What is the Chiplet Application Hub?

Andy Heinig: With the Chiplet Application Hub, the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) has founded a national hub for the development and application of chiplet technologies. The hub provides a framework for the FMD and industry partners from various sectors of the semiconductor ecosystem to pool their expertise with a view to jointly creating new chiplet solutions for applications in the automotive and automation sector, as well as in high-performance computing. The aim is to produce specific development roadmaps and pilot projects that are tailored to the needs of industry. Industry partners will also work hand in hand with the FMD to make their own contributions to driving forward chiplet innovations. In conjunction with the technological capabilities of the pilot line for “Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems” (APECS), this will allow the development of new production technologies, design methods, and standards as well as proposals for the standardization of chiplet technology – and the testing of prototypes.

How do the Chiplet Center of Excellence and the Chiplet Application Hub complement one another?

The Chiplet Application Hub is intended, in close collaboration with the user industry, to provide a bridge and, in the long term, to act as a portal for the wider application of APECS technologies to bring these technologies to potential users. To this end, work is underway on establishing thematic clusters within the hub that will focus on key areas of technology (e.g., design, system integration, micromechanics, photonics) or industry-specific requirements for future electronic systems. These clusters will examine specific target applications or use cases with a view to analyzing requirements, developing solution options, and creating concrete solutions.

The Chiplet Center of Excellence (CCoE) was established as a collaboration between three Fraunhofer institutes of the FMD and is led by the Engineering of Adaptive Systems division of Fraunhofer IIS. Focusing on system integration technologies and the examination of architectures, design, production, and reliability, the CCoE constitutes the first cluster within the Chiplet Application Hub.

What specific research services does the Chiplet Center of Excellence offer?

The Chiplet Center of Excellence brings together capabilities in the areas of design methodology, integration technologies (from the chiplet to the interposer/package level and the board), and characterization/testing/reliability for the automotive use case. Having been in operation since 2023, the CCoE has already had the chance to try out the model of close interaction with industry that is outlined for the Chiplet Application Hub.

This model centers around a methodological approach that paves the way for the early holistic evaluation of chiplet-based systems based on technical aspects – from the architecture to robust and reliable package technology – and, in particular, on economic factors. To this end, data are recorded for the aforementioned sub-areas before they are interlinked and analyzed in the form of a digital twin.

Above all, the Chiplet Center of Excellence seeks to ensure that the developed chiplet solutions take account of the cost requirements of industry. This involves carrying out corresponding cost studies and cost analyses from the outset. Moreover, all analyses and concepts take account of the specific requirements of the automotive industry for chiplet solutions, as it is now becoming clear that we will need application-specific chiplet solutions in the future. This begins with the package solutions, in conjunction with suitably adapted chiplet interface concepts, and is therefore also closely linked to the corresponding system concepts.

This work is supplemented by that of imec, a Belgian research center that plans to set up a research group in Heilbronn to explore chiplet architectures in high-performance computing for the automotive sector. The two partners are pooling their strengths in order to make optimum use of their potential and have signed a memorandum of understanding with a view to establishing a joint strategic orientation.

The Chiplet Center of Excellence is focused on the automotive industry. What are the advantages of chiplet technology for automotive applications?

The potential of chiplet technologies can be put to particularly effective use in automotive applications and in the transformation of electronics architectures toward centralized control functionalities in the automotive sector. Firstly, these technologies deliver improved flexibility and scalability: The convergence of vehicle functions such as advanced driver assistance systems and vehicle infotainment requires not only greater processing power but also greater flexibility when it comes to tailoring to the vehicle category and intended functionality – for example, with regard to the level of autonomous driving that chiplet systems can achieve.

Secondly, the technologies also boost energy efficiency: Autonomous driving in Level 3 or higher requires considerable processing power, which is accompanied by considerable power dissipation in the case of conventional systems on a chip (SoCs). The fact that chiplets are partitioned into different circuit technologies paves the way for more efficient solutions, which has a positive impact on electrical autonomy and the system costs for cooling concepts.

Moreover, chiplet technology provides advantages in terms of the robustness of supply chains. With the huge variety of sensor components in cars, the advantage of chiplet-based approaches is that they allow the modularization of functions as well as flexible tailoring to the specific application and a high level of reuse.

The benefits are often due not to the chiplet-based component directly but rather to the ability to achieve innovative system concepts.

Are the research findings applicable to other sectors?

Given the strong methodological orientation of work in the areas of system design and design flow, the findings from the Chiplet Center of Excellence can also be applied to other fields such as industry and aerospace. The center’s services are aimed at a wide user group with an interest in chiplet solutions while also addressing the needs of SMEs.

Who can participate in the Chiplet Center of Excellence?

The CCoE is open to participation by industry representatives as well as partners from certification authorities and standardization organizations. This includes chip manufacturers, for example, as well as representatives from the automotive sector. The aim is to work on relevant lines of research in interdisciplinary teams and provide a widely reusable portfolio of basic solutions (e.g., workflows, model libraries, test structures, etc.). All research activities within the CCoE are defined, monitored, and controlled by the participating industry to ensure a clear focus on industry requirements. The results will allow partners to derive differentiating projects with a view to developing their own products and technologies.

When will companies be able to benefit from the research findings?

Given that the CCoE has existed since late 2023, some results are already available. For example, the center has held and will regularly hold industry workshops to promote close networking and exchange between interested industry partners.

It continues to gain insights into architectures and cost modeling through close cooperation with industry and with continual adaptation to industry requirements. In the area of package solutions, the center has also presented findings relating not only to production but also to characterization and the corresponding electrical and thermal modeling.

Following coordination with industry, there has also been significant progress in the area of chiplet interfaces – especially when it comes to the incorporation of circuit technology that is older but whose use will continue to be justified for some time yet. This applies to the automotive sector in particular.

Further work is underway, and we will continue to provide regular progress updates – primarily through our industry workshops, in which other interested partners are welcome to participate.