Analytical crosstalk model with inductive coupling in VLSI interconnects

For deep submicron (DSM) interconnects on-chip inductive effects are rising due to increasing clock speeds, decreasing interconnect lengths and signal rise times are the major concern for signal integrity and overall interconnect performance. Inductance causes noise in the signal waveforms, which can adversely affect the performance of the circuit and signal integrity. For global wires inductance effects are more severe due to the lower resistance of these lines, which makes the reactive component of the wire impedance comparable to the resistive component, and also due to the presence of significant mutual inductive coupling between wires resulting from longer current return paths. This paper addresses an analytical model for inductive crosstalk for DSM technologies. Simulation results show that the effect of inductive coupling for long interconnects is significant but it is almost insignificant for local interconnects and the self inductance of the aggressor has more impact on crosstalk noise. All the simulations results carried out using Cadence's dynamic circuit simulator SPECTRE.