Optimal equivalent circuits for interconnect delay calculations using moments

In performance-driven interconnect design, delay estimators are used to determine both the topology and the layout of good routing trees. We address the class of moment-matching, or moment representation, methods used to simulate interconnects modeled as distributed RC or RLC lines. We provide accurate 2- and 3-segment equivalent circuits for the distributed RLC and distributed RC models. Our equivalent circuits approximate a distributed RLC structure accurately up to second degree terms. We have evaluated our models using the two-pole methodology for voltage response calculations. Previous approximate two-pole approaches have at least 14 error even for small test cases. As routing trees become bigger and interconnection lines become longer, our approach has greater advantages in both accuracy and simulation complexity. 1 Overview Accurate calculation of propagation delay in VLSI interconnects is critical to the design of high speed systems. Direct simulation codes such as SPICE can f...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: EURODAC
• Authors: Sudhakar Muddu, Andrew B. Kahng
• Keywords: Distributed Rlc, Equivalent Circuits, EURODAC 1994, Interconnect, VHDL