With the exponential reduction in the scaling of feature size, inter-wire coupling capacitance becomes the dominant part of load capacitance. Two problems are introduced by couplings delay deterioration and crosstalk. This paper presents a timing-driven global routing algorithm along with consideration of coupling effects and crosstalk avoidance. Our work differs from the existing ones in that we design a global routing ‘‘framework’’ which performs well in terms of routablity, timing, and also facilitates the detailed routing in crosstalk avoidance. Experimental results on industrial circuits show that the algorithm leads to substantial delay reduction and effective crosstalk elimination. r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.