Confronting and exploiting operating environment uncertainty in predictive analysis of signal integrity

With device feature size continuing to decrease and 3D IC integration continuing to mature, high-density, high-speed/high-frequency IC functionality integration is making significant strides forward. The opportunities made available by such integration cannot be fully exploited without addressing effectively the reliability challenges resulting from such integration. More specifically, in addition to the reduced device reliability and increased device parameter uncertainty associated with the sub-45 nm technology nodes, the electromagnetic interference (EMI) between densely integrated components and circuits stands out as a major hurdle in robust mixed-signal IC design. While integration complexity is one of the major obstacles in the use of electromagnetic computer-aided design (EM-CAD) tools for comprehending EMI in the development of rules and guidelines for noise-aware, functional integration of such systems, the uncertainty in layout and operating conditions after integration looms as another hindrance of reliable functionality.