Numerical Modeling of Nanowire Interconnects

Interconnects play a critical role in determining system performance and reliability in today’s integrated circuits (ICs) where dimensions are scaled into nanometre regime and operating frequencies range in gigahertz. Nanowires provide promising characteristics for future interconnect. In this paper we propose a new approach to investigate interconnect parameters for nanowire interconnects which are becoming more promising in the future. The interconnect resistance and coupling capacitance plays an important role in determining the delay and coupling effects of the circuit. Nanowire interconnects are studied numerically using quantum transport simulation approach. We begin by assuming ballistic transport which gives the upper performance limit of the devices. The use of a mode space approach produces high computational efficiency that makes our simulation practical for extensive device simulation and design