Monolayer metallic nanotube interconnects: promising candidates for short local interconnects

Mono- or bi-layer metallic single-wall carbon nanotube interconnects have lateral capacitances more than four times smaller than those of copper interconnects. The resistance and time-of-flight of these monolayer nanotubes would be larger than that of copper interconnects. For short lengths, however, driver resistance is quite dominant, and latency is determined by interconnect capacitance. Monolayer nanotube interconnects are therefore promising candidates for local interconnects. The average capacitance per unit length of these nanotube interconnects can be 50% smaller than that of copper interconnects and that leads to significant saving in power dissipation.