What is RC delay?
Signal delay determined by the product of wire resistance (R) and capacitance (C). It grows as scaling makes wires thinner, limiting performance.
Field: Interconnect processes
RC delay in the explanations
Both wire resistance R and capacitance C scale with length, so RC delay scales with length squared—doubling length roughly quadruples delay.
If a wire's length is doubled without changing its cross-se…As wiring spacing shrinks, inter-wire capacitance grows, increasing RC delay, switching power and crosstalk.
What is the main purpose of using low-k (low dielectric con…Even a 1 mm run has this much resistance at a 100 nm square cross-section, and with wire capacitance (about 0.2 pF per mm) the RC delay reaches hundreds of ps.
For wiring with a resistivity of 2 µΩ·cm, 1 mm long, with w…
Questions that mention RC delay (4)
- If a wire's length is doubled without changing its cross-section or spacing, approximately how many times larger does its RC delay become?
- What is the main purpose of using low-k (low dielectric constant) materials for interlayer dielectrics?
- For wiring with a resistivity of 2 µΩ·cm, 1 mm long, with width and thickness of 100 nm each, approximately what is the resistance?
- What is the effect of increasing a wire's thickness (height) without changing its width?
Related terms
Crosstalk CMP Aspect ratio Air gap Backside power delivery Barrier metal Black's equation Damascene process Dual damascene Interconnect via