An enhanced double-TSV scheme for defect tolerance in 3D-IC

Die stacking based on Through-Silicon Via (TSV) is considered as an efficient way to reducing power consumption and form factor. In the current stage, the failure rate of TSV is still high, so some type of defect tolerance scheme is required. Meanwhile, the concept of double-via, which is normally used in traditional layer to layer interconnection, can be one of the feasible tolerance schemes. Double-via/TSV has a benefit compared to TSV repair: it can eliminate the fuse configuration procedure as well as the fuse layer. However, double-TSV has a problem of signal degradation and leakage caused by short defects. In this work, an enhanced scheme for double-TSV is proposed to solve the short-defect problem through signal path division and VDD isolation. Result shows that the enhanced double-TSV can tolerate both open and short defects, with reasonable area and timing overhead.