Artificial Plasmonics for VLSI Interconnects

Soumitra R. Joy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA. Before joining academia, he served as a device reliability engineer at Intel Corporation for four years. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, and is recognized for his research in artificial plasmonics and semiconductor devices.Pinaki Mazumder, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. He is a Fellow of both the IEEE and AAAS and internationally recognized for his research in the diverse aspects of VLSI circuits and systems design.

• Preface xiiiAcknowledgments xviiAbout the Companion Website xix1 Prospects and Pitfalls of Modern Interconnect Technologies 11.1 Overview and Motivation 11.1.1 Problem Specifics 21.2 Communications Challenges: Human-Level vs Machine-Level 41.3 Modes of Interconnects: A Technology Gap 51.4 Innovations in Interconnect Frontier 61.4.1 Interconnect Research at Material Level 61.4.2 Interconnect Research at the Network Level 81.4.3 Interconnect Research at Waveguide Level 101.4.4 Chip-scale Interconnect Technologies: Major Industrial Steppingstones 141.5 Scaling Issue of System Level Interconnect 161.5.1 Chip Package Signaling 181.5.2 Issue of Crosstalk 201.5.3 High Power Consumption in System-level Interconnect 221.6 Optical Interconnect: Evolution Toward Chip-scale Communication 231.6.1 Integrated Photonic Circuits on Silicon 241.6.2 Is Optical Interconnect Viable at Short Range? 271.6.3 Wireless Network on Chip 291.6.4 Carbon Nanotube Interconnect 321.7 Complexity and Dilemma in Data Transfer 331.7.1 The Last Centimeter Barrier: The Most Critical Distance in Data Transfer 341.7.2 Time Variation in Data Traffic: A Dilemma in Selecting Interconnect Technology 351.7.3 Do We Have Any Alternative Interconnect Technology in Hand? 351.7.4 Spoof Plasmon Interconnect: A New Paradigm in Communication Technology 361.8 Research on Spoof Plasmon Wave: Toward CMOS Compatibility 421.8.1 Leading Researchers on Spoof Surface Plasmon Technology 431.9 Summary of the Chapter 47References 472 Spoof Plasmonics: Origin and State-of-the-Art Development 572.1 Slow Wave Structure: A Historical Perspective 572.1.1 Variants on Slow Wave Structures 592.2 Surface Plasmon Polariton in Metal 622.2.1 Extraordinary Transmission by Surface Plasmonics 642.3 Surface Plasmon Polariton: Explanation Through Drude’s Model 662.4 SSPP in Planar Geometry 692.4.1 1D Groove Pattern 692.5 SSPP-based THz Circuits: Research in Mazumder Laboratory 762.5.1 Electromagnetic Analysis of the SSPP Mode 782.5.2 THz SSPP Switch Design 792.5.3 THz SSPP Circuit Component Design 822.5.4 THz Biosensor Design 912.6 Particle-Motion Control by SSPP Waveguide 932.7 Recent Advances in Spoof Plasmonics 942.8 Conclusion 97References 983 Fundamental Electrodynamics of Spoof Plasmonic Mode 1033.1 Baleen Whales: What They Teach Us on Novel Communication 1033.2 Plasmonics Aided High Speed VLSI Communication 1043.2.1 Innovative Spice Simulation Tool Development for Plasmonics 1063.3 A Universal Theoretical Framework for Spoof Plasmonics 1093.3.1 Dispersion Law of SSPP Waveguides 1113.4 Electrodynamics of Spoof Plasmon in Finite Structure 1163.5 Modal Analysis of Spoof Plasmon 1173.5.1 Dispersion Relation in Wide Structures 1173.5.2 Impact of Dielectric Half-space on Dispersion 1193.5.3 Dispersion Relation Correction in Structures of Finite Thickness 1203.5.4 Effect of Substrate 1233.5.5 Effective Refractive Index of a Planar SSPP 1243.6 Thin-film of SSPP 1243.6.1 The Concept of Effective Thickness 1243.6.2 Capacitance Between Edges of Neighboring Conductor Plates 1263.6.3 Effect of a Substrate on Thin SSPP 1273.7 Properties of Confined Modes 1293.7.1 Degree of Confinement 1293.7.2 Bandwidth Modulation of Confined Mode 1313.8 Summary of the Chapter 132References 1334 Information Capacity of Spoof Plasmonic Interconnect 1374.1 The 1858 Transatlantic Telegraph: Lessons from a Failed Project 1374.2 Data Transfer Through Noisy Channel: Condition the Signal, Don’t “Brute-Force” 1384.3 Challenges in Millimeter-scale Communication: A Call for Innovation Beyond Shannon’s Paradigm 1404.4 Millimeters-scale Communication: Its Growing Relevance in Data-driven World 1414.5 A Growing Industry Investment in Millimeter-scale Chip Packaging 1424.6 Quest for a Fundamentally Different Propagation Mode for Millimeterscale Packaging 1444.7 Limitations of Standard Interconnect Technologies 1454.8 Authors’ Contribution to the Field of Interconnect Design 1454.9 Bandwidth in Crosstalk-mediated SSPP Channels 1474.10 Traveling Length of SSPP Mode in Lossy Metal 1524.11 Information Capacity in the Limit of Thermal Noise 1544.12 SSPP Interconnect in Comparison with Others: The Benefit of Minimized Interference 1574.12.1 Crosstalk in Optical Interconnect 1584.12.2 Crosstalk in Electrical Interconnects 1604.12.3 Crosstalk in Spoof Plasmon Interconnects 1624.13 Dual Mode in Spoof Plasmon Waveguide 1654.14 Summary 166References 1675 Augmented Bandwidth by Spoof Plasmonics 1715.1 Introduction 1715.2 Background Studies: Severity of Crosstalk 1715.3 Conventional Strategies for Crosstalk Reduction 1735.4 Authors’ Contribution: Dealing with Crosstalk in Data Bus 1755.4.1 Advantages of Proposed Interconnect 1755.4.2 Crosstalk Limited Bandwidth in Lossless Electrical Bus 1775.4.3 Crosstalk Limited Bandwidth in Lossless SSPP Bus 1795.5 Hybrid-SSPP Mode: Theory and Property Analysis 1835.5.1 Coupling Between Two Channels of Hybrid-SSPP Mode 1885.5.2 Coupling Among a Large Number of Parallel Hybrid-SSPP Channels 1905.5.3 Design Technique of Hybrid-SSPP for High Frequency Modulated Data Transmission 1925.6 Optimal Design Technique for Hybrid-SSPP Waveguide for Baseband Communication 1935.7 Experimental Characterizations of SSPP Data Bus 1945.7.1 Verification of Electronic-SSPP Mode 1955.7.2 Verification of Optical-SSPP Mode 1965.7.3 Microfabrication Process 1985.8 Mechanism for Bandwidth Augmentation 1985.8.1 Experimental Validation of Bandwidth Enhancement 2085.9 How Spoof Plasmon Advances the Engineering of Interconnect 2105.10 Summary 212References 2126 Signal Modulation by Spoof Plasmonics 2156.1 Introduction 2156.2 Background Studies: Design of Modulator 2156.3 Authors’ Contribution in the Field of Controlling Spoof Plasmon 2176.4 Transmission Spectra of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Structures 2186.5 SSPP Scattering in Heterogeneous Structures 2216.6 Q-factor and Enhanced Radiation Rate 2256.7 Dynamic Switching of SSPP Transmission Property 2266.7.1 SSPP Dispersion in the Presence of Modulator:Theoretical Framework 2276.7.2 Prediction of Dispersion-limited Modulation Speed 2326.7.3 Analysis of Energy Efficiency 2346.7.4 Numerical Analysis 2356.7.5 Trade-off Between Modulation Speed and Energy-efficiency 2376.7.6 Extension of the Theory for a Broad Class of SSPP Modulators 2386.8 Experimental Considerations and Signal Modulation 2406.8.1 Design Considerations 2406.8.2 Transmission Characteristics 2416.8.3 Modulation Characteristics 2446.9 Summary 248References 2487 Process Variation Effect on Spoof Plasmonic Interconnect: Compensations 2537.1 Introduction 2537.2 Background Studies: Process Variation in Interconnects 2537.3 Author’s Contribution in the Field of Spoof Plasmon Signal Restoration 2547.4 Frequency Response of SSPP Channel 2547.4.1 SSPP Channel with Ideal Pattern 2547.4.2 SSPP with Pattern Irregularity 2557.5 Performance Loss for Structural Imperfections 2577.5.1 Bandwidth Degradations 2577.5.2 Loss of Signal Integrity 2587.6 Mitigation of Performance Degradation 2607.6.1 Mathematical Functions to Compensate for Signal Loss 2607.6.2 Nonlinear Circuit Design for Real-time Compensations 2617.6.3 Dynamic Tunability of Compensation Circuit 2627.7 Summary 263References 2648 Future Research Avenues for Spoof Plasmonic Interconnects 2658.1 Introduction 2658.2 New Research Frontiers for Spoof Plasmonic Interconnect 2668.2.1 New Material Integration with Spoof Plasmonics 2668.2.2 Spoof Plasmonics for Higher Device Integration 2688.2.3 Nanoscale Realization of Spoof Plasmonic Interconnect 2698.2.4 Development of Multi-level Computation Model for THz Surface Wave Network 2708.3 Summary of the Chapter 273Index 275