Lecture 24: Interconnect parasitics

1. Lecture 24: Interconnect parasitics EECS 312 Reading: 8.2.1, 8.4.2 (text), 4.2, 4.3.1 (2nd edition) EECS 312

2. Last Time • 1T DRAM operation • A major component of digital systems today • Great density, relies on charge sharing to read data, must be refreshed periodically (leakage currents) • Packaging provides an interface from the chip to the external world • To send signals off-chip, we need to drive large capacitances • This is best done by creating a cascaded buffer chain where each inverter is ~3X larger than its driver EECS 312

3. Lecture Overview • Simultaneous switching noise (L*di/dt noise) • Introduce wiring capacitance • Models to calculate these parameters EECS 312

4. L di/dt Significant inductance due to packaging between the actual power supply and the gates themselves Large current draws across this L  voltage drop Often called simultaneous switching noise (SSN) since a lot of simultaneous switching will increase di/dt EECS 312

5. SSN Analysis EECS 312

6. Voltage waveforms due to SSN Ground bounce shown at left (GND > 0V) How to limit: 1) Use packaging with small inductance 2) Slow down transitions at I/O pads (reduce di/dt) 3) Low-swing I/O – incompatible with external chips (usually I/O voltage > regular voltage) 8 Voltage 4 1 active driver 0V time EECS 312

7. IC Wiring (Interconnect) EECS 312

8. Impact of Interconnect Parasitics Not covered in 312 EECS 312

9. Nature of Interconnect Remember scaling? EECS 312

10. Real Data on nature of interconnect EECS 312

11. Capacitance: The Parallel Plate Model ILD: Interlevel dielectric L W T Bottom plate of cap can be another metal layer H SiO ILD 2 Substrate EECS 312

12. Permittivities of modern insulators There is a tremendous push towards low-k (er < 4.0) dielectrics for metallization This helps delay and power! Difficult to manufacture EECS 312

13. Fringing Capacitance w S Twire H is sometimes called T – can be confusing EECS 312

14. Typical Wiring Capacitance Values Shaded: fringeUnshaded: area in [aF/mm]1000aF = 1fF Bottom plate Top plate EECS 312

15. Capacitance values for diff. configs Parallel plate model significantly underestimates capacitance when width is comparable to ILD height EECS 312

16. Interwire (Coupling) Capacitance Leads to coupling effects among adjacent wires EECS 312

17. Interwire Capacitance Example: if two wires on layer Metal 3 run parallel to each other for 1mm, the capacitance between these two wires is 85aF/mm * 1000mm = 85000aF = 85fF In today’s process technologies, interwire capacitance can account for up to 80% of the total wire capacitance M1 Sub M1Sub Past EECS 312 Present / Future

18. Empirical Capacitance Models Empirical capacitance models are the easiest and fastest way to find accurate capacitances for interconnect configurations Limited configurations can be investigated, 3D effects are not considered Capacitance per unit length This model assumes no neighboring wires; optimistic EECS 312

19. Wire Capacitance Rule of Thumb Modern processes have per unit length wiring capacitances around 2 pF/cm Equal to 0.2 fF per micron of wirelength This is fairly accurate for wire widths < 2mm Compare this to the amount of MOSFET gate capacitance ~ 1 fF / micron width EECS 312

20. Example Back-end process Intel 6 metal layers 0.13mm process Vias shown (connect layers) Aspect ratio = Twire/Wmin EECS 312

21. Lecture Summary • Simultaneous switching noise is a key problem for off-chip drivers • Drive them as slowly as allowed • General interconnect characteristics • Local wires and global wires • Many metal levels, connect with vias • Capacitance is the primary parasitic • Area, fringing, interwire components • Interwire dominates today • Both simple and complex models exist to compute capacitance as a function of wire geometry EECS 312

22. Inductance • Inductance, L, is the measure of ability to store energy in the form of a magnetic field • Inductance of a wire consists of a self-inductance and a mutual inductance term Z = R + jwL • At high frequencies, inductance can become an appreciable portion of the total impedance Angular frequency = 2pf EECS 312

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24. Inductance is a weak function of conductor dimensions Most strongly influenced by distance to return path – commonly the power grid EECS 312

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26. Why is inductance important? • Inductance may lead to: • Voltage overshoot • Ringing / non-monotonic voltage response • Faster rise/fall times (enhancing noise) • Higher performance leads to higher inductive effects • Bandwith ~ 0.35 / rise time • If L * Bandwidth becomes comparable to R, inductive effects need to be considered EECS 312

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28. Inductive effects in action - Yellow lines are distributed RLC simulation results of a 5 mm line with 30 ps input rise time to large CMOS inverter - Overshoot and non-monotonic response is seen EECS 312

29. Inductance Trends • Inductance is a weak function of conductor dimensions (logarithmic) • Inductance is a strong function of current return path distance • Want to have a nearby ground line to provide a small current loop • Inductance is most significant in long, fast-switching nets with low resistance • Clocks are the most susceptible EECS 312

30. Dealing with Inductance • DEC approach in Alpha 21264 -- use entire planes of metal as references (Vdd and GND) to eliminate inductance • - Loss of routing density, added metal layers reduce yield & raise costs • Another industry approach uses shield wires every ~ 3 signal lines in a dense array GND Vdd Bus lines EECS 312

31. L R C How to model inductance? • Efficient RLC modeling is possible now • - Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) • Inductance extraction is not available now • - Hot research topic; should not be solved in the next few years- Difficult due to uncertainty in current return path • Figures of merit can be used; Inductance important when: - Line must be long for the time-of-flight to be comparable to rise time- Line must be short enough such that attenuation does not eliminate inductive effects EECS 312

32. The Transmission Line EECS 312

33. Lossless Transmission Line - Parameters EECS 312

34. Wave Propagation Speed EECS 312

35. Wave Reflection for Different Terminations EECS 312

36. Transmission Line Response (RL=) EECS 312

37. Lattice Diagram EECS 312

38. When to Consider Transmission Line Effects? EECS 312