Performance Analysis of CNTs as an Application for Future VLSI Interconnects

This paper presents performance evaluation of different types of carbon-nanotubes(CNTs) based interconnects viz. Single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNT), Bundle SWCNT(B-SWCNT), Multiwalled CNT(M-WCNT) as well as Copper interconnects. The CNT-metal contact resistance has been taken into consideration in the model used in this work. In case of copper interconnects the effect of surface scattering and grain boundary scattering is accounted for. The effect of change in B-SWCNT packaging density on performance of B-SWCNT is analyzed for the first time. A method is proposed to find out the packaging density of a symmetric B-SWCNT structure. SPICE simulations verify the results for 45nm technology node.