Interconnect simulation based on passivity and method of characteristics

Interconnect analysis modeling, and simulation will play a major role in the future design of submicron IC and electronic packaging. Existing simulation methods by and large depend on convolution and the well-known Pade approximation of transcendental functions which characterize transmission lines. Unfortunately, Pade approximation does not guarantee stability. In this paper two methods are presented. One is based on using the concept of passivity, and the other uses the traditional method of characteristics. Preliminary results obtained on simple examples are very encouraging.