Perspectives on Backside Power (PowerVia)

Backside power (PowerVia) is a novel innovation enabling feature size scaling in addition to improved performance & lower power. In PowerVia, the traditional frontside metals are implemented differently, wherein signals are on the frontside & power lines are on the backside. PowerVia enables > 90% standard-cell utilization over large areas of the die & > 5% frequency improvement, due to lower IR drop [1]. This paper details how backside power solves the scaling challenges demonstrating its benefits with silicon validated results.