IEEE Standards Association Emerging Technology Award 2017

Erik Jan Marinissen (imec and TU/e) Recipient of
IEEE Standards Association Emerging Technology Award 2017

For IEEE Std P1838™ on test access in 3D-stacked ICs


Somerset (New Jersey, USA) – December 4, 2017 – For his involvement in the development of IEEE Std P1838™ for test access in three-dimensional (3D) chip stacks, Erik Jan Marinissen received yesterday the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Emerging Technology Award 2017. TU/e alumnus and IEEE Fellow Marinissen is Principal Scientist at imec in Leuven, Belgium and Visiting Researcher in the Electronic Systems group at the department of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. He received the accolade out of the hands of Donald Wright, President of IEEE-SA at an award ceremony at The Palace in Somerset Park, New Jersey, USA (see https://standards.ieee.org/news/2017/ieeesa_awards.html). The award citation reads “for his passion and initiative supporting the creation of a 3D Test Standard.”

3D stacked integrated circuits (3D-SICs) are poised to take over the baton from conventional semiconductor feature-size scaling in meeting market expectations of chips with higher performance, better energy-efficiency, and lower cost. Technological innovations such as wafer thinning and large and dense arrays of through-silicon vias and micro-bumps enable the manufacturing of stacks of two or more dies. Like all micro-electronic products, these multi-die stacks need to be tested for manufacturing defects before they can be shipped with acceptable quality levels to their customers. IEEE Std P1838™ is a standard (currently still under development) for on-chip design features (‘3D design-for-test’ or 3D-DfT) that provide test access from the stack’s external inputs and outputs (typically located at the bottom of the stack) to the various dies in the stack. P1838 standardizes per-die 3D-DfT features, such that if compliant dies are brought together in a stack, a basic minimum of test access is guaranteed to work across the stack.

In 2010, Marinissen initiated a Study Group under the umbrella of IEEE-SA’s Test Technology Standards Committee (TTSC) into the needs for test standards for 3D-SICs. This led to the formation of the TTSC-sponsored P1838 Working Group in 2011 with Marinissen as Chair. After an extensive collaborative effort of industry and academic experts around the globe, and with Marinissen after reaching his end-of-term as Working Group Chair currently in the role of Vice Chair, the draft standard is scheduled to go to ballot in 2018.

In his award acceptance speech, Erik Jan Marinissen thanked his employer, imec, for support: “The fact that this standard took eight years to develop and still is in time for the market, shows how advanced imec is as a work place.” Later, he added: “DfT standards are the result of industrial engineering work with a global impact on a range of commercial products, but also an inspiration source for scientific research and related publications.”

The IEEE-SA Emerging Technology Award is presented to an individual, working group, or company that has advanced, initiated, or progressed a new technology within the IEEE-SA open consensus process; see http://standards.ieee.org/develop/awards/etech/. The award for Marinissen was recommended by the IEEE Standards Association’s (IEEE-SA) Awards and Recognition Committee (ArCom) and approved by the association's Board of Governors.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

The Emerging Technology Award may be presented annually to an individual, working group, or company that has advanced, initiated, or progressed a new technology within the IEEE-SA open consensus process, and which meet the following criteria:
•The IEEE-SA work product is a balloted standards document, a standard, recommended practice, or guide. It is not necessary for the final document to be approved, but substantial progress beyond the PAR is necessary.
•The IEEE-SA work product is the first, or one of few such activities for the technology, industry, or market(s) for which it is targeted.
•A technology, industry, or market where broad consensus agreements are not yet widely deployed, or not yet fully commercialized.
•The IEEE-SA work product has positive market relevance.
•The effort places IEEE in a leadership position.
•The contribution extends the IEEE-SA standards portfolio.

Award
Recognition consists of a sculpture and certificate. There is no honorarium attached to this award.

Eligibility
The recipient must be an IEEE-SA member. The eligible candidate, if an individual, may be the champion, project initiator, or prominent contributor to the effort. There are no restrictions or preferences as to the nationality, race, sex, creed or age.