Optimization of Design Parameters Using Taguchi Method for Thermal Stress Analysis in a 3D IC

Thermal stress and deformation analysis plays an important role in understanding the effects of heat on the performance and reliability of a 3D integrated circuit (IC) design. The demand for smaller and powerful electronic devices, 3D IC design gained prominence due to their superior integration capabilities. The IC's components dissipate heat across several chip regions, which may cause localized overheating and a decline in performance and reliability. Hence, there is a growing need for innovative solutions to address this issue. The main objective of this project is to develop a 3D IC thermal model using Ansys Software. The study also aims to optimize the design parameters to predict the hot spots region in the 3D IC. The size of the intermetallic compound (IMC) joint, chip thickness, and load temperature were chosen as factors to evaluate the effect of various variables on the thermal stress of the 3D IC. The findings suggest that the temperature loading has a substantial impact on the thermal stress experienced by the 3D IC model. The IMC joint and chip interface were identified as the critical locations where higher thermal stress were perceived. Upon optimizing the variables, the thermal stress and deformation experienced a reduction of 1.25% and 0.36% respectively. In summary, the most effective design parameters for this study were determined to be a chip size of 0.9 mm, an IMC joint size of 0.1 mm, and a chip thickness of 0.12 mm. These parameters were obtained under the temperature load of 60 °C.