Performance Evaluation of Interface Architectures for Electromagnetic Signal Transmission in 3-Dimensional ICs

Alternative interface architectures are investigated which enable signal transmission in three-dimensionally integrated circuit structures via capacitive coupling without galvanic contact between adjacent chiplayers. Architectures for capacitive signal transmission and respective coupling capacitances are optimized and compared to structures relying on sidewall-metallization. Improvements of over 30% in terms of signal delay and up to an order of magnitude in terms of dynamic power dissipation are achieved while requirements on chiplayer adjustment can be reduced considerably. Complementary signal transmission and differential evaluation in the receiver significantly improve noise immunity. With little modification, interface architectures can be employed for inductive signal transmission. Simulations and experimental results show the suitability of the architectures for vertical signal transmission of high bandwidth digital information.