Title :
The impact of Cu/low κ on chip performance
Author :
Zarkesh-Ha, Payman ; Bendix, Peter ; Loh, William ; Lee, JinJoo ; Meindl, James D.
Author_Institution :
Microelectron. Res. Center, Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA
Abstract :
A new model to predict percentage of performance improvement using copper and/or low κ is rigorously derived. Based on the new model, it is shown that for a typical ASIC design in 0.25 μm technology, using copper interconnect alone can improve the speed by about 10%; however in the same technology, using low κ dielectric (εr=2.5) alone can improve the speed by about 27%. The new model indicates that the performance gain for copper and low κ are not additive. Finally, the model is applied to the NTRS projections to explore the performance gain through future technology generations
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; application specific integrated circuits; copper; dielectric thin films; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit modelling; 0.25 micron; ASIC design; Cu; Cu interconnect; chip performance; low κ dielectric; performance improvement; Aluminum; Artificial intelligence; Clocks; Computational modeling; Copper; Delay; Large scale integration; Microelectronics; Performance gain; Power system modeling;
Conference_Titel :
ASIC/SOC Conference, 1999. Proceedings. Twelfth Annual IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5632-2
DOI :
10.1109/ASIC.1999.806515
