Determination of interconnect structural parameters for best- and worst-case delays

Atsushi Kurokawa*, Hiroo Masuda, Junko Fuji, Toshinori Inoshita, Akira Kasebe, Zhangcai Huang, Yasuaki Inoue

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In general, a corner model with best- and worst-case delay conditions is used in static timing analysis (STA). The best- and worst-case delays of a stage are defined as the fastest and slowest delays from a cell input to the next cell input. In this paper, we present a methodology for determining the parameters that yield the best- and worst-case delays when interconnect structural parameters have the minimum and maximum values with process variations. We also present analysis results of our circuit model using the methodology. The min and max conditions for the time constant are found to be (+Δw, + Δt, + Δh) & (-Δw, - Δt, -Δh), respectively. Here, +Δ or -Δ means the max or min comer value of each parameter variation, where w is the width, t is the interconnect thickness, and h is the height. Best and worst conditions for delay time are as follows: 1) given a circuit with an optimum driver, dense interconnects, and small branch capacitance, the best and worst conditions are respectively (-Δw, +Δt. +Δh) & (+Δw, +Δt, -Δh), 2) given driver and/or via resistances that are higher than the interconnect resistance, dense interconnects, and small branch capacitance, they are (-Δw, -Δt, +Δh) & (+Δw, +Δt, -Δh), and 3) for other conditions, they are (+Δw, +Δt, -+Δh) & (-Δw, -Δt, -Δh). Moreover, if there must be only one condition each for the best- and worst-case delays, they are (+Δw, +Δt, +Δh) & (-Δw, -Δt, -Δh).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)856-864
    Number of pages9
    JournalIEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Sciences
    VolumeE89-A
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2006 Apr

    Keywords

    • Capacitance extraction
    • Interconnect
    • Process variation
    • Static timing analysis
    • Worst-case delay

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Hardware and Architecture
    • Information Systems

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