JP5556294B2 - Semiconductor device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a three-dimensional stacked structure in which a plurality of integrated circuit chips are stacked.

  There is a semiconductor device called a system-in-package (SiP) in which a plurality of integrated circuit (LSI: Large Scale Integration) chips are overlapped with each other and function as one system. Some semiconductor devices of this type perform communication between stacked chips using non-contact communication technology (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 5).

  Inter-chip communication using non-contact communication technology has advantages in that broadband data transmission is possible compared to inter-chip communication by wire bonding, and that a chip mounting area can be reduced because no wiring space is required. In addition, there are advantages that manufacturing is easier and the yield is higher than when stacked chips are connected by through vias.

JP 2005-203657 A JP 2007-073600 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-165459 JP 2008-004714 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-236696

  Each of the integrated circuits described in Patent Documents 1 to 5 includes an integrated circuit chip having an interface for non-contact communication, that is, an integrated circuit chip designed for exclusive use. That is, these integrated circuits require a specially designed integrated circuit chip and cannot be constructed using existing integrated circuit chips.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device in which a plurality of existing integrated circuit chips are stacked on each other and communication between the chips can be realized by non-contact communication means.

A semiconductor device according to an aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of connection pads to which external connection pads of a semiconductor chip are connected, a plurality of non-contact communication means provided corresponding to each of the plurality of connection pads , Connected between and connected to each of the plurality of connection pads and each of the plurality of non-contact communication means provided corresponding to each of the plurality of connection pads, It is characterized by comprising a communication chip having a plurality of signal path changing means for changing a signal path so as to change a correspondence relationship with a plurality of non-contact communication means .

  According to the present invention, by providing a communication chip having a connection pad and a non-contact communication means, an existing semiconductor chip is mounted on this communication chip, and another existing chip mounted on another communication chip. Non-contact communication can be realized with this semiconductor chip. As a result, a semiconductor device having a three-dimensional structure can be configured using an existing semiconductor chip.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of external connection pads of an integrated circuit chip used in the semiconductor device of FIG. 1 and an arrangement example of each part including connection pads of a router chip. FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating a configuration example of a router circuit used in the semiconductor device of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating a configuration example of a state holding circuit used in the router circuit of FIG. 3. (A) And (b) is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the semiconductor device based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the semiconductor device which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. (A) And (b) is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the semiconductor device of FIG. FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating a configuration example of a state holding circuit used in the semiconductor device of FIG. 6. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the external connection pad of the integrated circuit chip used for the semiconductor device which concerns on the 4th Embodiment of this invention, and the arrangement | positioning part of each part containing the connection pad of a router chip | tip. It is a figure for demonstrating the modification of the semiconductor device which concerns on the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows one structural example of the output circuit used for the semiconductor device which concerns on the 5th Embodiment of this invention.

  First, the outline of the present invention will be described.

  The present invention uses a second LSI (router LSI) having a non-contact communication interface circuit in addition to the existing first LSI (existing LSI) equipped with a CPU and a memory, and between the existing LSI and the router LSI. Are connected by, for example, bumps. Two combinations of existing LSI and router LSI are prepared, and these are three-dimensionally stacked. This enables mutual communication between the two existing LSIs stacked. In addition, when bump connection is used between the existing LSI and the router LSI, the wiring space required when using wire bonding can be eliminated, and the special technique required when forming the through via can be eliminated. .

  Further, according to the present invention, a router circuit is arranged for each contactless communication interface circuit, and a signal path between the connection pad and the contactless communication interface circuit can be changed. As a result, the router LSI having the same configuration can be used in different systems, and the trouble of redesigning the router LSI for each product can be saved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a three-dimensional stacked semiconductor device (integrated circuit) according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

  The illustrated integrated circuit includes first and second existing integrated circuit chips (existing LSI (Large Scale Integration)) 101-1 and 101-2, and these first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101. -2 have first and second router chips (router LSIs) 102-1 and 102-2 as communication chips respectively.

  Each of the first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2 includes one or more functional blocks (not shown) such as a CPU and a memory, and an external connection pad (see FIG. 2). . The plurality of external connection pads include a signal pad and a power supply pad. The configurations of the first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2 may be the same or different from each other. However, it is assumed that the plurality of external connection pads are positioned according to a predetermined rule. This is because it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated router chip for the integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2 if each external connection pad is in a position determined by a predetermined rule. This can be used as both the first router chip 102-1 and the second router chip 102-1. In the present embodiment, the number of external connection pads and signal allocation can be arbitrarily determined as long as each external connection pad is located at a position determined by a predetermined rule. The plurality of external connection pads are arranged in a matrix at intervals necessary for flip chip, for example.

  Each of the first and second router chips 102-1 and 102-2 has a plurality of connection pads 111 positioned according to a predetermined rule. The positioning rules for these connection pads 111 are the same as the positioning rules for the external connection pads in the first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2. All or a part (all in FIG. 1) of these connection pads 111 are connected to the outside of the first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 or 101-2 by flip chip connection (bump connection) using the bumps 112. One-to-one connection is made to the connection pads.

  Each of the first and second router chips 102-1 and 102-2 includes a non-contact communication interface circuit 113 and a router circuit 114 respectively corresponding to the plurality of connection pads 111, and at least one bonding pad 115. have. Each router circuit 114 is connected to the corresponding connection pad 111 and the non-contact communication interface circuit 113, and is connected to at least one other router circuit 114. The bonding pad 115 is connected to one of the router circuits 114 as well as the bonding wire 116.

  It is also possible to directly connect the connection pad 111 and the non-contact communication interface circuit 113 without using the router circuit 114. However, in that case, it becomes impossible to change the signal path described later.

  In addition, the router circuit 114 can be a group of two or more router circuits 114. However, in consideration of the arrangement space and the wiring length, it is preferable to provide each connection pad 111 (or each contactless communication interface circuit 113).

  The first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2 are bump-connected to the first and second router chips 102-1 and 102-2, respectively, and two router chips on which the integrated circuit chip is mounted are connected. You can pair. By superimposing the two obtained chips so that the non-contact communication interface circuits 113 face each other, the integrated circuit having the three-dimensional structure shown in FIG. 1 can be formed. Thereby, non-contact communication is realized between the non-contact communication interface circuits 113 facing each other. That is, the first and second integrated circuit chips 101-1 and 101-2 can perform non-contact communication with each other. Note that the non-contact communication here assumes the use of inductive coupling or electrostatic coupling.

  FIG. 2 shows an arrangement example of the external connection pads 121 of the integrated circuit chip 101 (101-1 or 101-2) and the arrangement of each part including the connection pads 111 of the corresponding router chip 102 (102-1 or 101-2). An example is shown. These arrangements are merely examples, and various changes can be made.

  Next, the operation of the integrated circuit of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  A case where a signal is transmitted from one of the external connection pads 121 of the first integrated circuit chip 101-1 to one of the external connection pads 121 of the second integrated circuit chip 101-2 will be described. It should be noted that the transmission source external connection pad 121 and the transmission destination external connection pad 121 may be in positions corresponding to each other or in a non-corresponding position.

  The transmission signal transmitted from the external connection pad 121 that is the transmission source of the first integrated circuit chip 101-1 is input to the corresponding connection pad 111 of the first router chip 102-1 that is bump-connected.

  The transmission signal input to the connection pad 111 is supplied to the corresponding router circuit 114. The router circuit 114 that has received the transmission signal transmits the received transmission signal to a preset transmission destination. Here, the preset transmission destination is the corresponding non-contact communication interface circuit 113 or another router circuit 114. When the transmission signal is transmitted to another router circuit 114, the other router circuit 114 that has received the transmission signal further transmits the received transmission signal to a preset transmission destination. Again, the preset destination is the corresponding contactless communication interface circuit 113 or another router circuit 114. In any case, the transmission signal is sent to one of the non-contact communication interface circuits 113 via one or more router circuits 114. The non-contact communication interface circuit 113 that has received the transmission signal transmits the transmission signal received by the non-contact communication to the non-contact communication interface circuit 113 of the second router chip 102-1 that is disposed to face the transmission signal.

  In the second router chip 102-1, the reception signal received by the non-contact communication interface circuit 113 is sent to the corresponding router circuit 114. The corresponding router circuit 114 transmits the received signal received to a preset transmission destination. Here, the preset transmission destination is the corresponding connection pad 111 or another router circuit 114. When the reception signal is sent to another router circuit 114, the other router circuit 114 further transmits the received signal received to a preset transmission destination. Again, the preset destination is the corresponding connection pad 111 or other router circuit 114. In any case, the received signal is sent to one of the connection pads 111 via one or more router circuits 114. The reception signal input to the connection pad 111 is supplied via the bump 112 to the external connection pad 121 that is the transmission destination of the second integrated circuit.

  As described above, a signal is transmitted from the external connection pad 121 that is the transmission source of the first integrated circuit chip 101-1 to the external connection pad 121 that is the transmission destination of the second integrated circuit chip 101-2. Similarly, a signal can be transmitted from the second integrated circuit chip 101-2 to the first integrated circuit chip 101-1.

  In the present embodiment, each router chip 102 is provided with a non-contact communication interface circuit 113 corresponding to the connection pads arranged in a matrix and a router circuit 114, and these router circuits 114 are connected in a grid pattern. . The signal path in the router circuit can be changed (switchable) so that signals can be transmitted and received between any connection pad 111 and any non-contact communication interface circuit 113. It is also possible to configure a plurality of sets of connection pads 111 and non-contact communication interface circuits 113 so that a plurality of signals can be transmitted and received independently. The power supply can also be performed by a route through the router circuit 114. However, power supply is realized by connecting one of the bonding pads 115 (power supply pad) to the power supply pad using one or more router circuits 114 and connection pads 111. Therefore, the non-contact communication interface circuit 113 does not exist in the power supply path. The power supply path and the signal path can be independent of each other.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the router circuit 114.

  The router circuit 114 in FIG. 3 includes four input / output lines 131, six switches (af) 132, and state holding circuits 133 corresponding to the switches 132, respectively. The state holding circuit 133 controls the on / off state of the corresponding switch, and determines the signal path between the four input / output lines 131. In the router circuit 114 of FIG. 3, a signal input to any one of the input / output lines 131 can be output to any one of the other three input / output lines 131. Alternatively, signals input to the two input / output lines 131 can be output to the remaining two input / output lines, respectively.

  Although FIG. 3 shows the router circuit 114 having four input / output lines 131, a router circuit having five or more input / output lines can be easily configured by combining a switch and a state holding circuit for controlling on / off thereof. It is possible to configure.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the state holding circuit 133.

  The state holding circuit of FIG. 4 includes a fuse 141 and a (high resistance) resistor 142 connected in series between a power supply voltage (VDD) and a ground (GND), and a buffer 143. The fuse 141 can be cut by ultraviolet rays or electrically. The output of the buffer 143 during operation is determined by cutting or not cutting the fuse 141 during manufacture. The output of the buffer 143 is used for on / off control of a switch 132 (for example, a transistor switch). Thus, the signal path is set by cutting or not cutting the fuse.

  As described above, when the signal path is determined at the time of manufacture, it is not necessary to provide a bonding pad for inputting an external control signal, and the area occupied by the router chip 102 can be reduced.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in the upper diagrams of FIGS. 5A and 5B, the integrated circuit according to the present embodiment is different in chip size and pad arrangement (signal allocation), but the same signals “signal 1” and “signal 1” and “ One of the two types of integrated circuit chips 101-3 and 101-4 that outputs the signal 2 "is included. Then, a three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit is configured by using any one of these integrated circuit chips 101-3 and 101-4 and an unillustrated integrated circuit chip and router chip.

  As shown in the lower diagrams of FIGS. 5A and 5B, by changing and setting the signal path of the router chip 102, the same non-interval can be obtained regardless of which of the integrated circuit chips 101-3 and 101-4 is used. The contact communication interface circuit 113 can output “signal 1” and “signal 2”, respectively.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, a three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit can be configured without being limited by the size and pad arrangement of the existing integrated circuit chip 101. That is, since there is no need to consider the size of the existing integrated circuit chip 101 and the pad arrangement, it is easy to design a three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit using the integrated circuit chip 101. Further, when a three-dimensional stacked integrated circuit is configured using an existing integrated circuit chip, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to prepare a different router chip depending on the type of the existing integrated circuit chip.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the integrated circuit according to the present embodiment includes integrated circuit chips 101-5 and 101-6 and a router chip 102-3 to which they are bump-connected. The router chip 103-3 is formed with bonding pads (external signal input pads) 115-1 and 115-2 for input signals and clock signals. The bonding pad 115-1 for input signals is connected to one of the router circuits 114, and the bonding pad 115-2 for clock signals is connected to all the router circuits 114.

  Next, the operation of the integrated circuit according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7A or 7B, the integrated circuit chip 101-5 outputs “signal 1” and “signal 2”, and the integrated circuit chip 101-6 outputs “signal 3” and “signal 4”. Is output.

  The router circuit 114 included in the router chip 102 switches a signal path at every elapse of a predetermined time according to an input signal and a clock signal supplied from the outside. That is, during a certain period (period 1), as shown in FIG. 7A, "signal 1" and "signal 2" from the integrated circuit chip 101-5 are sent to the central side of the non-contact communication interface circuit 113. Output to two. Further, during another period (period 2), as shown in FIG. 7B, "signal 3" and "signal 4" from the integrated circuit chip 101-6 are transferred to the two non-contact communication interface circuits on the center side. 113 to output.

  Accordingly, the integrated circuit chip 101-1 mounted on the lower router chip 102-1 in FIG. 6 communicates with the integrated circuit chip 101-5 during the period 1 and during the period 2, the integrated circuit chip 101. Can communicate with -6.

  As described above, in order to repeat the signal path at every elapse of a predetermined period, the state holding circuit 133 can be configured, for example, by connecting a plurality of flip-flops in multiple stages as shown in FIG. Each of the outputs a to d in FIG. 8 is used for controlling one of the switches included in the router circuit 114 or used for controlling two or more switches. By distributing the input signal and the clock signal supplied from the outside via the bonding pads 115-1 and 115-2 to each state holding circuit 133, the signal path can be sequentially switched.

  Note that the signal path can be switched by the control signal instead of the combination of the input signal and the clock signal. With this configuration, for example, in a computer, it is possible to instantaneously perform a proper use such as connecting to a memory LSI during a period in which an application that consumes a large amount of memory is operated and connecting to a logic LSI during a period of logical operation. It becomes possible.

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The integrated circuit according to the present embodiment has an integrated circuit chip 101-7 and a router chip 102-4 shown in FIG.

  The integrated circuit chip 101-7 has a power supply pad 191 and a signal pad 192.

  The router chip 102-4 has a plurality of sets of connection pads 193 and 194 corresponding to the power supply pads 191 and signal pads 192 of the integrated circuit chip. Each set includes a power supply circuit 195 connected between the connection pad 193 corresponding to the power supply pad 191 and the power supply bonding pad 115. The power supply circuit 195 adjusts the power supply voltage supplied to the bonding pad 115 and supplies it to the corresponding power supply pad 193. In the present embodiment, a plurality of integrated circuits having different power supply voltages can be mounted on one router lip 102-4.

  Further, each power supply circuit 195 may be controlled from the outside. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of flip-flops are connected in multiple stages, and a circuit that outputs a power supply value signal based on an input signal and a clock signal is added to adjust the power supply voltage over time. You can also.

  As described above, in the integrated circuit according to the present embodiment, a different power supply voltage can be applied to each integrated circuit chip. In addition, the power supply voltage can be adjusted for each chip during operation. In this case, even with many existing LSIs that do not have a function to vary the power supply voltage, it is possible to adjust the power supply voltage, and it is possible to perform fine power management such as switching the power supply voltage according to the operating status, and low power consumption Can be realized.

  In this embodiment, the power supply circuit 195 is connected to the connection pad 193 and the router circuit 114 is connected to the connection pad 194. However, the power supply circuit 195 and the router circuit 114 are connected to each connection pad via a switch. You may make it connect both. In this case, by switching the switch, one of the power supply circuit 195 and the router circuit 114 can be selected, and the selected circuit can be electrically connected to the connection pad. Thus, each connection pad can be used for both power supply and signal transmission / reception, and the degree of design freedom can be further increased.

  Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The integrated circuit according to the present embodiment has a self-test circuit (not shown) for testing the integrated circuit chip 101 in the router chip 102. If a self-test circuit is mounted on the router chip 102, a connection test, which is a problem with SiP, can be realized on-chip. The test result can be output from a combination circuit of a logic gate and a flip-flop as shown in FIG.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to some embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. . For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the router chip has six connection pads has been described, but the number may be five or less or seven or more. Moreover, although the case where the integrated circuit chip and the router chip are flip-chip connected (bump connection) has been described in the above embodiment, the connection may be made by other connection methods such as wire bonding. When wire bonding is used, wiring space is required, but on the other hand, it is not necessary to position the external connection pads of the integrated circuit chips to be laminated according to a common rule. There is an advantage that the degree of freedom of design is increased such that positioning can be performed without following the positioning rules of the external connection pads of the corresponding integrated circuit chip.

101, 101-1 to 101-7 Integrated circuit chip 102, 102-1 to 102-4 Router chip 111 Connection pad 112 Bump 113 Non-contact communication interface circuit 114 Router circuit 115, 115-1, 115-2 Bonding pad 116 Bonding Wire 121 External connection pad 131 Input / output line 132 Switch 133 State holding circuit 141 Fuse 142 Resistor 143 Buffer 191 Power supply pad 192 Signal pad 193, 194 Connection pad 195 Power supply circuit

Claims (8)

A plurality of connection pads to which external connection pads of a semiconductor chip are connected; a plurality of non-contact communication means provided corresponding to each of the plurality of connection pads; and each of the plurality of connection pads and the plurality of connections. Correspondence between the plurality of connection pads and the plurality of non-contact communication means connected between and connected to each of the plurality of non-contact communication means provided corresponding to each of the pads A semiconductor device comprising: a communication chip having a plurality of signal path changing means for changing a signal path so as to change a relationship . Each of the plurality of signal path changing means includes a plurality of signal input / output lines, a plurality of switches connected between the signal input / output lines, and a plurality of state holdings for controlling on / off of the plurality of switches. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , further comprising a circuit. The plurality of non-contact communication means provided in one set of communication chips and the plurality of non-contact communication means provided in one set of communication chips, including two combinations of the semiconductor chip and the communication chip The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the two sets of combinations are stacked so that communication can be performed between the two . 4. The semiconductor device according to claim 3 , wherein at least one of the two combinations is a combination of a plurality of semiconductor chips and one communication chip. An external signal input pad connected to the state holding circuit;
The state holding circuit controls the switch according to a signal input from the outside, and forms a signal path for selectively connecting one of the plurality of semiconductor chips to the non-contact communication means. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 . The semiconductor device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said non-contact communication means is to utilize an inductive coupling or capacitive coupling. And a power supply pad connected to a power supply pad, a semiconductor according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a power supply circuit to modulate the supply voltage supplied to the power supply pad apparatus. The semiconductor device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the external connection pad of the semiconductor chip is flip-chip connected to the connection pads of the communication chips.

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