Adaptive admittance-based conductor meshing for interconnect analysis

We present a new algorithm for discretizing interconnects, a step that is typically performed to account for the nonuniformity of current flow at high frequencies. The algorithm is based on an easily-computable measure that correlates well with the model accuracy. This measure is used to refine the discretization of interconnects in an adaptive scheme so as to systematically trade off computation against model accuracy. We apply the proposed discretization technique on two classes of problems in the analysis of VLSI interconnects: simulation and frequency-dependent inductance extraction. Numerical results establish that with the interconnect discretizations generated by our algorithm, a reduction in simulation and extraction times by a factor between three and seven can be realized with negligible sacrifice in model accuracy (< 1% error).