SIGNAL INTEGRITY ANALYSIS FOR HIGH

SPEED ON - CHIP INTERCONNECTS USING

DIFFERENTIAL EVOLUTION ALGORITHM
Mr.A.SABANAYAGAM, Dr.V.ABHAI KUMAR, Dr.(Mrs).S.RAJU, Dr.N.SURESH KUMAR
DEPARTMENT OF ECE - THIAGARAJAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, MADURAI - 625015, INDIA
Abstract - A new search henristic termed
Differential Evolution (DE) has shown superior
performance in several real - world applications. It
has received increased interest from the
evolutionary computation (EC) community. In this
paper the performance of DE on finding the optimal
solution for the determination of cross talk,
propagation delay and physical dimensions of high
speed interconnects are taken. The structure used
for analysis was coupled microstrip line model. The
results are compared with already obtained GA
Results.
Index Terms - Cross talk, inter -connects, signal
integrity, coupled
microstrip line,
mutual
inductance, mutual capacitance, Differential
Evolution Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA).
1. INTRODUCTION

Analysis and design of interconnections in

high-speed VLSI chips and printed circuit boards
are gaining importance because of the rapid
increase in operating frequencies and decrease in
feature sizes. Improperly designed interconnects
can result in increased crosstalk, signal delay,
ringing.
To reduce all these adverse signal
integrity effects it is necessary for the
interconnects to
have accurate
physical
dimensions which as a result reduces unwanted
coupling between neighboring conductors of the
interconnects.
Crosstalk between signals, due to
increased capacitive coupling, is the most severe
problem that impacts the timing of signals on a
chip causing functional failures and performance
degradation.
Signal integrity aspects such as
delay and crosstalk must be optimized for the
interconnects, which are best modeled by coupled
transmission lines. These structures are optimized
with the aid of different optimization techniques
[9]. The properties of coupled microstriplines are
determined by self and mutual inductances and
capacitances between the lines [8, 13].
The new numerical optimization algorithm
namely Differential Evolution (DE) was
introduced by Storn and Price in 1995. It is a

simple and efficient adaptive scheme for global optimization.

It differs from other Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) by the way
in which the new candidate solution is generated and the use of
a greedy solution scheme. Here an offspring is created using
the weighted difference of parent solution.
The offspring replaces the parent if it is fitter.
Otherwise the parent survives and is passed on to the next
iteration of the Algorithm. DE finds the lowest fitness value
for most of the problems. It is robust and reproduce the same
result consistantly over many trials. DE shows great fine tuning abilities. It is fast convergence in real world problems.
It out performs other EA's. It has proven themselves for
optimizing many large and complex problems in microwave
engineering fields.
For Analysis, high speed interconnects are modeled as
Coupled Microstrip line. The dimensions like width,
separation, thickness of the conductors, dielectric height of
substrate and length of the conductors [7] are initial popUlation
to DE Algorithm with Self inductance, Mutual inductance, Self
capacitance and Mutual capacitance between conductors being
their respective objective functions. Here optimization
programs for various interconnect parameters like Self
inductance. Mutual inductance and Mutual capacitance are
developed, and there by ultimately optimizing the high speed
interconnect structures for various signal integrity effects.
This paper is organized as follows, Section II describes
High Speed Interconnect effects. Section III explains coupled
microstriplines. Section IV presents in details the
implementation of the proposed algorithm. Results along with
illustrative graphs and tables are provided in section V.
Finally, conclusions are presented in section VI.
2.

HIGH SPEED INTERCONNECT EFFECTS

High speed interconnect is the one in which the time taken by

the propagating signal to travel between its end points cannot
be neglected. The High Speed Interconnect effects influencing
a signal propagating on an inter connect could be multifold
such as delay, rise time, degradation, attenuation, crosstalk,
skin effect, overshoots, undershoots, ringing and reflection
[14]. These high speed interconnect effects are referred to as
signal integrity effects. It generally includes all effects that
cause a design to malfunction due to distortion of the signal.

Of this high speed interconnect effects. Crosstalk

and propagation delay attain prime importance in
determining system performance and hence they
are discussed here.
In Deep Submicron technology, long
interconnects play an ever important role in
determining performance and reliability of core
based system on chips. Due to increasing cross
coupling capacitance and mutual inductance,
signal on neighboring wires may interfere with
each other causing excessive delay or loss of
signal integrity. Crosstalk refers to the interaction
between signals that are propagating on various
lines in the system. The active signal energy is
coupled to the quite line through both mutual
capacitance and inductances resulting in noise
voltage and current. Crosstalk occurs mainly due
to dense wiring required by compact and high
performance system. Crosstalk is a major
constraint while routing in high speed designs.
Propagation delay is another phenomenon. which
affects the VLSI system performance. A signal
traversing from one end of a transmission line to
the other end takes a fmite amount of time in
other words it experiences a certain amount of
delay.In the past, gate delay was the dominating
factor in circuit design. However as the feature
size of VLSI devices continues to decrease,
interconnect delay has becomes increasingly
important. Interconnect dalay has become
dominating factor in determining system
performance. In many systems designed today. as
much as 50% t070% of ciock cycles cycles are
consumeg by interconnect delay.
3. COUPLED MICROSTRIP LINE MODEL

In this paper, a configuration of two

parallel interconnects, the cross section of which is
shown in Fig. Lis modeled for its Land C
parameters. During design optimization. Each
individual configuration would vary in terms of
the thickness and width of the interconnects and
the interconnects and the height of the dielectric,
the separation between the center conductors.
Fig.2 shows the lumped equivalent circuit
of a segment of coupled microstrip lines. Where
Cs and C m represent the self and mutual
capacitance of microstripline per unit length,
respectively, and Ls and Lm represent the self and
mutual inductances per unit length, respectively.

Air

Fig .1. Cross section of coupled microstripline

The valid ranges of the geometry parameters [1] for this
configuration are tabulated in Table I.
LI (0.7 to 1.2) pH

,. . ,,_1 ~ {,_ ;nvn::nn1~"~

~,.o~f'"If \:~~'~~
~Cl (2 to 19.5) fF

Fig .2. Lumped Equivalent circuit of a coupled Microstrip Line

Pair
In this coupled microstrip configuration two lines run in
parallel. When the signal is excited at one end of transmission
line there are two types of crosstalk voltages observed namely
far-end crosstalk and near-end crosstalk Near -end crosstalk
is called the near-end with respect to the source aggressor. It is
also called the backward cross talk. This is due to the fact that
it trails behind the aggressor signal. Near-end crosstalk is
dependent on the amplitude of the source aggressor. Its rise
time and the crosstalk backward factor Kb. This factor is
calculated as follows [1]

Kb =l,4(Ln/L + CdC)

(1)

Kr- -LC) Yz/2).(Ln/L + CdC)

(2)

Propagation delay (Td) = --J L.C

(3)

Here Lm, L, Cm and C are mutual inductance, self inductance,

coupling capacitance and self capacitance, respectively.
4. OPTIMIZATION USING DIFFERENTIAL EVOLUTION(DE)
ALGORITHM

Fig.3 Shows a flow diagram of the DE used in this paper. The

details of implementing the proposed algorithm are as
follows[16]:

Step1: Initialization
DE has three parameters to be set for its working. They are
(1) The size of the popUlation (Popsize)

In our experiment it is set as popsize = 100

(2) The crossover constants (CR) set as (CR) =0.9

(3) The scaling Factor (F) set as F = 0.5

Table 1 Ranges ofInterconnect Parameters

Physical Dimensions
W -Conductor Width

Ranges(in mils)
5 to 11

S-Conductor separation
T-conductor thickness

1 to 16
0.7 to 2.8

"-dielectric height
L-length of conductor

5 to 10
20 to 40

Step 2 : Evaluate Fitness

Each chromosome is evaluated based on an
objective function. The objective functions are as
follows [1]:

StepS: Ending of the Algorithm

If termination criteria are not met, it will go back for
regeneration. Otherwise, stop the process.
The same procedure is followed for minimization
of crosstalk. In this case, objective functions are
equations(l)and (2). For minization of propagation delay, the
abjective fuction is equation (3).
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

An optimization program using DE algorithm was

used to find optimal solutions on the electrical parameters such
as L m, Ls, Cs and Cm. Fig.(4)-Fig(ll)shows the plot of
electrical parameters at different values of W,S,T and H for the
transmission lines in the inhomogeneous medium shown in
Fig.1.The DE optimized results are tabulated in TablellTable IV.

Total capacitance:
Ct =E{ 1.15 (WIH)O.%3 + 1.07 (T/H)o.049
+exp(-3.52.SIH) (0.75(WIH)o.25 + 2.7 (TIH) 1.36) }

(4)
Mutual Capacitance:
Cm =E{ 1. 17(W/H)o.o83.(S/H+OA02r
O.78+(S/H+1.32ro. 8(-1.36(WlHr
O.037+0.227(T/H)o.98)}
Ls

J..Io

{3.7(HIW)o.041

(5)
+

0.018(HIW)-O73_

3.39(HIT).-06 + exp(-1.89.SIH) .(0.75(HlWro.OO52 _

0.84(HIT)-O026)}

(6)

Mutual Inductance:
Lm = J..Io {( _OAI5(HIW)-O16 -2.38 (TIW)1.18).(SIH
+ 1.07r2.6+(SIH+0.89r2.03 ).(OAI8(HIW)o.13
+ 1.37(TIW),-09)}

No

(7)

E=o.r

Step3: Regeneration
In DE for each individual in the population, an
offspring is created using the weighted difference
of parent solution.
Step 4: Replacement
Replacement is performed by comparing
the fitness of the parents with their offspring. The
best chromosomes are included in the population
for the next iteration.

Fig.3 Flow Diagram of Proposed DE

!:

3 .
3.2

3
2.B

~~--....-~----~-----~-----..-------~---------.

2.6

2.4

?b-~5------~----~1.5~---_~2~----~2~_5----~3
Thielmtsl. in rmls

Fig.4. Width versus Mutual- inductance for different

values of Thickness

Fig.7. Thickness versus self - inductance for different values of

Thickness

;f5
~

0.4

-L.3

lo2t
01

a~--~--~--~6----~B--~lO~~1~2--~"~~'6
S.I':;tf1i~ion '" mils

Fig.5. Separation versus Mutual- inductance for

different values of Thickness

O~--~--~--~S~--8~--~'O~~'2~~t~'--~'6
5.paraHon in mil,

Fig.8. Separation versus Mutual- Capacitance for different

values of Thickness

G.55!-----~5~-----!7-------!:e---~9!----~'O=---~,1
Width i" mils

Fig.6. Width versus self - inductance for different values

of Thickness

Fig.9. Width versus self - inductance for different values of

Thickness

TABLE - III Optimization of Extracted Interconnect

Parameters

10

Wicllhtnmil&

Fig. 10 Width Vs Self Capacitance

Width

Height

Thickness

Separation

(mils)

(mils)

(mils)

(mils)

Lx(Hlmils)

11

2.799999952

Lm(Hlmils)

11

0.699999988

16

Cm(F/mi1s)

10

0.699999988

Cx(F/mi1s)

0.699999988

16

Table II shows Optimization of Electrical parameters and their

corresponding Convergence time for 500 generations. Electric
field occurred at the edge of the Borda's profile (meeting with
vertical portion; figure 3)
TABLE - IV Comparison
Signal
Integrity
Problems
Far end

Before Optimization

Crosstalk

After
Optimization
(GA)

After
Optimization
(DE)

-2.9357e-06

-2.6053e-09

-5.785235e-07

0.461345389

0.0306122865

0.321877967

4. 12678e-06

3.30408e-09

3.8802e-09

(v/mils)
Near end
Crosstalk

Fig. 11. Separation Vs Self Capacitance for

different values of thickness

(v/mi1s)
Propagation
Delay (sec)

TABLE - II
Parameters

Optimization of Electrical

Extracted

Before

parameters

Optimization

6. Conclusion
After

Convergence

Optimization

Time (sec)

(DE)

GA

DE

3.88117e-07

6. 132825e-13

7.3238e-07

9.667096e-08

Self
Inductance
(Ls) (Hlmils)
Mutual
Inductance
(Lm) (Hlmils)

Mutual
Capacitance

-9.94062e-13

(C m) (F/mils)

-3.595237e13

Self
Capacitance
(Cs) (F/mils)

2.3879ge-ll

1.55743e-ll

The electrical parameters of coupled microstrip line

such as Self inductance, Mutual inductance, self capacitance
and Mutual capacitance were extracted. These parameters
were plotted for various values of width, separation,
Thickness and Height and interrelated in a complex way.
Hence, the crosstalk quiet and powerful optimization tool to
produce results
for optimum design of high speed
interconnects. It takes few seconds for convergence.
To conclude, the performance of DE is outstanding in
comparison to the other algorithms tested. It is simple, robust,
converges fast, and finds the optimum in almost every run. In
addition, it has few parameters to set, and the same settings
can be used for many different problems. Previously the DE
has shown its worth on real-world problem, and in this study it
outperformed GA. Among the tested algorithms, the DE can
rightfully be regarded as an excellent first choice, when faced
with a new optimization problem to solve. Experiments are
required to determine why and when the DE and PSO methods
fail on noisy problem.

The performance of DE can be further improved

by altering the crossover scheme, varying the
parameters CR and F or using a more greedy
offspring generation strategy.
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AUTHORS BIO DATA

"'"
",',
""

32 years working experience as teacher

'J' '

email id:sab_19542008@yahoo.co.in
,
Completed RE. (ECE) in P.S.G. College of
Technology, Coimbatore in the year 1976.
Completed M.E., (Applied Electronics) in Coimbatore Institute of
Technology, Coimbatore in the year 1992.

Completed M.B.A, in Madurai Kamaraj University in 1985.

Persuing Ph.D. in Madurai Kamaraj University in EMIlEMC.

Life Member of many professional bodies (lEI, ISTE, IETE,

SEMCE(I), etc.)

Published many papers in National Seminars and Journals.

'1,

,\'

Nadu;

2.

Dr.V. ABHAIKUMAR, Principal, Thiagarajar College of

Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Guided many research scholars in the field of EMIlEMC.

Published in many papers in International / National

Symposium / Conferences.

3.

Dr.(Mrs.)S. RAJU, Head of ECE Department, Thiagarajar

College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Guided many research scholars in the EMIlEMC.

Published and presented many papers in International!

National Conferences.

4.

Dr.N. SURESH KUMAR, Vice Principal, Velammal College of

Engineering, Madurai.

Published and presented many papers in National /

International conferences.

Vivek D.Pinto, William M.Pottenger,"A Survey of

optimization used in the field", IMRi.200 Third
International Meeting for Research in Logistics.

10. N.Suresh Kumar. M.Premkumar, T.Vijay Anandh,

S.Raju & V.Abhai Kumar "implementation of ANN
on oncWF interconnects in VLSI circuits" INCEMIC2003,8
International
Conference
on
Electromagnetic interference & Comnotibility
Proceedings. IEEE EMC Society.

1. Er.A. SABANAYAGAM, Vice Principal, BCM

Govt. Women Polytechnic College, Ettyapuram, Tamil