An exact analytical time-domain model of distributed RC interconnects for high speed nonlinear circuit applications

Accurate simulation of interconnect effects is an increasingly critical step in high speed deep submicron design. With ever increasing frequency of digital/analog signals, the traditional lumped RC elements may not be accurate enough in modeling RC interconnects in VLSI applications due to the distributed nature of realistic interconnects. In this paper a novel analytic time-domain model for distributed RC interconnects is developed for application in nonlinear circuit simulators. The exact analytical solution is derived under the assumption of piecewise-linear signal waveforms at the two ports of the line. We have incorporated this model into a general purpose circuit simulator using the SWEC technique.