• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.73-84
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• 2002

Fast and accurate new capacitance determination methodology for non-uniform complicated multi-layer VLSI interconnects is presented. Since a capacitance determination of intricate multi-layer interconnects using 3-dimensional field-solver is not practical, quasi-3-dimensional methodology is presented. Interconnects with discontinuity (i.e., bend structure and different spacing between lines, etc.) are partitioned. Then, each partial capacitance of divided parts is extracted by using 2-dimensional extraction methodology. For a multi-layer interconnects with shielding layer, the system can be simplified by investigating a distribution of charge in it. Thereby, quasi-3-dimensional capacitance for multi-layer interconnects can be determined by combining solid-ground based 2-dimensional capacitance and shielding effect which is independently determined with layout dimensions. This methodology for complicated multi-layer interconnects is more accurate and cost-efficient than conventional 3-dimensional methodology It is shown that the quasi-3-dimensional capacitance methodology has excellent agreement with 3-dimensional field- solver-based results within 5% error.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.975-978
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• 1999

The transmission line effects of IC interconnects have a substantial effect on a hish-speed VLSI circuit performance. The effective transmission lime parameters are changed with the increase of the operation frequency because of the skin of the skin effect, proximity effect, and silicon substrate. A new signal delay estimation methodology based on the RLC-distributed circuit model is presented ［2］. The methodology is demonstrated by using SPICE simulation and a high-frequency experiment technique.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.146-156
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• 2002

In this paper, a new virtual-straight line parameter determination methodology and fast time domain simulation technique for non-uniform interconnects are presented and verified. Time domain signal response of interconnects circuit considering the characteristic of non-linear transistor is performed by using model order reduction method. Since model order reduction method is peformed by using per unit length parameters, virtual- straight line parameters for non-uniform interconnects are determined. Its method is integrated into Berkeley SPICE and shown that time domain signal responses using proposed method have a good agreement with the results of conventional circuit simulator HSPICE. The proposed method can be efficiently employed in the high-performance VLSI circuit design since it can provide a fast and accurate time domain signal response of complicated multi - layer interconnects.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2004

Up to the present, there have been many works to analyze interconnects on timing aspects, while less works have been done on power aspects. As resistance of interconnects and rise time of signals increase, power consumption associated with interconnects is ever-increasing. In case of clock trees, particularly power consumption associated with interconnects is over 30％ of total power consumption. Hence, an efficient method to compute power consumption of interconnects is necessary and in this paper we propose a simple yet accurate method to estimate dynamic power consumption of interconnects. We propose a new reduced-order model to estimate power consumption of large interconnects. Through the proposed model which is directly derived from total capacitance and resistance of interconnects, we show that the dynamic power consumption of whole interconnects can be approximated, and propose an analytical method to compute the power consumption. The results applying the proposed method to various RC networks show that average relative error is 1.86％ and maximum relative error is 9.82％ in comparison with HSPICE results.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics C
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• v.36C no.5
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• pp.13-26
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• 1999

This paper presents a metric that can guide to optimal circuit models for interconnects among various models, given interconnect parameters and operating environment. To get this goal, we categorize interconnects into RC~c1ass and RLC-c1ass model domains based on the quantitative modeling error analysis using total resistance, inductance and capacitance of interconnects as well as operating frequency. RC~c1ass circuit models, which include most on~chip interconnects, can be efficiently analyzed by using the model~order reduction techniques. RLC-c1ass circuit models are constructed using one of three candidates, ILC(Iterative Ladder Circuit) macromodels, MC(Method of Characteristics) macromodels, and state-based convolution method, the selection process of which is based upon the allowable modeling error and electrical parameters of interconnects. We propose the model domain diagram leading to optimal circuit models and the division of model domains has been achieved considering the simulation cost of macromodels under the environmental assumption of the general purpose circuit simulator such as SPICE. The macromodeling method presented in this paper keeps the passivity of the original interconnects and accordingly guarantees the unconditional stability of circuit models.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.53-59
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• 2004

This paper proposes an efficient method for computing the 3-dimensional capacitance of complex structures. The proposed method is based on applying numerical 2-dimensional capacitance extraction formula for 3-dimensional interconnect models. This method improves the extraction efficiency 952 times while compromising the accuracy within 1.8 percentage of maximal relative error, compared with the results of Fastcap program for various 3-D models. The proposed method can be used efficiently to extract electrical parameters of on/off-chip interconnects in VLSI systems.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.101-112
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• 2004

In this paper, we developed a numerical analysis model by using ADI-FDTD method to analyze three-dimensional interconnect structure. We discretized maxwell's curl equation by using ADI-FDTD. Using ADI-FDTD method, a sampler circuit designed from 3.3 V CMOS technology is simplified to 3-metal line structure. Using this simplified structure, the time delay and signal distortion of complex interconnects are investigated. As results of simulation, 5∼10 ps of delay time and 0.1∼0.2 V of signal distortion are measured. As demonstrated in this paper, the full-wave analysis using ADI-FDTD exhibits a promise for accurate modeling of electromagnetic phenomena in high-speed VLSI interconnect.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics C
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• v.36C no.3
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• pp.26-34
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• 1999

A new silicon-based IC interconnect transmission line parameter extraction methodology is presented and experimentally examined. Unlike the PCB or MCM interconnects, a dominant energy propagation mode in the silicon-based IC interconnects is not quasi-TEM but slow wave mode(SWM). The transmission line parameters are extracted taking the silicon substrate effect (i.e., slow wave mode) into account. The capacitances are calculated considering silicon substrate surface as a ground. Whereas the inductances are calculated by using an effective dielectric constant. In order to verify the proposed method, test patterns were designed. Experimental data have agreement within 10%. Further, crosstalk noise simulation shows excellent agreements with the measurements which are performed with high-speed time domain measurement ( i.e., TDR/TDT measurements) for test pattern, while RC model or RLC model without silicon substrate effect show about 20~25% underestimation error.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and information Science
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• v.2 no.5
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• pp.17-26
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• 1997

Interconnect characterization on a wafer level was performed. Test patterns for single, two-coupled, and triple-coupled lines ere designed by using 0.5$\mu\textrm{m}$ CMOS process. Then interconnect capacitances and resistances were experimentally extracted by using tow port network measurements, Particularly to eliminate parasitic effects, the Y-parameter de-embedding was performed with specially designed de-embedding patterns. Also, for the purpose of comparisons, capacitance matrices were calculated by using the existing CAD model and field-solver-based commercial simulator, METAL and MEDICI. This work experimentally verifies that existing CAD models or parameter extraction may have large deviation from real values. The signal transient simulation with the experimental data and other methodologies such as field-solver-based simulation and existing model was performed. as expected, the significantly affect on the signal delay and crosstalk. The signal delay due to interconnects dominates the sub-micron-based a gate delay (e.g., inverter). Particularly, coupling capacitance deviation is so large (about more than 45% in the worst case) that signal integrity cannot e guaranteed with the existing methodologies. The characterization methodologies of this paper can be very usefully employed for the signal integrity verification or he electrical design rule establishments of IC interconnects in the industry.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2004.06b
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• pp.439-442
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• 2004

Timing delays due to VLSI circuit interconnects strongly depend on neighbor line switching patterns as well as input transition time. Considering both the input transition and input switching pattern, a new analytical timing delay model is developed by using the decoupling technique of transfer multi-coupled lines into an effective single line. The analytical timing delay model can determine the timing delay of multi-coupled lines accurately as well as rapidly. It is verified by using DSM-Technology ($0.1{\mu}m$ /low-k copper-based process) that the model has excellent agreement with the results of SPICE simulation.