Hierarchical Layout Synthesis and Design Automation for 2.5D Heterogeneous Multi-Chip Power Modules

Multi-chip power module (MCPM) layout design automation has been identified as one of the primary research interests in the power electronics community with the advent of wide bandgap circuits. MCPM physical design requires a time-consuming iterative procedure that is so far explored manually based on the experience of the designers. Though the number of components and routing layers is limited in power electronics, careful physical design is required because of thermal and reliability issues. In this paper, the benefits of a hierarchical design methodology are demonstrated over the state-of-the-art approaches. We propose a generic, scalable, and efficient algorithm to automate not only 2D but also 2.5D (multiple substrates in a planar package) and 3D (multiple device layers stacked on the same substrate) heterogeneous MCPM layouts considering hierarchy. A complete optimization approach for a full-bridge 2.5D power module is demonstrated using hardware-validated electrical and thermal models.