wafer scale integration

wafer scale integration

The evolution in semiconductor technology that builds a gigantic circuit on an entire wafer. Just as the integrated circuit eliminated cutting apart thousands of transistors from the wafer only to wire them back again on circuit boards, wafer scale integration eliminates cutting apart the chips. All the circuits for an entire computer are designed onto one super-sized chip. See wafer.

In 1979, Trilogy attempted wafer scale integration with a 2.5 x 2.5" chip but failed to produce a product (see Trilogy). Since then, the multichip module (MCM) and multichip package (MCP), in which several chips are connected closely together in a single housing, has become widely used.

A Huge Wafer Scale Achievement
In 2019, Cerebras Systems developed its Wafer Scale Engine for deep learning applications (see Cerebras AI computer).

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