A new efficient method for the transient simulation of three-dimensional interconnect structures

An efficient method for the transient simulation of 3D interconnect structures has been developed. In this method, the time response is calculated in terms of a few poles of approximation in the frequency domain rather than via an ordinary time-domain integration method. An interconnect structure is represented in terms of equivalent 3D RC mesh networks and the transfer function of this linear circuit is then approximated by using a partial fraction series of a few poles. In order to facilitate the calculation of the transfer function, state equations are derived based on a nodal circuit analysis approach. The ICCG matrix solver has been successfully applied to the resultant matrices from the equations. It is shown that this method can produce transient responses one order of magnitude faster than conventional methods.<>