Active Shielding of MWCNT Bundle Interconnects: An Efficient Approach to Cancellation of Crosstalk-Induced Functional Failures in Ternary Logic

Abstract

This study presents an efficient geometry for active shielding of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) bundle interconnects which cancels the crosstalk-induced functional failures in ternary logic. In this geometry, MWCNT bundles are used innovatively as shields on both sides of the signal transmission line to reduce the crosstalk effects while maintaining the minimum interconnect pitch. Simulations are performed using HSPICE for intermediate and global interconnects in ternary logic at 14-nm node. The results indicate that the crosstalk-induced functional failure in ternary logic is omitted by using the proposed structure. Moreover, according to the results, our proposed geometry reduces the crosstalk noise peak as compared to the widened MWCNT bundles, distanced MWCNT bundles and Cu interconnects on average by 41%, 44%, and 61% for the intermediate interconnects and 61%, 46%, and 74% for the global interconnects, respectively, without any considerable power consumption penalties.