Search

Short, medium, and long on-chip interconnections having linewidths of 0.45-52 [[micro]meter] are analyzed in a five-metal-layer structure. We study capacitive coupling for short lines, inductive coupling for medium-length lines, inductance and resistance of the current return path in the power buses, and line resistive losses for the global wiring. Design guidelines and technology changes are proposed to achieve minimum delay and contain crosstalk for local and global wiring. Conditional expressions are given to determine when transmission-line effects are important for accurate delay and crosstalk prediction. Index Terms - On-chip wiring, transmission lines.

A canonical structure, devised by an earlier investigator to simplify the computation of radiation from small table-top products and their peripherals, is revisited. Though this structure contains only salient features of actual products, it has previously defied accurate analysis by available tools. In this short paper, the authors calculate the current distribution on the structure using a powerful analysis code they developed, and compare their results against previously measured data. The authors then include a finite-sized dielectric to serve as the substrate for the microstrip transmission line contained in the structure and repeat the analysis. For both structures, the nature of the observed resonances in the current is discussed, and insight into the radiation process is gained.

A new set of subsectional basis functions is described for calculating the full-wave solution for structures composed of finite-sized dielectrics and conductors. The basis functions explicitly satisfy the physical condition that no polarization charge exist within homogenous dielectric regions, and this allows, as a side benefit, a significant reduction in associated matrix size and solution run time. Algorithms for efficiently generating the new basis functions are also given. Through the examples presented, the accuracy of the solution technique is confirmed, as well as the claims on reductions in computational effort.

A moment technique is used to determine the propagation delay in meander (serpentine) delay lines located in printed circuit boards of computer systems. The full three-dimensional effects of the meander structure including signal line thickness, right-angle bends, and skin-effect are included. A set of delay lines having different pitches are considered, and results are calculated and compared to those from two-dimensional simulations, other commercial codes, analytic formulas in the literature, and experimental measurements. Based on the consistency of the results and sensitivity analyses involving numerical gridding and frequency content, the delays calculated for meander lines situated in a homogeneous medium are accurate to better than a few tenths of a percent. Index Terms--Delay line, full-wave analysis, meander, serpentine, signal integrity.

A powerful technique for solving electromagnetic (EM) surface integral equations (SIE5) for inhomogenous objects by the method of moments (MoM) involves the well-known Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) basis function to represent the electric current and, for field orthogonality and numerical stability reasons, a variation of the RWG basis known as the ̂n x RWG basis (where ̂n is a unit normal vector at the object surface) to represent the magnetic current. Though this combination provides a numerically efficient and effective solution that has been demonstrated on a variety of structures, one cannot feel entirely comfortable because of the presence of fictitious magnetic current associated with the modified basis. Chen and Wilton proposed a different, smoother basis in 1990 that avoids the fictitious line charges, but because of computational cost issues it has not been used beyond Chen's dissertation. Recently, this basis was rediscovered and has received considerable attention. Our work reexamines the dual basis, exploring issues not addressed by Chen and Wilton and showing accurate solutions for a variety of EM scattering structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]