General compact model for bit-rate limit of electrical interconnects considering DC resistance, skin effect and surface scattering

Abstract

Compact models are presented for the bit-rate limit of transmission lines using a general form of resistance that for the first time simultaneously considers dc resistance, skin effect, and surface scattering. A conventional approximation that is only valid for fast rising signals is also relaxed. In contrast to previous models, it is shown that the bit-rate limit of a transmission line is not independent of wire perimeter-to-length ratio or scale-invariant. It is also shown that the error of previous models is large (e.g. 80% for bit-rate limit equals reciprocal time of flight) if bit-rate limit is not considerably larger than the reciprocal time-of-flight.