A comparison of lossy and superconducting interconnect for computers

Author

Hilbert, Claude ; Gibson, David A. ; Herrell, Dennis

Author_Institution

Microelectron. & Comput. Technol. Corp., Austin, TX, USA

Volume

36

Issue

9

fYear

1989

fDate

9/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1830

Lastpage

1839

Abstract

A study of the effect of a superconducting interconnect on computer performance is discussed. The signal propagation delay along a lossy as well as a lossless controlled impedance interconnect as a function of driver resistance, line resistivity, and line length and width is considered. For controlled impedance lines, superconductors improve the performance for narrow lines and driven impedances at or below the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. The potential advantage of a superconducting interconnect for signal propagation in high-performance systems is mainly a reduced number of interconnect layers

Keywords

delays; digital computers; packaging; superconducting devices; transmission line theory; characteristic impedance; computer performance; driver resistance; line length; line resistivity; line width; lossless controlled impedance interconnect; lossy interconnect; scaled interconnect; signal propagation delay; superconducting interconnect; transmission line; Computer performance; Crosstalk; Delay effects; High temperature superconductors; Impedance; Integrated circuit interconnections; Propagation losses; Space technology; Superconducting transmission lines; Superconductivity;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.34249

Filename

34249