Project Description

Event website: D43D.com

Semiconductors industry has made outstanding strides in the past several decades delivering smaller, cheaper, energy efficient, and faster electronic systems. As the fuzzy borderline between micro- and nanoelectronics, however, fades out, system miniaturization cannot proceed with the same pace or cost efficiency. Academic and industrial research groups world-wide have, therefore, focused on developing unconventional paradigms as a remedy to this problematic situation. These novel paradigms should support integrated systems that can successfully deliver the expected performance and diverse functionality of next generation electronics. Functional diversification, however, cannot be achieved with existing means, since envisaged systems are limited by the intrinsic limitations of silicon.

Three-dimensional (3-D) integration or vertical integration is a revolutionary paradigm that trades off the increasingly difficult horizontal expansion with the vertical growth of integrated systems, surpassing many of the limitations of the planar semiconductor substrate. Three-dimensional or vertically integrated systems are forecasted to provide unprecedented computational capabilities by enabling the symbiosis of heterogeneous technologies within a single multi-plane system. Consequently, three-dimensional integration can host a multitude of products, ranging from traditional microprocessors to sophisticated systems-on-chip and the evolving labs-on-chip. In addition, embedded systems are expected to highly benefit from the third dimension. This situation is due to the features of 3-D technologies which can be adapted such that specific layers are dedicated to specialized functions, without altering other layers, which, in turn, can include some general purpose functions. To efficiently and profitably realize these types of systems in three dimensions, a plethora of challenges needs to be addressed. Furthermore, the nature of these challenges is not limited to classic VLSI circuit design but extends into the design of new system architectures, the software and application development for these systems, as well as the innovative design of sensors for sensor-based 3-D systems. The implementation of these complex and powerful systems, therefore, involves several disciplines, in addition to the many research subfields within the discipline of electrical and computer engineering.

To date, the research groups which are active in this field, however, have followed rather independent paths producing exciting yet scattered results that handle specific problems related to 3-D systems. A unified multi-partner research effort has recently been undertaken within the RTD CMOSAIC project, where the primary focus is the investigation of active cooling strategies for 3-D systems.

This workshop was held at EPFL in 2010 with a sponsorship from Nano-Tera and provided an opportunity to students from several disciplines to acquaint themselves with this emerging technology. The coming workshop of 2012 intends to add an industrial flavor, where emphasis will be given to embedded systems. To this end, two keynotes from IBM Zurich and ST Microelectronics have been planned. The goal this time is to demonstrate the increasing interest of industry, the progress that has been achieved towards the high volume production of these systems, and to inspire new ideas and projects among the research entities within the ETH domain. As two years ago, this event is a unique and timely opportunity to disseminate the research results and share the experience gained within the CMOSAIC project. We target a wide and diverse audience within the ETH-domain as well as from commercial enterprises which are interested in this fascinating and highly promising field.

Project Description

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