Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Multi-chip module
Summary
A multi-chip module (MCM) is generically an electronic assembly (such as a package with a number of conductor terminals or "pins") where multiple integrated circuits (ICs or "chips"), semiconductor dies and/or other discrete components are integrated, usually onto a unifying substrate, so that in use it can be treated as if it were a larger IC. Other terms for MCM packaging include "heterogeneous integration" or "hybrid integrated circuit". The advantage of using MCM packaging is it allows a manufacturer to use multiple components for modularity and/or to improve yields over a conventional monolithic IC approach.
Multi-chip modules come in a variety of forms depending on the complexity and development philosophies of their designers. These can range from using pre-packaged ICs on a small printed circuit board (PCB) meant to mimic the package footprint of an existing chip package to fully custom chip packages integrating many chip dies on a high density interconnection (HDI) substrate. The final assembled MCM substrate may be done in one of the following ways:
The substrate is a multi-layer laminated printed circuit board (PCB), such as those used in AMD's Zen 2 processors.
The substrate is built on ceramic, such as low temperature co-fired ceramic
The ICs are deposited on the base substrate using Thin Film technology.
The ICs that make up the MCM package may be:
ICs that can perform most, if not all of the functions of a component of a computer, such as the CPU. Examples of this include implementations of IBM's POWER5 and Intel's Core 2 Quad. Multiple copies of the same IC are used to build the final product. In the case of POWER5, multiple POWER5 processors and their associated off-die L3 cache are used to build the final package. With the Core 2 Quad, effectively two Core 2 Duo dies were packaged together.
ICs that perform only some of the functions, or "Intellectual Property Blocks" ("IP Blocks"), of a component in a computer. These are known as chiplets. An example of this are the processing ICs and I/O IC of AMD's Zen 2-based processors.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (2)
Related concepts (31)
Northbridge (computing)
In computing, a northbridge (also host bridge, or memory controller hub) is one of two chips comprising the core logic chipset architecture on a PC motherboard. A northbridge is connected directly to a CPU via the front-side bus (FSB) to handle high-performance tasks, and is usually used in conjunction with a slower southbridge to manage communication between the CPU and other parts of the motherboard.
Multi-core processor
A multi-core processor is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit with two or more separate processing units, called cores, each of which reads and executes program instructions. The instructions are ordinary CPU instructions (such as add, move data, and branch) but the single processor can run instructions on separate cores at the same time, increasing overall speed for programs that support multithreading or other parallel computing techniques.
Multi-chip module
A multi-chip module (MCM) is generically an electronic assembly (such as a package with a number of conductor terminals or "pins") where multiple integrated circuits (ICs or "chips"), semiconductor dies and/or other discrete components are integrated, usually onto a unifying substrate, so that in use it can be treated as if it were a larger IC. Other terms for MCM packaging include "heterogeneous integration" or "hybrid integrated circuit".
Related courses (10)
CS-471: Advanced multiprocessor architecture
Multiprocessors are now the defacto building blocks for all computer systems. This course will build upon the basic concepts offered in Computer Architecture I to cover the architecture and organizati
CS-307: Introduction to multiprocessor architecture
Multiprocessors are a core component in all types of computing infrastructure, from phones to datacenters. This course will build on the prerequisites of processor design and concurrency to introduce
EE-530: Test of VLSI systems
Test of VLSI Systems covers theoretical knowledge related to the major algorithms used in VLSI test, and design for test techniques. Basic knowledge related to computer-aided design for test technique