Comparison of Al and Cu interconnects using VHDL-AMS and SPICE modeling

Abstract

This paper compares the transient characteristics of aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) microstrip line structures. Interconnects are represented using distributed resistance inductance capacitance (RLC) transmission line (TL) model. The equivalent RLC-ladder networks for Al and Cu interconnects are first implemented using VHDL-AMS, and their time-domain simulation responses are compared. For the verification of the results obtained from VHDL-AMS implementation, the process is repeated with SPICE modeling. Both the simulation results are in good agreement.