Electrical performance of single and coupled Cu interconnects for the 70 nm technology

This paper deals with propagation delay, rise time and crosstalk for Cu wire of 100 nm width and 2.2 to 1.7 aspect ratio AR ( AR ≃ h/w) in single and coupled configuration. Electrical and electromagnetical characteristics are predicted, with a full wave analysis, for various wire resistivity and low k dielectric material when a clock pulse of 143 ps period (7 GHz) propagate. Critical value of 300 μm is calculated for wire length when propagation delay equals MOSFET switching delay. Such critical values also induced more than 20% crosstalk in two coupled lines with 100 nm spacing and low k=2.0.