As demands accelerate for increasing density, higher bandwidths, and lower power, many IC design teams are looking up 3D ICs with through-silicon vias (TSVs). 3D ICs promise "more than Moore" integration by packing a great deal of functionality into small form factors, while improving performance and reducing costs. 3D IC packages may accommodate multiple heterogeneous die — such as logic, memory, analog, RF, and micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) — at different process nodes, such as 28nm for high-speed logic and 130nm for analog.

This provides an alternative to system-on-chip (SoC) integration, potentially postponing an expensive move to a new process node for all of the functionality developers want to place in a single package. 3D ICs with TSVs are expected to have a broad impact in areas such as networking, graphics, mobile communications, and computing, especially for applications that require ultra-light, small, low-power devices. Specific application areas include multi-core CPUs, GPUs, packet buffers/ routers, smart phones, tablets, netbooks, cameras, DVD players, and set-top boxes. While there is great interest in this emerging technology, it is still in its early phases. Standard definitions are lacking, the supply chain ecosystem is still in flux, and design, verification and test challenges need to be resolved.