Improved Analytical Delay Models for RC-Coupled Interconnects

As process technologies scale into deep submicrometer region, crosstalk delay is becoming increasingly severe, especially for global on-chip buses. To cope with this problem, accurate delay models of coupled interconnects are needed. In particular, delay models based on analytical approaches are desirable, because they are not only largely transparent to technology, but also explicitly establish the connections between delays of coupled interconnects and transition patterns, thereby enabling crosstalk alleviating techniques such as crosstalk avoidance codes. Unfortunately, existing analytical delay models, such as the widely cited model in [1], have limited accuracy and do not account for loading capacitance. In this brief, we propose analytical delay models for coupled interconnects that address these disadvantages.