Modeling and Optimization of VLSI Interconnect

049031

Lecture 3: Interconnect modeling

Avinoam Kolodny
Konstantin Moiseev

Outline

Recall of required material from signals & systems theory

Distributed interconnect RC line

Delay and transition time representation

Transfer function of RC-tree and its properties. LP-filter
Moments and representation in s-domain.
Zero-pole and residua-pole representation. Dominant pole.
Elmore delay. Penfield-Rubinstein bounds. Elmore delay formula proof.
AWE. Delay metrics based on moments.

Transition time modeling

Derivation of heat transfer equation

Solution in s-domain and time domain (without proof)
Comparison to lumped single-segment model

Interconnect as an RC-tree

LTI system, convolution, Laplace transform

Transfer function, impedance, admittance
Main signals: delta, step, ramp, saturated ramp and their responses

Elmore delay for general input

Central moments and their relation to moments
Representation of response as a probability distribution.
Alpert estimation for receiver slope. Delay and slope expressions based on moments
Explicit output slope calculation for singe RC-stage

Driver-receiver interaction

Driver modeling. K-equations

Admittance and impedance calculations
Effective capacitance and algorithm for its calculation.
Representation of load as PI-model.
Two-step delay approximation

Recall LTI system

LTI: Linear Time Invariant
Linear: the response to linear combination of input signals
produces linear combination of responses
Time Invariant: Shift of input signal in time causes the
same shift of output signal

LTI system response is obtained by convolution:

y (t ) h(t ) x(t )
where

h(t )is impulse response

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Recall s-domain

Laplace transform of the signal:

X ( s ) L x(t )

x(t )e

st

dt

Two-sided

X ( s ) L x(t )

x(t )e st dt

One-sided (regular)

The Laplace transform of impulse response is system transfer function:

Fundamental relation between time-domain and s-domain:

H ( s ) L h(t )

Basic input waveforms

Dirac impulse (delta) function:

, t 0;
t 0.
0,

Heaviside step function:

u t

0, t 0;
1, t 0.

Ramp function:
0, t 0;
r t t u t u t u t u d
t , t 0.

Saturated ramp function:

t 0;
0,
srT t

1
1

r
t

r
t

t, 0 t T ;
T
T
t T.
1,

Laplace transforms of basic waveforms

Function

, t 0;
t 0.
0,

Laplace Transform

0, t 0;
u t d
1, t 0.

1
s

0, t 0;
r t t u t u t u t u d
t , t 0.

1
s2

1
srT t r t r t T
T

t 0;
0,
1

t, 0 t T ;
T
t T.
1,

1 e sT
Ts 2
6

Interconnect modeling
stage

output waveform

input waveform

Need to predict waveform at the stage output(s), given waveform at the stage
input
Usually it is enough to predict two main signal metrics instead of full
waveform

signal delay
signal transition time
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Delay and transition time

Delay: 50% input to 50% output
Transition time (a.k.a slope, slew rate,
rise/fall time):
x% to 100-x% (on each signal)
Commonly used 20%-80% or 10%-90%

Delay and transition time calculation

Given input
waveform Vin t

Given input transition

time
Model input waveform
with saturated ramp

Calculate output waveform Vout t :

-Calculate transfer function
-Calculate output in s-domain
-Use inverse Laplace transform to calculate output in
time domain
Solve
1
t ,out Vout
Vdd

Delay =

t50%,out t50%,in

Tr. time = t80%,out t20%,out

Delay and transition time calculation

Let us try it on two models for point-to-point interconnect:

Lumped RC-line

Distributed RC-line

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Lumped model of RC-line

Ideal driver, no load

Transfer function: Vout s Vin s

For step input:

Vout s
1
1
sC V s

H
s

in
1 sRC
Vin s
1 sRC
R 1
sC

1
1
1
1
RC
1
1

U ( s ) Vdd ; Vout s Vdd

Vdd

Vdd
1
s
s 1 sRC
s
1

sRC
s

RC

vout t Vdd 1 e

t
RC

u t

t50% RC ln 2 0.69RC ; t20% RC ln 1.25 0.22 RC ; t80% RC ln

5 1.61
RC ; t80% t20%

RC
ln4 1.39
RC
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Distributed model of RC-line

Ideal driver, no load

How to derive transfer function?

Look at very small net segment and derive relations between

voltage and current
12

Distributed model of RC-line

KCL :

V x, t
t
I x x, t I x, t

lim

I x, t c V x , t
x 0
x
x
t
KVL :
I x x, t I x, t cx

lim

x 0

c
R
L
C
c
L
r

rc RWCa

V x x, t V x, t
r x

V x, t 1
I x, t
x
r

V x, t 1
V x , t I x, t

t
x
x
x r

V x, t rc V x, t
2
x
t

Heat transfer equation

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Distributed model of RC-line

Boundary and initial conditions:

V x 0, t Vdd u t

V x, t 0 0

I x L, t 0

Solution (without proof):

V x, s

Vdd
V
tanh L src sinh x src dd cosh x src
s
s

Vdd
1

V x L, s
s cosh L src

4 2
V x L, t Vdd 1 e rcL

4 rcL 2

e
3

...

2k 1
4

t

2 k 1
rc 2 L

...

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Distributed & lumped models of RC-line

Distributed:

4 2
V x L, t Vdd 1 e rcL

4 rcL 2

e
3

...

2k 1
4

t

2 k 1
rc 2 L

...

Lumped:

V x L, t Vdd 1 e

rcL2

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Distributed model with driver and load

Voltage in Laplace domain:

V x L, s

1
CL Rdr
sinh sRC Rdr CL 1 cosh
r
c

src

sRC

Voltage in time domain (Sakurais approximation):

1t

V t , x L 1 K1e RC Vdd ,

Vdd
s

where K1 1.01

Rdr R C L C 1
1.04
; 1
2

2
Rdr R C L C
R
C
RC

R
R

C
C

dr L
dr
L

4

Time expressions:

Rdr CL Rdr CL 2 2
1
t RC

ln
0.1RC
R C
1
R
C

t0.9 2.3026 Rdr CL Rdr C RCL ... 1.0332 RC

t0.5 0.6932 Rdr CL Rdr C RCL ... 0.3809 RC

Closed-Form Expressions for Interconnection Delay, Coupling, and Crosstalk in VLSI's, T. Sakurai, 1993

16

Interconnect tree
However, real interconnect is an RC-tree

No capacitance between two nodes

No resistance between node and ground

It can be proven that such RC-tree is LTI system

In addition, such tree is a Low-Pass Filter

17

General interconnect
General transfer function for interconnect:

s z1 s z2 K s zm
b0 b1s K bm s m
H s

K
1 a1s K an s n
s p1 s p2 K s pn

zeros
poles

Residue-pole representation:
n

H s d
i 1

residues

ki
s pi

Then impulse response is:

n

h t d t ki e pit u (t )
i 1

For unit step input:

ki
d n
d n ki
Y s

s i 1 s pi s s i 1 pi

1
1

s pi s

k
y t d i e pit 1 u t
i 1 pi

The expression for saturated ramp is much more complex

18

Elmore delay
To calculate delay for unit step input we need to find t50% so that

y t50% 0.5,

where y t is the response at output for steps input

y t50%

lve
o
s
d to
r
a
H

t50%

h t dt 0.5

median of impulse response

Elmore proposal: use centroid (mean) of impulse response

instead

0 th t dt
mode
TD
th t dt
median
0
h t dt
0

mean

For RC-trees always:

mode median mean

The transient response of damped linear networkswith particular regard to wide-band amplifiers, W.C.Elmore, 1948

19

Understanding Elmore delay

Moment representation of transfer function

H s h t e st dt

Recall:

H s m0 m1s m2 s m3 s K

McLaurin expansion:

m0 h t dt 1
0

s 0

1 k k

1 22 1 33

1 st s t s t K dt
s t h t dt
2
6
k!

k 0
0

mq

q
1 d H s
mq
q ! ds q

H s h t e dt h t
st

1
k!

k
t
h t dt

q-th circuit moment

m1 th t dt - Elmore delay!
0

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Dominant pole metric

Since m0 1 and m0 H 0 , then

1 b1s b2 s 2 K bm s m
H s
1 a1s a2 s 2 K an s n
The Elmore delay:

TD m1 th t dt
0

Recall:

Therefore:

H s

dH s
ds

a1 b 1
s 0

s z1 s z2 K s zm
s p1 s p2 K s pn
n

a1
j 1

1
;
pj

1
b1
j 1 z j
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Dominant pole metric

If there are no low-frequency zeros, then

TD a1
If one of poles is dominant, i.e.

1
1
?
,
pd
pj
Then

j 1, 2,K , m, j d

1
TD
pd

Corresponding step response:

y t 1 e pd t u t

tdelay TD ln 2 0.7TD
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Real Example

Response at C5

Response at C1
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Calculating Elmore delay

Denote by i output of the tree and by k - internal node
Define:
isRthe
resistance of portion of the path between the input and
ki
i is common with the path between the input and node
, what
i
isRiithe resistance between input and output
k
Rkkthe resistance between input and node
is

TEi Rki Ck

Output i

Example:

R64 R1 R2
R53 R1 R2 R3

Node k

R66 R1 R2 R6
R55 R1 R2 R3 R5
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Calculating Elmore delay

Voltage drop across the path from input to output:

1 vi t Rki Ck
k

dvk
dt

current through capacitor

resistance contributing to voltage drop

Denote:
t

f i t 1 vi d Rki Ck vk t
0

TEi Rki Ck 1 vk t
k

Output i

Node k

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Calculating Elmore delay

On the other hand:

d
TDi thi t dt t yi t 1 dt t yi t 1 yi t 1 dt 1 yi t dt
0
dt
0
0
0
0

I.e., Elmore delay is the area above output voltage curve!

Therefore:

f i 1 vi d TDi
0

On the other hand,

fi TEi Rki Ck 1 vk TEi

1 4 2 43
k
0

TDi TEi

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Penfield & Rubinstein bounds

Function fi t is used to derive lower and upper bounds for
percent delay

0 1

0,

tmin

TDi TP 1 ,

TRi

TD TR ln
i
T 1
,
i
P

TDi

tmax

TDi

TP

TP

1
TRi
TP

TRi

TDi Rki Ck
k

TP

0 1

TRi ,

T T T ln

P
Ri
P

TDi

TDi

TDi
TP

TRi

2
R
kiCk
k

Rii

TP Rkk Ck
k

TRi

, 1 T 1
T
1

P
P

Signal Delay in RC tree Networks, J. Rubinstein, P. Penfield, M. Horowitz, 1983

27

Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation

(AWE)
Elmore delay uses first moment to represent system response

Not very accurate

For more accurate estimation, more moments are required

AWE uses moments matching to calculate parameters of low-order
model:
b s K b s q 1
b
0
1
q 1
H s
1 a1s K aq s q

where the reduced order

AWE flow:

q is much less than the original order n

Generate moments from the circuit

Match the first

2q moments to low-order q pole model

Calculate residues
Obtain time-domain response by inverse Laplace transform
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Example: two-pole approximation

Assume we calcuated moments of the circuit:

H s 1 m1s m2 s 2 K
Transfer function for reduced model:

1 b1s
H s
1 a1s a2 s 2

McLauren expantion:

H s 1 b1 a1 s a2 a1 b1 a1 s 2

(a1 a2 a1 b1 a1 a2 b1 a1 ) s 3 K
Coefficient match:

b1 a1 m1
0 a2 a1m1 m2 ;
0 a 2 m1 a1m2 m3

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Example: two-pole approximation

The coefficients of denominator:

mm m
a1 1 2 2 3 ;
m2 m1

Residues are found similarly

p12 1 m 1 p2
k1
;
p2 p1

Time-domain response is given by

p1t
1

y t k e

m1m3 m22
a2
m2 m12
p22 1 m1 p1
k2
p2 p1

k2e

p2t

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Backup

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