Intsim: a CAD tool for optimization of multilevel interconnect networks

Interconnect issues are becoming increasingly important for ULSI systems. IntSim, an interconnect CAD tool, has been developed to obtain pitches of different wiring levels and die size for circuit blocks or logic cores of microchips. It includes a methodology for co-optimization of signal, power and clock interconnects, and a newly derived stochastic wiring distribution that gives reduced error than prior work when compared to measured data. Results of IntSim are found to match well with actual data from an analyzed microprocessor. Several case studies are conducted to show this CAD tool´s utility as a system level simulator: (i) Wire resistivity increases due to size effects are projected to increase die size of a 22 nm low power logic core by 30% and power by 7%. (ii) When compared to a 22 nm low power logic core with copper interconnects, a similar logic core with carbon nanotube interconnects could reduce power by 25% and die area by 27%, or increase frequency by 15% and reduce die area by 11%. (iii) A future 22 nm 8 GHz 96 M gate logic core´s power, die size and optimal multilevel interconnect architecture are predicted. A version of IntSim with a graphical user interface is available for download from www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/gsigroup.