Performance comparison between carbon nanotube and copper interconnects for gigascale integration (GSI)

Physical models are used to determine the ultimate potential performance of carbon nanotube interconnects and compare them with minimum-size copper wires implemented at various technology generations. Results offer important guidance regarding the nature of carbon nanotube technology development needed for improving interconnect performance. Since wave propagation is slow in a single nanotube, nanotube bundles with larger wave speeds must be used. At the 45-nm node (year 2010), the performance enhancement that can be achieved by using nanotube bundles is negligible, and at the 22-nm node (year 2016) it can be as large as 80%.