A silicon interposer can provide fine wiring between separate dies, such as computing and memory components. This helps assemble a system from several pieces of silicon instead of requiring every function on one die.
An interposer is part of the communication structure, not a substitute for the computation performed by the connected chips. Its value depends on the complete package design and the connections the system needs.
ELI5
An interposer is like a small connection board inside a chip package. It helps separate chip pieces exchange information.
For example, a package can place a computing chip and memory chips on a common interposer, whose wiring connects them. The chips still perform their own separate jobs.
Is an interposer the computing chip itself?
Its role is to support connections between components. The connected dies supply the package's computing or memory functions.
Why use one in a package with several chips?
It can provide dense connections between chip pieces that need to exchange substantial amounts of data.
