A 5.184Gbps/ch through-chip interface and automated place-and-route design methodology for 3-D integration of 45nm CMOS processors

We propose 3-D integrated mobile phone system utilizing an inductive-coupling link. To realize energy efficient 3-die stacking, a slew-rate controlled footer switch scheme and a superposition of magnetic field scheme are proposed. By using a place-and-route model of a coil, we demonstrate that a commercial layout tool can handle the inductive-coupling link module successfully. Performance of the proposed circuit is estimated as 5.184Gbps/ch and 6.1pJ/b for 2-die stacking and 9.5pJ/b for 3-die stacking. The area efficiency is 592μm
²
/Gbps, which is 1/330 of the prior art.