Modelling of resistive and geometrical discontinuities in microstrip interconnections on integrated circuits

An algorithm suitable for the computer aided analysis of geometrical and resistive discontinuities present in microstrip interconnections on silicon integrated circuit substrates is presented. The distortion and dispersion of an electrical pulse, caused by such discontinuities, as it propagates along the microstrip interconnect is investigated in detail. Studies carried out to assess the use of superconducting tracks for the interconnections in integrated circuits, in the presence of modal dispersion and geometry dependent discontinuities, are also presented. The numerical results are demonstrated on realistic microstrip models for the interconnects which are selected from a practical VLSI prototype.