• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.43 no.7 s.349
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• pp.20-28
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• 2006

A new TWA(Traveling-wave-based Waveform Approximation)-based signal integrity verification method for practical interconnect layout structures which are composed of non-uniform RLC lines with various discontinuities is presented. Transforming the non-uniform lines into virtual uniform lines, signal integrity of the practical layout structures can be very efficiently estimated by using the TWA-technique. It is shown that the proposed technique can estimate the signal integrity much more efficiently than generic SPICE circuit model with 5% timing error and 10% crosstalk error.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.824-831
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• 2014

In this study, structural variations and overlay errors caused by multiple patterning lithography techniques to print narrow parallel metal interconnects are investigated. Resistance and capacitance parasitic of the six lines of parallel interconnects printed by double patterning lithography (DPL) and triple patterning lithography (TPL) are extracted from a field solver. Wide parameter variations both in DPL and TPL processes are analyzed to determine the impact on signal propagation. Simulations of 10% parameter variations in metal lines show delay variations up to 20% and 30% in DPL and TPL, respectively. Monte Carlo statistical analysis shows that the TPL process results in 21% larger standard variation in delay than the DPL process. Crosstalk simulations are conducted to analyze the dependency on the conditions of the neighboring wires. As expected, opposite signal transitions in the neighboring wires significantly degrade the speed of signal propagation, and the impact becomes larger in the C-worst metals patterned by the TPL process compared to those patterned by the DPL process. As a result, both DPL and TPL result in large variations in parasitic and delay. Therefore, an accurate understanding of variations in the interconnect parameters by multiple patterning lithography and adding proper margins in the circuit designs is necessary.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.73-84
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• 2002

Fast and accurate new capacitance determination methodology for non-uniform complicated multi-layer VLSI interconnects is presented. Since a capacitance determination of intricate multi-layer interconnects using 3-dimensional field-solver is not practical, quasi-3-dimensional methodology is presented. Interconnects with discontinuity (i.e., bend structure and different spacing between lines, etc.) are partitioned. Then, each partial capacitance of divided parts is extracted by using 2-dimensional extraction methodology. For a multi-layer interconnects with shielding layer, the system can be simplified by investigating a distribution of charge in it. Thereby, quasi-3-dimensional capacitance for multi-layer interconnects can be determined by combining solid-ground based 2-dimensional capacitance and shielding effect which is independently determined with layout dimensions. This methodology for complicated multi-layer interconnects is more accurate and cost-efficient than conventional 3-dimensional methodology It is shown that the quasi-3-dimensional capacitance methodology has excellent agreement with 3-dimensional field- solver-based results within 5% error.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.36D no.5
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• pp.44-53
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• 1999

This paper are reported a methodology and application for extracting parasitic capacitances in a multi-level interconnect semiconductor structure by a numerical technique. To calculate the parasitic capacitances between the interconnect lines, we employed finite element method (FEM) and calculated the distrubution of electric potential in the inter-metal layer dielecric(ILD) by solving the Laplace equation. The three-dimensional multi-level interconnect structure is generated directly from two-dimensional mask layout data by specifying process sequences and dimension. An exemplary structure comprising two metal lines with a dimension of 8.0$\times$8.0$\times$5.0$\mu\textrm{m}^3/TEX>, which is embedded in three dielectric layer, was simulated to extract the parasitic capacitances. In this calculation, 1960 nodes with 8892 tetrahedra were used in ULTRA SPARC 1 workstation. The total CPU time for the simulation was 28 seconds, while the memory size of 4.4MB was required.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2012

A new on-wafer de-embedding method using thru, short and open patterns sequentially is proposed to eliminate the errors of conventional methods. This "thru-short-open" method is based on the removal of the coupling admittance between input and output interconnect dangling legs. The increase of the de-embedding effect of the lossy coupling capacitance on the cutoff frequency in MOSFETs is observed as the gate length is scaled down to 45 nm. This method will be very useful for accurate RF measurements of nano-scale MOSFETs.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.11b
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• pp.603-605
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• 1998

In recent years, chip delay estimation has had an increasingly important impact on overall design technology. The analysis of the timing behavior of an ASIC should be based not only on the delay characteristics of gates and interconnect circuits but also on the interactions between them. This model plays an important role in our CAD system to analyze the ASIC timing characteristics accurately, together with two-dimensional gate delay table model, AWE algorithm and effective capacitance concept. In this paper, we present an efficient algorithm which accounts for series resistance by computing a reduced-order approximation for the driving-point admittance of an RC-tree and an effective capacitance equation that captures the complete waveform response accurately.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.193-193
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• 2003

This Paper analyses several model-order reduction methods and then proposes an improved n model and a new delay calculation method to be used in analyzing RC-class interconnects, which does not involve moment calculation processes. The proposed delay calculation method has been derived by combining the unproved $\pi$ model, the concept of effective capacitance and Elmore delay. This method has an advantage in that it can be applied in the calculation of end-to-end delay as well as incremental delay.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.193-200
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• 2003

This Paper analyses several model-order reduction methods and then proposes an improved n model and a new delay calculation method to be used in analyzing RC-class interconnects, which does not involve moment calculation processes. The proposed delay calculation method has been derived by combining the unproved $\pi$ model, the concept of effective capacitance and Elmore delay. This method has an advantage in that it can be applied in the calculation of end-to-end delay as well as incremental delay.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 1999

We developed Fabrication process of embedded passive components in MCM-D substrate. The proposed MCM-D substrate is based on Cu/photosensitive BCB multilayer. The substrate used is Si wafer and Ti/cu metallization is used to form the interconnect layer. Interconnect layers are formed with 1000$\AA$ Ti/3000$\AA$ Cu by sputtering method and 3$\mu\textrm{m}$ Cu by electrical plating method. In order to form the vias in photosensitive BCB layer, the process of BCB and plasma etch using $C_2F_6$ gas were evaluated. The MCM-D substrate is composed of 5 dielectric layers and 4 interconnect layers. Embedded resistors are made with NiCr and implemented on the $2^{nd}$ dielectric layer. The sheet resistance of NiCr is controlled to be about 21 $\Omega$/sq at the thickness of 600$\AA$. The multi-turn sprial inductors are designed in coplanar fashion on the $4^{th}$ interconnect layer with an underpass from the center to outside using the lower $3^{rd}$ interconnect layer. Capacitors are designed and realized between $1^{st}$ interconnect layer and $2^{nd}$ interconnect layer. An important issue in capacitor is the accurate determination of the dielectric thickness. We use the 900$\AA$ thickness of PECVD silicon nitride film as dielectric. Capacitance per unit area is about 88nF/$\textrm {cm}^2$at the thickness of 900$\AA$. The advantage of this integration process is the compatibility with the conventional semiconductor process due to low temperature PECVD silicon nitride process and thermal evaporation NiCr process.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.88-93
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• 2004

We, for the first time, present novel test patterns and conclusive on-chip data indicating that the variation of coupling capacitance, ${\Delta}C_C$ by crosstalk can be larger than static coupling capacitance, $C_C$. The test chip is fabricated using a generic 150 nm CMOS technology with 7 level metallization. It is also shown that ${\Delta}C_C$ is strongly dependent on the phase of aggressive lines. For antiphase crosstalk ${\Delta}C_C$ is always larger than $C_C$ while for in-phase crosstalk $D_{\Delta}C_C$is smaller than $C_C$.