Abstract:
This paper establishes the importance of the lithium (Li) intercalation in multilayer graphene
nanoribbon (MLGNR) interconnects for obtaining superior performance than conventional copper (Cu)
on-chip interconnects. For the first time, we report performance analysis of Li-intercalated MLGNRs for
local interconnect applications. In that, interconnect thickness is optimized for obtaining lowest delay
and energy-delay-product (EDP). At 12 μm interconnect length, our optimized Li-intercalated MLGNRs
exhibit (≈ 22.9 ps)1.9× and 4.1× lower delay and EDP, respectively, when compared to Cu. Even in
presence of edge roughness, they exhibit (≈ 31.8 ps)1.37× and 2.5× lower delay and EDP, respectively,
when compared to Cu. Our analysis quantitatively proves the potential of Li-intercalated MLGNRs for
local interconnect applications.