Wafer-scale integration-a fault-tolerant procedure

Considers a new approach to full-slice technology in relation to existing procedures for achieving this goal. Under external control a chain of good chips is created to form a long serial memory from an array of identical chips on a full slice. Bad chips are automatically bypassed without requiring any pre- or post-programming of the metallization and without any prior knowledge of the distribution of faulty chips on the wafer. Computer simulations of chain formation are described which demonstrate the feasibility of creating such serial memories at practicable dice-yield levels. The proposed logic design is summarized and its verification by TTL simulation is noted. The inherent fault and failure tolerance of the design are discussed and the potential problem areas of short-circuit chips, double-level metallization, spiral branching, thermal dissipation, and noise/pattern sensitivity are described together with suggested solutions.