaches, our desire is to give the router the maximum degree of freedom within a specified context. Empirically, both routers produce competitive results within a reasonable amount of runtime. To improve routability, we explore the incorporation of routing with placement, where the router estimates congestion and feeds this information to the placer. In turn, the emphasis on runtime is heightened, as the router will be invoked multiple times. Empirically, our placement-and-route framework significantly improves the final solution’s routability than performing the steps sequentially. To further enhance routability-driven placement, we (i) leverage incrementality to generate fast and accurate congestion maps, and (ii) develop several techniques to relieve cell-based and layout-based congestion. To broaden the scope of routing, we integrate a global router in a chip-design flow that addresses the buffer explosion problem.PHDComputer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98025/1/jinhu_1.pd

Algorithmic techniques for physical design : macro placement and under-the-cell routing

With the increase of chip component density and new manufacturability constraints imposed by modern technology nodes, the role of algorithms for electronic design automation is key to the successful implementation of integrated circuits. Two of the critical steps in the physical design flows are macro placement and ensuring all design rules are honored after timing closure. This thesis proposes contributions to help in these stages, easing time-consuming manual steps and helping physical design engineers to obtain better layouts in reduced turnaround time. The first contribution is under-the-cell routing, a proposal to systematically connect standard cell components via lateral pins in the lower metal layers. The aim is to reduce congestion in the upper metal layers caused by extra metal and vias, decreasing the number of design rule violations. To allow cells to connect by abutment, a standard cell library is enriched with instances containing lateral pins in a pre-selected sharing track. Algorithms are proposed to maximize the numbers of connections via lateral connection by mapping placed cell instances to layouts with lateral pins, and proposing local placement modifications to increase the opportunities for such connections. Experimental results show a significant decrease in the number of pins, vias, and in number of design rule violations, with negligible impact on wirelength and timing. The second contribution, done in collaboration with eSilicon (a leading ASIC design company), is the creation of HiDaP, a macro placement tool for modern industrial designs. The proposed approach follows a multilevel scheme to floorplan hierarchical blocks, composed of macros and standard cells. By exploiting RTL information available in the netlist, the dataflow affinity between these blocks is modeled and minimized to find a macro placement with good wirelength and timing properties. The approach is further extended to allow additional engineer input, such as preferred macro locations, and also spectral and force methods to guide the floorplanning search. Experimental results show that the layouts generated by HiDaP outperforms those obtained by a state-of-the-art EDA physical design software, with similar wirelength and better timing when compared to manually designed tape-out ready macro placements. Layouts obtained by HiDaP have successfully been brought to near timing closure with one to two rounds of small modifications by physical design engineers. HiDaP has been fully integrated in the design flows of the company and its development remains an ongoing effort.A causa de l'increment de la densitat de components en els xip i les noves restriccions de disseny imposades pels últims nodes de fabricació, el rol de l'algorísmia en l'automatització del disseny electrònic ha esdevingut clau per poder implementar circuits integrats. Dos dels passos crucials en el procés de disseny físic és el placement de macros i assegurar la correcció de les regles de disseny un cop les restriccions de timing del circuit són satisfetes. Aquesta tesi proposa contribucions per ajudar en aquests dos reptes, facilitant laboriosos passos manuals en el procés i ajudant als enginyers de disseny físic a obtenir millors resultats en menys temps. La primera contribució és el routing "under-the-cell", una proposta per connectar cel·les estàndard usant pins laterals en les capes de metall inferior de manera sistemàtica. L'objectiu és reduir la congestió en les capes de metall superior causades per l'ús de metall i vies, i així disminuir el nombre de violacions de regles de disseny. Per permetre la connexió lateral de cel·les, estenem una llibreria de cel·les estàndard amb dissenys que incorporen connexions laterals. També proposem modificacions locals al placement per permetre explotar aquest tipus de connexions més sovint. Els resultats experimentals mostren una reducció significativa en el nombre de pins, vies i nombre de violacions de regles de disseny, amb un impacte negligible en wirelength i timing. La segona contribució, desenvolupada en col·laboració amb eSilicon (una empresa capdavantera en disseny ASIC), és el desenvolupament de HiDaP, una eina de macro placement per a dissenys industrials actuals. La proposta segueix un procés multinivell per fer el floorplan de blocks jeràrquics, formats per macros i cel·les estàndard. Mitjançant la informació RTL disponible en la netlist, l'afinitat de dataflow entre els mòduls es modela i minimitza per trobar macro placements amb bones propietats de wirelength i timing. La proposta també incorpora la possibilitat de rebre input addicional de l'enginyer, com ara suggeriments de les posicions de les macros. Finalment, també usa mètodes espectrals i de forçes per guiar la cerca de floorplans. Els resultats experimentals mostren que els dissenys generats amb HiDaP són millors que els obtinguts per eines comercials capdavanteres de EDA. Els resultats també mostren que els dissenys presentats poden obtenir un wirelength similar i millor timing que macro placements obtinguts manualment, usats per fabricació. Alguns dissenys obtinguts per HiDaP s'han dut fins a timing-closure en una o dues rondes de modificacions incrementals per part d'enginyers de disseny físic. L'eina s'ha integrat en el procés de disseny de eSilicon i el seu desenvolupament continua més enllà de les aportacions a aquesta tesi.Postprint (published version

Thermal, Power Delivery and Reliability Management for 3D ICS

Three-dimensional (3D) integration technology is promising to continuously improve the performance of electronic devices by vertically stacking multiple active layers and connecting them with Through-Silicon-Vias (TSVs). Meanwhile, the thermal and power integrity problems are exacerbated since the power flux in 3D integrated circuits (3D ICs) increases linearly with the number of stacked layers. Moreover, the TSV structure in 3D ICs introduces new reliability problems since TSVs are vulnerable to various failure mechanisms (e.g. electromigration) and the failure of power-ground TSVs will cause voltage drop thereby significantly degrading the performance of 3D ICs. To make things worse, the high temperature, thermal gradient and power load in 3D ICs accelerate the failure of TSVs. Therefore, in order to push the 3D integration technology to full commercialization, the thermal, power integrity and reliability problem should be properly addressed in both design-time and run-time. In 3D ICs, the heat flux will easily exceed the capability of the traditional air cooling. Therefore, several aggressive cooling methods are applied to remove heat from the 3D IC, which include micro-fluidic cooling, the phase change material based cooling etc. These cooling schemes are usually implemented close to the heat source to gain high heat removal capability, thus causing more challenges to the design of 3D ICs. Unfortunately, physical design tools for 3D ICs with those aggressive cooling methods are lack. In this thesis, we will focus on 3D ICs with micro-fluidic (MF) cooling. The physical design for this kind of 3D ICs involves complex trade-offs between the circuit performance, power delivery noise, and temperature. For example, both TSVs and micro-cavities for MF cooling are fabricated in the substrate region. Therefore, they will compete in space: the allocation of signal TSVs should avoid micro-cavities to realize a feasible design, thus enforcing more constraints to the physical placement of 3D ICs. Moreover, power delivery networks (PDNs) in 3D ICs are enabled by power-ground (P/G) TSVs. The number and distribution of P/G TSVs are also constrained by micro-cavities which will influence the power integrity of the 3D IC. In addition, the capability of MF cooling degrades downstream the flow of coolant thereby causing large in-layer temperature gradient. The spatial temperature variance will affect the reliability of 3D ICs. in order to avoid it, the gate/modules in 3D ICs should be placed properly. In order to address the trade-offs 3D ICs with MF cooling, different design-time methods for application specific ICs (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are proposed, respectively. For 3D ASICs, we propose a co-design method that integrates the design of MF cooling heat sink and P/G TSVs to the physical placement for 3D ICs. Experiments on publicly available benchmarks show that using our method, we can achieve better results compared to the traditional sequential design flow. The case for 3D FPGAs is more complicated than ASICs since the routing and logic resources are fixed and the chip power and temperature is hard to estimate until the circuit is routed. Therefore, in this thesis, we first build a design space exploration (DSE) framework to study how MF cooling affects the design of 3D FPGAs. Following this, we utilize an existing 3D FPGA placement and routing tool to develop a cooling-aware placement framework for 3D FPGAs to reduce the temperature gradient. Since the activity of 3D ICs cannot be completely estimated at the design stage, the run-time management, besides design-time methods, is required to address the thermal, power and reliability problems in 3D ICs. However, the vertically stacked structure makes the run-time management for 3D ICs more complicated than 2D ICs. The major reason of this is that the power supply noise and temperature can be coupled across layers in 3D ICs. This means the activity of one layer may affect the performance and reliability of other layers through voltage/temperature coupling. As a result, we cannot perform run-time management for each layer (perhaps implemented with dierent chips) of 3D ICs separately as in 2D systems. Therefore, the space of control nodes will become larger and more complicated. To make things worse, the existing run-time management techniques have various drawbacks (e.g. large off-line characterization overhead, poor scalability etc. ), which needs more eort to improve. In this thesis, we propose a phase-driven Q-learning based run-time management technique which can tune the activity of the processor to maximize the 3D CPU performance subject to the reliability constraint