Multi-objective Optimization of Placement and Assignment of TSVs in 3D ICs

TLDR: Although this method has some similarity with the framework of NSGA-II, several variations have been incorporated so that, on exploration of variety of non-dominated solutions the search process converges to a near-optimum solution in reasonable time.

Abstract: The advent of 3D IC technology facilitates fabrication of large logic circuits on low area yet high performance chips. For a 3D IC, placement followed by assignment of Through-Silicon-Vias (TSV)s is a challenging problem involving various issues like inter-layer wirelength, power density, congestion and variation in surrounding carrier mobility. Each of the existing techniques for placement of TSVs deals only with a subset of these issues. In this paper, we propose an evolutionary approach MO_TSV to handle this multi-objective optimization problem. Although this method has some similarity with the framework of NSGA-II, several variations have been incorporated so that, on exploration of variety of non-dominated solutions the search process converges to a near-optimum solution in reasonable time. Experimental results on ISCAS'85 and ISCAS'89 benchmarks yield solution quality aswell as convergence times, which are encouraging.