Timing Analysis in Carbon Nanotube Interconnects with Process, Temperature, and Voltage Variations

Carbon Nanotube (CNT) based interconnect has become the most promising replacement for Cu based interconnect in future VLSI technology in the nanometer regime. In this work, we compare the performance of copper (Cu) and CNT based interconnect for four ITRS technology nodes. We also analyze the timing delay in CNT based interconnect under different process, temperature, and voltage (PTV) corners for 32 nm technology node. The equivalent circuit model for CNT based interconnect has been developed. It is found that CNT based interconnect performs better for long interconnects as compared to Cu wire. The performance varies by more 50% with process variation where as with voltage and temperature the delay variations are ~3% and ~13-23% from the nominal voltage and room temperature, respectively.