Can Carbon Nanotubes Extend the Lifetime of On-Chip Electrical Interconnections?

Current earning capacity of copper interconnects is being severely limited due to their increasing resistivity with scaling and reliability constraints. Metallic carbon nanotubes (CNT) are promising candidates that can potentially address the challenges faced by copper and thereby extend the lifetime of on-chip electrical interconnects. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of CNT interconnect research and discusses both advantages and challenges of this emerging nanotechnology