An Equivalent Circuit Model With Current Return Path Effects for ON-Chip Interconnect up to 80 GHz.

A lumped-element model for ON-chip interconnects is proposed in this paper. The effect of current return path of interconnects is analyzed. An efficient analytical parameter extraction method for the model is proposed. The inductor Lg was adopted in the shunt branch of this model to characterize the induced time-varying magnetic field. Thus, the bandwidth of the model is extended over the resonance frequency. A group of interconnects with different structures were fabricated in a 0.18- \mu \textm CMOS process to investigate the effects of current return path. The good agreement of $S$ -parameters between the model and measurements suggests that the proposed model can accurately predict the performance of interconnect in a wide frequency band up to 80 GHz, even over the resonance frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]