Title: Plasmonic interconnects for global wires in integrated circuits

Authors: Soo-Jin Chua; Yan Liu; Lu Ding; Aaron Thean; Ting Mei; Christian A. Nijhuis

Addresses: NUSNNI-Nanocore, National University of Singapore, 5A Engineering Drive 1, #11-00, Singapore 117411, Singapore; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117576, Singapore; Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China ' NUSNNI-Nanocore, National University of Singapore, 5A Engineering Drive 1, #11-00, Singapore 117411, Singapore ' Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 117602, Singapore ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117576, Singapore ' Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China ' NUSNNI-Nanocore, National University of Singapore, 5A Engineering Drive 1, #11-00, Singapore 117411, Singapore; Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore

Abstract: Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are bound electromagnetic waves propagating at a dielectric-metal interface, which have gained attention for high performance and ability for miniaturisation in high-speed dense circuits, due to their subwavelength properties. A dielectric-metal-dielectric (I-M-I) plasmonic waveguide with a 40 nm thick metal or metal-like strip on silicon substrate is proposed for intra-chip communication. The propagation characteristics of the I-M-I waveguide are investigated by numerical simulation and the modes are experimentally verified by scanning near-field optical microscopy. Metal lines as thin as 40 nm can have propagation lengths as large as 239 μm, which has small footprint compatible with the advanced interconnect process.

Keywords: LR-SPP; long-range surface plasmon polaritons; intra-chip communication; near-field signal; plasmonic interconnect; insulator-metalinsulator plasmonic waveguide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2020.111324

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2020 Vol.17 No.7/8/9/10, pp.541 - 549

Published online: 20 Nov 2020 *

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