How Multi-Die Designs Boost Automotive Chip Innovation

The automotive industry is racing toward a future defined by smart driving systems, electrification, and the promise of fully autonomous vehicles. Beneath these innovations lies an escalating challenge: how to design chips that can deliver increased performance and rock-solid durability for the full lifecycle of the vehicle.

At the same time, the pressure to meet stringent functional safety standards and industry regulations is mounting. A single malfunction can mean not just costly recalls, but real danger on the road. To overcome these obstacles and compete in a fast-evolving market, automotive manufacturers and chip designers are turning to multi-die designs — a transformative approach that is rapidly reshaping the future of automotive electronics.

But with this shift comes a new set of technical and operational challenges that must be addressed.

Reconciling complexity, safety, and reliability

The bar for automotive chips has always been high. Unlike a smartphone glitch, a chip malfunction in a car can have life-or-death consequences.

Vehicles today are expected to operate reliably for 15 years or more with flawless performance. Electric vehicles and hybrids, which are often “always on” due to charging cycles, push these requirements even further.

With chip complexity growing with every new feature — from advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to fully digital cockpits to centralized electronics that provide better fault tolerance and easier software updates — meeting these requirements is no easy feat.

And traditional chip architectures are struggling to keep pace.

The limitations of traditional chips

Historically, automotive chips have been designed as monolithic systems-on-chip (SoCs), integrating all functions within a single silicon die. While this approach worked for simpler, more discrete electronics, the highly complex and deeply integrated digital systems being developed for modern vehicles demand more.

And with the industry progressing toward higher levels of autonomy — characterized by self-driving vehicles that require minimal, if any, human involvement — significantly enhanced computing power, more integrated sensors, and better real-time data processing capabilities are needed.

In addition to technical complexities, automotive companies and their suppliers are facing manufacturing challenges. Traditional chips were never designed for harsh environmental conditions, the wear and tear that results from years on the road, or the annual upgrade cycles of vehicular platforms.

New chip designs are needed that deliver increased reliability, flexibility, and scalability.

The emergence of multi-die designs

The automotive industry is now turning to multi-die designs, which integrate multiple heterogeneous or homogeneous silicon dies, also called chiplets, within a single package. This transformative shift enables manufacturers to mix and match dies, combine different technologies, and build scalable solutions tailored to specific automotive needs.

The benefits of multi-die designs are compelling:

• Performance. Die-to-die connections within a package deliver better throughput than traditional chip-to-chip links on a printed circuit board (PCB).
• Power efficiency. Fewer PCB signals result in lower power consumption overall, though careful management is needed as power per unit area increases.
• Flexibility. Dies from different vendors and nodes can be mixed and matched, providing flexibility and enabling rapid innovation.
• Scalability. Chip families can be created for various vehicle models and features and upgraded over time.

Design and verification: new rules for a new era

While multi-die designs unlock new possibilities, they also bring fresh challenges. Partitioning system functions across multiple dies requires advanced architecture exploration, often using digital twins to model and optimize “what if” scenarios.

Physical implementation involves technologies like through-silicon vias (TSVs), interposers, and fine-pitch bumps, demanding sophisticated electronic design automation (EDA) tools.

Testing and lifecycle management also become more complex. Faults must be detected not only within each die but also in the connections between them. Silicon lifecycle management (SLM) — with integrated sensors and monitors to track voltage, temperature, and performance over the chip’s entire lifespan — is essential.

Predictive diagnostics and over-the-air (OTA) updates help prevent failures before they compromise safety, reducing service costs and the risk of recalls.

Synopsys: paving the way to reliable multi-die automotive chips

Industry leaders like Synopsys are at the forefront of these changes, helping OEMs and their suppliers transform traditional development models and take advantage of the latest innovations.

Our comprehensive IP portfolio is compliant with industry standards (like UCIe) and automotive initiatives (like imec’s multi-die initiative). We’re extending the portfolio with ASIL B UCIe Controller and Grade 2 UCIe PHY in select nodes for compliance with stringent automotive standards. And our advanced EDA solutions support every stage of multi-die design for automotive applications. This includes:

• Early architecture exploration with tools like Platform Architect for Multi-Die.
• Die/package co-design and optimization using 3DIC Compiler.
• Real-time system monitoring and predictive analytics via SLM. 

The road ahead

Automotive electronics are entering a new era, where multi-die designs are not just an option, but a necessity.

By embracing multi-die approaches, manufacturers can meet the escalating demands for scalability and performance. And with the right technology partners and solutions, they can accelerate innovation, establish differentiation, and deliver next-generation automotive experiences that create lasting value.

eBook: Synopsys Multi-Die Solution