Refueling: Preventing wire degradation due to electromigration

Abstract

Electromigration is a major source of wire and via failure. Refueling undoes em for bidirectional wires and power/ground grids-some of a chip's most vulnerable wires. Refueling exploits em's self-healing effect by balancing the amount of current flowing in both directions of a wire. It can significantly extend a wire's lifetime while reducing the chip area devoted to wires.