Crosstalk Delay Research Articles

Overview Of Process Integration Issues For Low K Dielectrics

ABSTRACTThe era of silicon Ultra-Large-Scale-Integration (ULSI) has spurred an everincreasing level of functional integration on-chip, driving a need for greater circuit density and higher performance. While traditional transistor scaling has thus far met this challenge, interconnect scaling has become the performance-limiting factor for new designs. Both interconnect resistance and capacitance play key roles in overall performance, but modeling simulations have highlighted the importance of reducing parasitic capacitance to manage crosstalk, power dissipation and RC delay. New dielectric materials with lower permittivity (k) are needed to meet this challenge. This paper summarizes the process integration and reliability issues associated with the use of novel low k materials in multilevel interconnects.

Low thermal budget processing of organic dielectrics

Low dielectric constant organic materials are ideal for use as interconnect dielectrics for integrated circuits (ICs) to reduce power dissipation, crosstalk and RC delays. For high performance and reliability of ICs, reduced thermal and intrinsic stress is highly desirable. Low thermal budget rapid isothermal processing (RIP) can provide materials with lower stress. In this paper, we demonstrate the role of photoeffects in the curing of polyimide films using a rapid isothermal processor as a source of optical and thermal energy. The availability of large a number of ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet photons on the film surface allowed a lower curing temperature and also resulted in the lowest leakage current and film stress. We demonstrate a direct one-to-one correlation between electrical, mechanical, and structural properties of the organic dielectrics.

Simulation of Crosstalk in High-Speed Multi-Chip Modules

Simulation results of the electrical performance at 1 GBits/sec of a number of different off-chip interconnection architectures are presented with emphasis given to the dependence of crosstalk and signal delay on the geometries and dielectric constants of the insulating layers as well as on the widths and separations of the conductors. The results indicate that signal delay and crosstalk may be reduced by using lowεrvalues for the dielectrics and that crosstalk may be also reduced by reducing the conductor-to-ground wire separation which simultaneously neutralises the role ofεrvalue on crosstalk and line impedance.