Electrothermal Characterization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT) Interconnect Arrays

Electrothermal characterization of a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) interconnect array is performed in this paper. The array is biased by a high voltage or under the impact of an electrostatic discharge pulse current. Using both time-dependent and -independent finite-difference methods, 1-D longitudinal heat conduction equation of SWCNT in the array is first solved, with CNT length-dependent temperature distribution, breakdown voltage, power handling capability, as well as transient thermal response captured and compared. Two modified equivalent electrothermal circuit models of a single SWCNT and an SWCNT array are proposed to accurately characterize hybrid effects of the biasing voltage, CNT length, and maximum rise in temperature. Their electrothermal circuit models are further implemented for investigating self-heating impact on signal integrities of SWCNT interconnect arrays, in particular, time-delay-induced crosstalk and noise. It is theoretically demonstrated that self-heating effect should be considered carefully in the design of local SWCNT interconnects when a high biasing signal voltage is applied.