A Composable AI-Accelerated Iterative Solver for 3D-IC Thermal Modeling

Abstract:Accurate thermal analysis of heterogeneous 2.5D/3D-IC packages is essential yet computationally prohibitive. A single full-package FEM simulation can take hours, while AI-based surrogates treat the entire stack as a monolithic prediction target and must be retrained whenever the die count or topology changes. To address this limitation, this work proposes Domain-Decomposed AI-Accelerated Iterative Solver for Thermal Analysis (DAIST), a composable thermal solver that decomposes the global package simulation into block-level subdomain problems, replaces subdomain solvers with neural operators, and couples them through iterative exchanges of interfacial temperature and heat flux. This local-to-global architecture eliminates the topology lock-in of monolithic models: block-level neural operators can be directly reused in unseen package assemblies without retraining. The iterative coupling strategy further provides a controllable accuracy-runtime tradeoff, where the iteration budget can be adjusted to trade accuracy for runtime. Evaluated on a multi-chiplet system and an advanced packaging system, DAIST achieves up to $178\times$ speedup over traditional FEM solvers with mean temperature errors of 0.068% and 0.323%, respectively, while demonstrating cross-topology reuse of block-level models across structurally distinct package assemblies.

Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2610.02461 [cs.LG]

(or arXiv:2610.02461v1 [cs.LG] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.02461 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.