Chip-Level Performance Improvement Using Triple Damascene Wiring Design Concept for the 0.13 μm CMOS Generation and Beyond

摘要

A novel wiring design concept called "Triple Damascene" is presented. We propose a new technology to mix wirings with different thickness in one layer by using dual damascene process without increasing mask steps. In this technology, three types of grooves are opened simultaneously. Deep trenches for thick wires, as well as vias and shallow trenches, are selectively opened. By the design concept using this technology, a 30% reduction in wiring delay is obtained for critical path. A 5% reduction in chip size is also obtained as the effect of decrease in repeater number for a typical high-performance multi-processing unit (MPU) in 0.13 μm generation. An example for performance enhancement in an actual product of graphic MPU chip is also demonstrated.