Time Domain Simulation of Skin- and Proximity-Effect in Multiconductor Transmission Lines

A new method of modeling the skinand proximity-effect within transmission lines is presented. This technique is used in connection with an algorithm for a fast time domain simulation of the signal propagation in lossy interconnect systems. The frequency-dependence of the line parameters is taken automatically into consideration by the chosen approach and does not need to be known in advance. In addition the simulation of line systems in a nonlinear circuit environment (such as digital circuits) is possible, since the algorithm operates in the time domain. The validity of the computed results in the time domain has been proven by a comparison with results gained from frequency domain simulations. Simulation results are given for different planar transmission line systems. It was found that the influence of skinand proximity-effect is negligible for lines currently used in VLSI circuits. This is also true in cases where the dimensions of the cross-section of the lines are significantly larger then the depth of penetration caused by the skin-effect (e.g. on PCBs).