Modeling of carbon nanotube interconnects and comparative analysis with Cu interconnects

Metallic carbon nanotube (CNT) interconnect is regarded as a competitive candidate for next generation of interconnect. An equivalent transmission line model for CNT is proposed in this paper. In our model, the fundamental contact resistance (quantum resistance) is regarded as lumped while the scattering resistance is distributed. The performance of CNT interconnect is examined and compared with the Cu interconnect. It is found that CNT interconnects do not out-perform Cu wire at local interconnect level. However, they have better performance than Cu interconnect at intermediate and global interconnect level. With the technology advancing, their advantages could become greater.