An effective and efficient numerical method for thermal management in 3D stacked integrated circuits

Three dimensional (3D) integration technology has emerged as a promising solution to improve the performance of microelectronic devices. However, the complex structures and the consequent increase in power density exacerbate the challenge of thermal management in the device with multiple chips. Thus, an effective thermal analysis method is crucial for the reliability of 3D IC device. In this paper, a fast and accurate equivalent approach based on finite element analysis (FEA) was proposed for estimating the equivalent thermal conductivity of 3D IC device, and the proposed numerical model was validated by 3D FEA method. In addition, the estimated equivalent thermal conductivity was employed in thermal analysis of real 3D IC device, whose efficiency significantly outperformed the conventional detailed FE model with comparable accuracy. Furthermore, the effect of the structure and material related parameters on steady-state temperature profiles in 3D stacked packages has been systematically analyzed, including the diameter and pitch of TSVs, the thickness of SiO2, the heat source setting as well as underfill materials, which provides useful insights for thermal management in 3D IC industry.