Signal Delay in General RC Networks

Abstract

Based upon the delay of Elmore, a single value of delay is derived for any node in a general RC network. The effects of parallel connections and stored charge are properly taken into consideration. A technique called tree decomposition and load redistribution is introduced that is capable of dealing with general RC networks without sacrificing a number of desirable properties of tree networks. An experimental simulator called SDS (Signal Delay Simulator) has been developed. For all the examples tested so far, this simulator runs two to three orders of magnitude faster than SPICE, and detects all transitions and glitches at approximately the correct time.