Interconnect design and limitations in nanoscale technologies

In this paper, the limitations posed by metallic interconnect in nano-scale technologies are discussed as well as design methodologies to deal with non-ideal interconnect. It is shown that there is a limit on how ideal an on-chip interconnect can be made independent of the how wide the wire is made. This limit is a function of the height of the interconnect, its length, and some other physical and material constants. It is also shown that it is possible to design a repeater system that results in close to speed of light propagation on narrow nanoscale wires. In addition, wider wires can be used to effectively eliminate the need for repeaters in current technologies.