Thermal‐Aware Floorplanning with Min‐cut Die Partition for 3D ICs

• Published in: ETRI journal Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 635 - 642
• Main Authors: Jang, Cheoljon, Chong, Jong‐wha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) 01.08.2014; 한국전자통신연구원
• Subjects: die partition; floorplanning; physical design; Three‐dimensional integrated circuit; VLSI; 전자/정보통신공학
• ISSN: 1225-6463; 2233-7326
• DOI: 10.4218/etrij.14.0113.1204

Three‐dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs) implement heterogeneous systems in the same platform by stacking several planar chips vertically with through‐silicon via (TSV) technology. 3D ICs have some advantages, including shorter interconnect lengths, higher integration density, and improved performance. Thermal‐aware design would enhance the reliability and performance of the interconnects and devices. In this paper, we propose thermal‐aware floorplanning with min‐cut die partitioning for 3D ICs. The proposed min‐cut die partition methodology minimizes the number of connections between partitions based on the min‐cut theorem and minimizes the number of TSVs by considering a complementary set from the set of connections between two partitions when assigning the partitions to dies. Also, thermal‐aware floorplanning methodology ensures a more even power distribution in the dies and reduces the peak temperature of the chip. The simulation results show that the proposed methodologies reduced the number of TSVs and the peak temperature effectively while also reducing the run‐time.