CAD Tools for 3-Dimensional VLSI Circuits

Three-dimensional (3-D) circuit integration offers significant potential for the performance and density improvement over existing 2-D integration. However, the development of 3-D integrated circuits is hampered by lack of design tools and the problem ofheat dissipation in 3-D structures. To address these issues, Orora Design Technologies (ODT) proposes to develop and demonstrate a thermal-aware design methodology and enabling 3-D CAD tools. The proposed methodology models the coupled electrical andthermal performances of 3-D circuits using IEEE standard VHDL-AMS. The CAD tools to be developed include 3-D design capture, 3-D extraction of thermal and electrical networks, 3-D visualization, and a tool for simultaneous optimization of electrical,thermal, and physical properties of a 3-D design. Further, innovative techniques will be developed for the rapid analysis of how critical circuit performances are affected by 3-D temperature distribution, and algorithms for automatic thermal-aware 3-Dplacement and routing will be studied. The proposed tools will be validated and demonstrated on several military design cases.