Interconnect in the Era of 3DIC

• Published in: 2022 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Li, Shenggao, Lin, Mu-Shan, Chen, Wei-Chih, Tsai, Chien-Chun
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2022
• Subjects: CMOS technology; FinFETs; Industries; Integrated circuit interconnections; Logic gates; Technological innovation; Wiring
• DOI: 10.1109/CICC53496.2022.9772820

Since the invention of MOSFET in 1959, and CMOS in 1963, CMOS circuits emerged as the preferred technology for low power battery powered applications such as digital watches and portable instruments. Lithography scaling enabled CMOS to compete in high-performance computing subsequently. Dennard's 1974 summary on CMOS scaling principle further offered the microelectronics industry a scientific scaling direction according to Moore's Law. By 2005, Dennard scaling principle, however, largely broke down due to the subthreshold leakage on planar MOSFET which prevented the Vth, Vdd, and frequency to scale. Double-gate (SOI), and tri-gate (FinFET) were invented to allow the channel to be better controlled so carriers won't escape to the substrate. A gate-all-around (e.g.: nano-wire and nano-sheet) MOSFET has the channel surrounded by gate electrode with even better electrostatic control, leading to leakage reduction and improved carrier mobility. With multi nano-sheets, the effective W (W_eff) in a unit area is also improved, allowing moderate density scaling compared to FinFet devices. More improvement for CMOS scaling is on the horizon by the industry. ForkFET, which uses a barrier layer between PMOS and NMOS, allows the PMOS and NMOS to be placed closer to each other, thus improving transistor density and reducing interconnect RC between PMOS and NMOS. Complementary FET (CFET), which has PMOS and NMOS stacked on top of each other, reduces the interconnect between PMOS and NMOS significantly as the interconnect on vertical stacking is much shorter than horizontal wiring. Future technology advancement may allow more layers of MOSFETs to be manufactured monolithically (Monolithic 3D integration), when thermal and testability challenges are better solved [1]-[9].