Superconducting interconnections in future high performance systems.

New high temperature superconducting materials could eventually be used for interconnections in electronic systems. Such interconnections would undoubtedly cost more to implement than conventional ones, so the most likely applications would be for complex, high-speed systems that could benefit from the performance advantages of a resistance-free interconnecting medium. The problem with conventional conductors in these systems is that the resistance of wires increases quadratically as dimensions are scaled down. The most important advantage offered by superconductors is that they are not linked to this scaling rule. Their principle limitation is the maximum current density that they will support and this determines the range of applications for which they are superior to conventional conductors. An analysis is presented which examines the relative advantages of superconductors for different critical current densities, wire dimensions and system sizes.