Adeia Semiconductor Inc.

Direct-bonded native interconnects and active base dies are provided. In a microelectronic architecture, active dies or chiplets connect to an active base die via their core-level conductors. These native interconnects provide short data paths, which forgo the overhead of standard interfaces. The system saves redistribution routing as the native interconnects couple in place. The base die may contain custom logic, allowing the attached dies to provide stock functions. The architecture can connect diverse interconnect types and chiplets from various process nodes, operating at different voltages. The base die may have state elements for drive. Functional blocks aboard the base die receive native signals from diverse chiplets, and communicate with all attached chiplets. The chiplets may share processing and memory resources of the base die. Routing blockages are minimal, improving signal quality and timing. The system can operate at dual or quad data rates. The architecture facilitates ASIC, ASSP, and FPGA ICs and neural networks, reducing footprint and power requirements.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to forming a completed stack of layers. Forming the completed stack of layers may include forming a first stack of layers on a first substrate and forming a second stack of layers on a second substrate. The first stack of layers may be bonded to the second stack of layers. The first or second substrate may be removed. Prior to bonding the first stack of layers and the second stack of layer, one or more holes may be etched in the first stack of layers. After removing the second substrate, one or more holes may be etched in the second stack of layers, wherein each of the one or more holes in the second stack of layers extend into a corresponding hole in the one or more holes in the first stack of layers.

A device may include a metal contact between a first isolation region and a second isolation region on a first surface of an epitaxial layer. The device may include a first sidewall and a second sidewall on a second surface of the epitaxial layer distal to the first isolation region and the second isolation region. The device may include a wavelength converting layer on the epitaxial layer between the first sidewall and the second sidewall.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to forming a completed stack of layers. Forming the completed stack of layers may include forming a first stack of layers on a first substrate and forming a second stack of layers on a second substrate. The first stack of layers may be bonded to the second stack of layers. The first or second substrate may be removed. Prior to bonding the first stack of layers and the second stack of layer, one or more holes may be etched in the first stack of layers. After removing the second substrate, one or more holes may be etched in the second stack of layers, wherein each of the one or more holes in the second stack of layers extend into a corresponding hole in the one or more holes in the first stack of layers.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a three-dimensional (3D) circuit that is formed by stacking two or more integrated circuit (IC) dies to at least partially overlap and to share one or more interconnect layers that distribute power, clock and/or data-bus signals. The shared interconnect layers include interconnect segments that carry power, clock and/or data-bus signals. In some embodiments, the shared interconnect layers are higher level interconnect layers (e.g., the top interconnect layer of each IC die). In some embodiments, the stacked IC dies of the 3D circuit include first and second IC dies. The first die includes a first semiconductor substrate and a first set of interconnect layers defined above the first semiconductor substrate. Similarly, the second IC die includes a second semiconductor substrate and a second set of interconnect layers defined above the second semiconductor substrate. As further described below, the first and second dies in some embodiments are placed in a face-to-face arrangement (e.g., a vertically stacked arrangement) that has the first and second set of interconnect layers facing each other. In some embodiments, a subset of one or more interconnect layers of the second set interconnect layers of the second die has interconnect wiring that carries power, clock and/or data-bus signals that are supplied to the first IC die.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a three-dimensional (3D) circuit that is formed by vertically stacking two or more integrated circuit (IC) dies to at least partially overlap. In this arrangement, several circuit blocks defined on each die (1) overlap with other circuit blocks defined on one or more other dies, and (2) electrically connect to these other circuit blocks through connections that cross one or more bonding layers that bond one or more pairs of dies. In some embodiments, the overlapping, connected circuit block pairs include pairs of computation blocks and pairs of computation and memory blocks. The connections that cross bonding layers to electrically connect circuit blocks on different dies are referred to below as z-axis wiring or connections. This is because these connections traverse completely or mostly in the z-axis of the 3D circuit, with the x-y axes of the 3D circuit defining the planar surface of the IC die substrate or interconnect layers. These connections are also referred to as vertical connections to differentiate them from the horizontal planar connections along the interconnect layers of the IC dies.

It is highly desirable in electronic systems to conserve space on printed circuit boards (PCB). This disclosure describes voltage regulation in electronic systems, and more specifically to integrating voltage regulators and associated passive components into semiconductor packages with at least a portion of the circuits whose voltage(s) they are regulating.

Some embodiments provide a three-dimensional (3D) circuit structure that has two or more vertically stacked bonded layers with a machine-trained network on at least one bonded layer. As described above, each bonded layer can be an IC die or an IC wafer in some embodiments with different embodiments encompassing different combinations of wafers and dies for the different bonded layers. The machine-trained network in some embodiments includes several stages of machine-trained processing nodes with routing fabric that supplies the outputs of earlier stage nodes to drive the inputs of later stage nodes. In some embodiments, the machine-trained network is a neural network and the processing nodes are neurons of the neural network. In some embodiments, one or more parameters associated with each processing node (e.g., each neuron) is defined through machine-trained processes that define the values of these parameters in order to allow the machine-trained network (e.g., neural network) to perform particular operations (e.g., face recognition, voice recognition, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, the machine-trained parameters are weight values that are used to aggregate (e.g., to sum) several output values of several earlier stage processing nodes to produce an input value for a later stage processing node.

Direct-bonded native interconnects and active base dies are provided. In a microelectronic architecture, active dies or chiplets connect to an active base die via their core-level conductors. These native interconnects provide short data paths, which forgo the overhead of standard interfaces. The system saves redistribution routing as the native interconnects couple in place. The base die may contain custom logic, allowing the attached dies to provide stock functions. The architecture can connect diverse interconnect types and chiplets from various process nodes, operating at different voltages. The base die may have state elements for drive. Functional blocks aboard the base die receive native signals from diverse chiplets, and communicate with all attached chiplets. The chiplets may share processing and memory resources of the base die. Routing blockages are minimal, improving signal quality and timing. The system can operate at dual or quad data rates. The architecture facilitates ASIC, ASSP, and FPGA ICs and neural networks, reducing footprint and power requirements.

A microelectronic unit may include an epitaxial silicon layer having a source and a drain, a buried oxide layer beneath the epitaxial silicon layer, an ohmic contact extending through the buried oxide layer, a dielectric layer beneath the buried oxide layer, and a conductive element extending through the dielectric layer. The source and the drain may be doped portions of the epitaxial silicon layer. The ohmic contact may be coupled to a lower surface of one of the source or the drain. The conductive element may be coupled to a lower surface of the ohmic contact. A portion of the conductive element may be exposed at the second dielectric surface of the dielectric layer. The second dielectric surface may be directly bonded to an external component to form a microelectronic assembly.