Accurate prediction of the impact of on-chip inductance on interconnect delay using electrical and physical parameter-based RSF

This paper proposes a new methodology to accurately predict the impact of inductance on on-chip wire delay using response surface functions (RSF). The proposed methodology consists of two stages which involves first calculating the delay difference between RC and RLC wire models for a set of parameter variations, then building RSFs using electrical parameters such as wire resistance, capacitance, etc., and physical parameters such as wire width, pitch, etc. as variables. The proposed methodology can help 1) to define design rules for avoiding inductance effects, 2) to point out wires that require RLC delay calculation, and 3) to estimate and correct the delay when using an RC model. An example design rule for limiting self inductance and accurate estimation of the delay difference for a 100 nm technology node is also presented.