Early assessment of MCM packaging in the large system environment

The author focuses on a complex part of the design equation, multichip module (MCM) packaging, and presents an analysis tool, called Pepper, and associated methodology for evaluating early in the design cycle the matching between a proposed machine design and a given packaging technology. As an introduction to early package analysis, a basic overview of the interrelationship between system performance and package architecture is given. Two views of system performance are presented, first in terms of the traditional view as a function of cycles per instruction and cycle time, and second, from a circuit and package delay point of view. The approach provides an environment for designers as well as technologists to perform what if and design sensitivity studies at an early point in the design cycle, prior to chip design.<>