System Level Performance Analysis of Carbon Nanotube Global Interconnects for Emerging Chip Multiprocessros

Although Carbon NanoTubes (CNTs) have been widely proposed as interconnect fabrics for future Ultra Deep Sub-Micron (UDSM) technologies, there is a lack of system-level performance analysis using these interconnects. In this paper, the authors investigate the performance of four CNT alternatives that may replace conventional copper (Cu) interconnects at the global interconnect level - Single-Walled CNTs (SWCNTs), SWCNT bundles, Multi-Walled CNTs (MWCNTs) and bundles of mixed SWCNTs/MWCNTs. Detailed RLC equivalent circuit models for conventional CNT interconnects are described and used to calculate propagation delays.