Impact of skin effect, resistive and dielectric losses on current estimation and reliability of ULSI interconnects

Abstract

In this study, a series connection system of interconnects and gates is studied. In the system, we focus on skin effect, resistive and dielectric losses in previous level interconnects and the impact of their variations on the fast current estimation and the lifetime calculation of the post level interconnects. The changes in cross-section dimensions of interconnects are used to represent their differences in resistances, dielectric losses and skin effect in actual circuits or to represent the process of Electro Migration (EM). Through the analysis of the voltage transfer function of interconnects, the different roles of skin effect, resistive and dielectric losses in signal attenuation for interconnects of various cross-sections are pointed out. The study shows that the input voltage waveforms of the post level interconnects will change if the cross-section sizes of the previous level interconnects vary. By means of showing the changing tendencies of current and lifetime estimation results affected by the cross-section dimensions of the previous interconnects, we indicate that the fast current and reliability estimation results will not be accurate enough if these effects are not included. © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013.