An Active Substrate Mcm System

Abstract

This paper describes an approach to multi-chip module packaging in which a silicon wafer containing active circuits is used as the substrate. Custom interface circuits have been designed for the chip-to-substrate boundary, and series regulation is used to stabilize the power supply for the VLSI chips. In an experimental prototype, a chip-to-chip delay of 7.9 nsec has been achieved, while the supply noise has been reduced by more than a factor of four.