A chiplet is a tiny

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

(IC) that contains a well-defined subset of functionality. It is designed to be combined with other chiplets on an interposer in a single package to create a complex component such as a computer processor. Each chiplet in a computer processor provides only a portion of the processor's total functionality. A set of chiplets can be implemented in a mix-and-match "

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

-like" assembly. This provides several advantages over a traditional system on chip (SoC) which is monolithic as it comprises a single silicon die: * Reusable IP (intellectual property): the same chiplet can be used in many different devices * Heterogeneous integration: chiplets can be fabricated with different processes, materials, and

node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...

s, each optimized for its particular function * Known good die: chiplets can be tested before assembly, improving the yield of the final device. Multiple chiplets working together in a single integrated circuit may be called a

multi-chip module A multi-chip module (MCM) is generically an electronic assembly (such as a package with a number of conductor terminals or Lead (electronics), "pins") where multiple integrated circuits (ICs or "chips"), semiconductor Die (integrated circuit), d ...

, hybrid IC, 2.5D IC, or an advanced package. Chiplets may be connected with standards such as UCIe, bunch of wires (BoW), AIB, OpenHBI, and OIF XSR. Chiplets not designed by the same company must be designed with interoperability in mind. The term was coined by

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

professor

John Wawrzynek John Wawrzynek is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley. He holds a joint appointment with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and is the Chief Faculty Director of the Berkeley ...

as a component of the RAMP Project (research accelerator for multiple processors) in 2006 extension for the Department of Energy. Common examples include: *

AMD Ryzen Ryzen ( ) is a brand of multi-core x86-64 microprocessors, designed and marketed by AMD for desktop, mobile, server, and embedded platforms, based on the Zen microarchitecture. It consists of central processing units (CPUs) marketed for mains ...

based on Zen 2 and later architecture * NVidia H100 * Intel Meteor Lake

See also

References

Further reading