Earlier this year, I published an open letter to chip and system-level designers regarding 3D integration, suggesting they consider 3D integration technologies as a solution to dealing with the increasing complexity of SoC designs. The post was inspired by my attendance at the Design and Test Europe (DATE 2014) conference, where I moderated a session on system on chip (SoC) design complexity, and 3D designs weren’t even considered as a solution. I began to realized that other than a small pioneering faction of chip and system design engineers and EDA tool suppliers whose customers were integral parts of the 3D integration movement, the design community was still very much focused on continued scaling and furthering Moore’s Law. I also realized that if 3D is going to make it to HVM, it was going to be up to the designers to design in 3D.
Before a 3D design can be implemented, we have to know they can be built. So naturally, up until recently the focus was on manufacturing processes, equipment, and materials. As such the majority of 3D InCites followers are from the process and manufacturing side of the semiconductor industry. But it’s time to change that and bring more designers to the audience.
In a comment in response to my open letter, Mike Ma, VP corporate R&D at SPIL, noted “It may be more effective if the message is posted in the place that chip/system designer will usually look at, like DAC (design Automation Conference) or ISSCC (International Solid State Circuit Conference).” Good point, and I followed up by joining those LinkedIn groups and and sharing my post in front of the right audience.
But that’s not enough. We want the chip/system designers to add 3D InCites to their list of online resources of information. So in an effort to reach out to the design community and involve them in the discussion right here on 3D InCites, we’ve launched a new blog, 3D By Design, which will feature contributed blogs by thought leaders within the design community itself, who understand the benefits of designing in 3D, and have been instrumental in bringing 3D integration to commercialization.
We look forward to bringing you these fresh perspectives, and also invite you to join the conversation by commenting or even contributing a blog post of your own. ~ F.v.T.
