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112 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2024 do not allow for interoperability, or the mixing and matching of chiplets from different man- ufacturers onto a single package. So, where do standards come into play? Standards for interoperability ensure that chiplets from dif- ferent manufacturers can work together seam- lessly without compatibility issues. When chiplets adhere to common design specifica- tions, it becomes easier to integrate them into a single package or system. is is critical for designers who want to mix and match compo- nents from various sources to create custom- ized solutions. "Ideally, we would want the chiplet ecosys- tem replicating the PCB ecosystem," says Dr. Ganesh Subbarayan, professor of mechan- ical engineering at Purdue University. "In other words, it's procuring chips from multi- ple vendors and being able to arbitrarily inte- grate them very close to each other, because the problem comes from a system that consists of multiple chiplets from different sources. If there is no metric, there is no way to under- stand how any singular changes made in a component can affect the system as a whole." Ultimately, the creation of open standards for chiplets would allow for interoperability, lowered barrier to innovation, and encour- age the growth of a healthy chiplet ecosystem. erefore, the purpose of the NIST workshop was to deliberate the development of open standards for the chip packaging industry. e most pressing topic area from the con- ference was creating standards for safe data sharing. "Data sharing is not very robust in the sense that different tools from different ecosys- tems collect and format their data differently," said one official from the U.S. Department of Commerce. "e lack of standards makes it difficult to share the data across different eco- systems. NIST has done a fair bit of work in this space of data sharing. One thing we pro- pose to do in the near term is to have another workshop that will essentially revisit this idea of data sharing. ere are tons of data across the different ecosystems of chip packaging. We need to find a system that facilitates data shar- ing across these ecosystems. ere are cur- rently ongoing activities centered around dis- tributed ledger technologies, such as block- chain technology for sharing data. is is one of the areas we will need to put a lot of effort into." As data moves across the chiplet ecosystem, it will inherently pass through several hands. Blockchain technology refers to a decentral- ized and distributed system for storing and recording information. It allows multiple par- ties to have a secure, transparent, and tamper- resistant record of transactions without the need for a central authority. While the imple- mentation of blockchain in chip packaging standards is a complex process requiring col- laboration among industry participants, the technology has the potential to bring increased transparency and trust to the chip packaging ecosystem. In other words, if companies are assured that their IP will be protected, the dream of interoperability can become a tangible reality. How far are we from that reality? "It is going to be sooner than later," the com- merce official stated. "e chiplet-based pack- aging ecosystem is already here. e question is, how do we harmonize the ecosystem such that we can take a component from one com- pany and marry it to something from another? When the market starts demanding better per- formance, cost, and availability, we should be ready to help facilitate that change with the appropriate chip packaging standards." While there is still much work to be done, the scientific community understands the value of developing these standards. e hori- zon for chip packaging looks promising. PCB007 Preeya Kuray, PhD, is a material scientist. To read previous columns, click here.