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Recently, Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) has been more popular to provide faster inter-layer communication in three-dimensional Networks-on-Chip (3D NoCs). However, the area overhead of TSVs reduces wafer utilization and yield which impact design of 3D architectures using a large number of TSVs such as homogeneous 3D NoCs topologies. Also, 3D routers require more memory and thus they are more power hungry than conventional 2D routers. Alternatively, hybrid 3D NoCs combine both the area and performance benefits of 2D and 3D router architectures by using a limited number of TSVs. Existing hybrid architectures suffer from higher packet delays as they do not consider the dynamic communication patterns of different application and their NoC resource usage. We propose a novel algorithm to systematically generate hybrid 3D NoC topologies for a given application such that the vertical connections are minimized while the NoC performance is not sacrificed. The proposed algorithm analyses the target application and generates hybrid architectures by efficiently redistributing the vertical links and buffer spaces based on their utilizations. Furthermore, the algorithm has been evaluated with synthetic and various real-world traffic patterns. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm generates optimized architectures with lower energy consumption and a significant reduction in packet delay compared to the existing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reliability is one of the most challenging problems in the context of three-dimensional network-on-chip (3D NoC) systems. Reliability analysis is prominent for early stages of the manufacturing process in order to prevent costly redesigns of a target system. This article classifies the potential physical faults of a baseline TSV-based 3D NoC architecture by targeting two-dimensional (2D) NoC components and their inter-die connections. In this paper, through-silicon via (TSV) issues, thermal concerns, and single event effect (SEE) are investigated and categorized, in order to propose evaluation metrics for inspecting the resiliency of 3D NoC designs. A reliability analysis for major source of faults is reported in this article separately based on their mean time to failure (MTTF). TSV failure probability induced by inductive and capacitive coupling is also discussed. Finally, the paper provides a formal reliability analysis on the aggregated faults that affect TSV. This formal analysis is critical for estimating the resiliency of different components in order to mitigate the redundancy cost of fault-tolerant design or to examine the efficiency of any proposed fault-tolerant methods for 3D NoC architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

3D integration opens up new opportunities for future multiprocessor chips by enabling fast and highly scalable 3D Network-on-Chip (NoC) topologies. However, in an aim to reduce the cost of Through-silicon via (TSV), partially vertically connected NoCs, in which only a few vertical TSV links are available, have been gaining relevance. To reliably route packets under such conditions, we introduce a lightweight, efficient and highly resilient adaptive routing algorithm targeting partially vertically connected 3D-NoCs named First-Last. It requires a very low number of virtual channels (VCs) to achieve deadlock-freedom (2 VCs in the East and North directions and 1 VC in all other directions), and guarantees packet delivery as long as one healthy TSV connecting all layers is available anywhere in the network. An improved version of our algorithm, named Enhanced-First-Last is also introduced and shown to dramatically improve performance under low TSV availability while still using less virtual channels than state-of-the-art algorithms. A comprehensive evaluation of the cost and performance of our algorithms is performed to demonstrate their merits with respects to existing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D-NoCs have been the mainstream approach used to interconnect multi-core systems. 3D-NoCs have emerged to compensate for deficiencies of 2D-NoCs such as long latency and power overhead. A low-latency routing algorithm for 3D-NoC is designed to accommodate high-speed communication between cores. Both simulation and analytical models are applied to estimate the communication latency of NoCs. Generally, simulations are time-consuming and slow down the design process. Analytical models provide, within a fraction of the time, nearly accurate results which can be used by simulation to fine-tune the design. In this paper, a high performance and adaptive routing algorithm has been proposed for partially connected 3D-NoCs. Latency of the routing algorithm under different traffic patterns, different number of elevators and different elevator assignment mechanisms are reported. An analytical model, tailored to the adaptivity of the algorithm and under low traffic scenarios, has been developed and the results have been verified by simulation. According to the results, simulation and analytical results are consistent within a 10 percent margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D ICs can take advantage of a scalable communication platform, commonly referred to as the Networks-on-Chip (NoC). In the basic form of 3D-NoC, all routers are vertically connected. Partially connected 3D-NoC has emerged because of physical limitations of using vertical links. Routing is of great importance in such partially connected architectures. A high-performance, fault-tolerant and adaptive routing strategy with respect to the communication flow among the cores is crucial while freedom from livelock and deadlock has to be guaranteed. In this paper we introduce a new routing algorithm for partially connected 3D-NoCs. The routing algorithm is adaptive and tolerates the faults on vertical links as compared to the predesigned routing algorithms. Our results show a $40-50\%$ improvement in the fraction of intact inter-level communications when the fault tolerant algorithm is used. This routing algorithm is light-weight and has only one virtual channel along the $Y$ dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TSV-to-TSV coupling is known to be a significant detriment to signal integrity in three-dimensional (3D) IC architectures. Designing a reliable Through-Silicon Via is critical in order to support better performance. This paper explores the challenges brought on by capacitive and inductive TSV-to-TSV coupling in TSV-based 3D ICs. Based on our analyses, we propose two approaches to mitigate these effects. In one approach, a novel coding technique that adjusts the current flow pattern is proposed to mitigate the inductive coupling effects. In another approach an alternative architecture, wrapping around the TSVs, is proposed to greatly reduce the capacitive coupling effect. The efficiency of the proposed coding methods and supporting architectures is demonstrated by comprehensive simulations at both the hardware and system levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]