High Tc superconductors for digital system interconnections Article

Tewksbury, SK, Hornak, LA, Hatamian, M. (1989). High Tc superconductors for digital system interconnections . SOLID-STATE ELECTRONICS, 32(11), 947-959. 10.1016/0038-1101(89)90155-X

cited authors

  • Tewksbury, SK; Hornak, LA; Hatamian, M

authors

abstract

  • Superconducting transmission lines at Tc > 90 K may provide a high performance interconnection fabric for the intermediate interconnection levels (chip-to-chip, board-to-board, rack-to-rack, etc.) for high performance digital systems. The potential performance of high-Tc superconductors in such applications can be estimated by assuming that their intrinsic characteristics are similar to those of the lower temperature superconductors. Simple models of the intrinsic (i.e. ideal) behavior of superconducting striplines are useful for frequencies much less than the gap frequency, ωg, and low reduced temperatures. Flux motion induced resistance degrades this intrinsic performance at magnetic fields exceeding Hcl and at temperatures approaching the transition temperature. Extrinsic factors such as nonideal stripline geometries further degrade the performance of a superconducting interconnection. Though having perhaps superior characteristics relative to normal metal interconnections, that higher performance may not be important in various interconnection applications. The line length and frequency at which superconducting lines have significantly higher performance than normal metal lines are estimated using simple line models (lumped RC, distributed RC and transmission line models). The limits imposed on very high data rates by driver power dissipation are also considered, and the possible impact of low voltage, Josephson junction drivers in achieving high density and high speed lines is discussed. Finally, an example exploiting the high performance of superconducting interconnections in a large-scale system is briefly described. © 1989.

publication date

  • January 1, 1989

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 947

end page

  • 959

volume

  • 32

issue

  • 11