RF Interconnects for Communications On-chip

In this paper, we propose a new way of implementing on-chip global interconnect that would meet stringent challenges of core-to-core communications in latency, data rate, and re-configurability for future chip-microprocessors (CMP) with efficient area and energy overheads. We discuss the limitation of traditional RC-limited interconnects and possible benefits of multi-band RF-interconnect (RF-I) through on-chip differential transmission lines. The physical implementation of RF-I and its projected performance versus overhead as the function of CMOS technology scaling are discussed as well. Categories and Subject Descriptor