Transcript Lecture 3
Lecture 3:
Nonideal
Transistor
Theory
Outline
Nonideal Transistor Behavior
– High Field Effects
• Mobility Degradation
• Velocity Saturation
– Channel Length Modulation
– Threshold Voltage Effects
• Body Effect
• Drain-Induced Barrier Lowering
• Short Channel Effect
– Leakage
• Subthreshold Leakage
• Gate Leakage
• Junction Leakage
Process and Environmental Variations
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
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Ideal Transistor I-V
Shockley long-channel transistor models
0
Vds
I ds Vgs Vt
2
2
Vgs Vt
2
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
Vgs Vt
V V V
ds
ds
dsat
Vds Vdsat
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cutoff
linear
saturation
3
Ideal vs. Simulated nMOS I-V Plot
65 nm IBM process, VDD = 1.0 V
Ids (A)
Simulated
Vgs = 1.0
Ideal
1200
Velocity saturation & Mobility degradation:
Ion lower than ideal model predicts
1000
Ion = 747 mA @
Channel length modulation: V = V = V
DD
ds
gs
Saturation current increases
with Vds
Vgs = 1.0
800
Vgs = 0.8
600
Velocity saturation & Mobility degradation:
Saturation current increases less than
quadratically with Vgs
400
Vgs = 0.8
Vgs = 0.6
200
Vgs = 0.6
Vgs = 0.4
0
Vds
0
0.2
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0.4
0.6
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
0.8
1
4
ON and OFF Current
Ion = Ids @ Vgs = Vds = VDD
– Saturation
Ids (A)
1000
Ion = 747 mA @
Vgs = Vds = VDD
800
Vgs = 1.0
600
Vgs = 0.8
400
Vgs = 0.6
200
Vgs = 0.4
0
Vds
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Ioff = Ids @ Vgs = 0, Vds = VDD
– Cutoff
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Electric Fields Effects
Vertical electric field: Evert = Vgs / tox
– Attracts carriers into channel
– Long channel: Qchannel Evert
Lateral electric field: Elat = Vds / L
– Accelerates carriers from drain to source
– Long channel: v = Elat
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Coffee Cart Analogy
Tired student runs from VLSI lab to coffee cart
Freshmen are pouring out of the physics lecture hall
Vds is how long you have been up
– Your velocity = fatigue × mobility
Vgs is a wind blowing you against the glass (SiO2) wall
At high Vgs, you are buffeted against the wall
– Mobility degradation
At high Vds, you scatter off freshmen, fall down, get up
– Velocity saturation
• Don’t confuse this with the saturation region
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Mobility Degradation
High Evert effectively reduces mobility
– Collisions with oxide interface
– Essentially carrier mobility depends on Vgs and Vt
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Velocity Saturation
At high Elat, carrier velocity rolls off
– Carriers scatter off atoms in silicon lattice
– Velocity reaches vsat
• Electrons: 107 cm/s
• Holes: 8 x 106 cm/s
– Better model
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Example 1
Calculate the effective carrier mobilities of nMOS
and pMOS transistors when fully ON. Assume Vgs =
1 V, Vt = 0.3 V and tox = 1.05 nm
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Example 2
Find the critical voltage for nMOS and pMOS
transistors that are fully ON, using the values
obtained in example 1 and L = 50nm.
(Hint Vc = Ec●L)
Which transistor is more vulnerable to velocity
saturation?
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Vel Sat I-V Effects
Ideal transistor ON current increases with VDD2
2
W Vgs Vt
I ds Cox
Vgs Vt
L
2
2
2
Velocity-saturated ON current increases with VDD
I ds CoxW Vgs Vt vmax
Real transistors are partially velocity saturated
– Approximate with a-power law model
– Ids VDDa
– 1 < a < 2 determined empirically (≈ 1.3 for 65 nm)
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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a-Power Model
0
V
I ds I dsat ds
Vdsat
I dsat
Vgs Vt
cutoff
Vds Vdsat
linear
Vds Vdsat
saturation
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I dsat Pc
V
2
gs
Vt
a
Vdsat Pv Vgs Vt
a /2
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Channel Length Modulation
Reverse-biased p-n junctions form a depletion region
– Region between n and p with no carriers
– Width of depletion Ld region grows with reverse bias
V
V
GND
Source
Gate
Drain
– Leff = L – Ld
Depletion Region
Width: L
Shorter Leff gives more current
– Ids increases with Vds
n
n
L
+
+
L
– Even in saturation
p GND bulk Si
DD
DD
d
eff
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Chan Length Mod I-V
I ds
V
2
gs
Vt 1 lVds
2
l = channel length modulation coefficient
– not feature size
– Empirically fit to I-V characteristics
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Threshold Voltage Effects
Vt is Vgs for which the channel starts to invert
Ideal models assumed Vt is constant
Really depends (weakly) on almost everything else:
– Body voltage: Body Effect
– Drain voltage: Drain-Induced Barrier Lowering
– Channel length: Short Channel Effect
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Body Effect
Body is a fourth transistor terminal
Vsb affects the charge required to invert the channel
– Increasing Vs or decreasing Vb increases Vt
Vt Vt 0 g
fs Vsb fs
fs = surface potential at threshold
fs 2vT ln
NA
ni
– Depends on doping level NA
– And intrinsic carrier concentration ni
g = body effect coefficient
g
tox
ox
2q si N A
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
2q si N A
Cox
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Body Effect Cont.
For small source-to-body voltage, treat as linear
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DIBL
Electric field from drain affects channel
More pronounced in small transistors where the
drain is closer to the channel
Drain-Induced Barrier Lowering
VVV
– Drain voltage also affect Vt
ttds
Vt Vt Vds
High drain voltage causes current to increase.
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Short Channel Effect
In small transistors, source/drain depletion regions
extend into the channel
– Impacts the amount of charge required to invert
the channel
– And thus makes Vt a function of channel length
Short channel effect: Vt increases with L
– Some processes exhibit a reverse short channel
effect in which Vt decreases with L
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Leakage
What about current in cutoff?
Simulated results
What differs?
– Current doesn’t
go to 0 in cutoff
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Leakage Sources
Subthreshold conduction
– Transistors can’t abruptly turn ON or OFF
– Dominant source in contemporary transistors
Gate leakage
– Tunneling through ultrathin gate dielectric
Junction leakage
– Reverse-biased PN junction diode current
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Subthreshold Leakage
Subthreshold leakage exponential with Vgs
Vgs Vt 0 Vds kg Vsb
I ds I ds 0 e
nvT
Vds
1 e vT
n is process dependent
– typically 1.3-1.7
Rewrite relative to Ioff on log scale
S ≈ 100 mV/decade @ room temperature
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Gate Leakage
Carriers tunnel through very thin gate oxides
Exponentially sensitive to tox and VDD
– A and B are tech constants
– Greater for electrons
• So nMOS gates leak more
Negligible for older processes (tox > 20 Å)
Critically important at 65 nm and below (tox ≈ 10.5 Å)
From [Song01]
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Junction Leakage
Reverse-biased p-n junctions have some leakage
– Ordinary diode leakage
– Band-to-band tunneling (BTBT)
– Gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL)
p+
n+
n+
p+
p+
n+
n well
p substrate
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Diode Leakage
Reverse-biased p-n junctions have some leakage
VvD
T
I D I S e 1
At any significant negative diode voltage, ID = -Is
Is depends on doping levels
– And area and perimeter of diffusion regions
– Typically < 1 fA/m2 (negligible)
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Band-to-Band Tunneling
Tunneling across heavily doped p-n junctions
– Especially sidewall between drain & channel
when halo doping is used to increase Vt
Increases junction leakage to significant levels
– Xj: sidewall junction depth
– Eg: bandgap voltage
– A, B: tech constants
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Gate-Induced Drain Leakage
Occurs at overlap between gate and drain
– Most pronounced when drain is at VDD, gate is at
a negative voltage
– Thwarts efforts to reduce subthreshold leakage
using a negative gate voltage
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Temperature Sensitivity
Increasing temperature
– Reduces mobility
– Reduces Vt
ION decreases with temperature
IOFF increases with temperature
I ds
increasing
temperature
Vgs
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So What?
So what if transistors are not ideal?
– They still behave like switches.
But these effects matter for…
– Supply voltage choice
– Logical effort
– Quiescent power consumption
– Pass transistors
– Temperature of operation
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Parameter Variation
fast
Transistors have uncertainty in parameters
– Process: Leff, Vt, tox of nMOS and pMOS
– Vary around typical (T) values
Fast (F)
– Leff: short
– Vt: low
– tox: thin
Slow (S): opposite
nMOS
Not all parameters are independent
for nMOS and pMOS
FF
pMOS
SF
TT
slow
slow
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
FS
SS
fast
31
Environmental Variation
VDD and T also vary in time and space
Fast:
– VDD: high
– T: low
Corner
Voltage
Temperature
F
1.98
0C
T
1.8
70 C
S
1.62
125 C
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Process Corners
Process corners describe worst case variations
– If a design works in all corners, it will probably
work for any variation.
Describe corner with four letters (T, F, S)
– nMOS speed
– pMOS speed
– Voltage
– Temperature
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Important Corners
Some critical simulation corners include
Purpose
nMOS
pMOS
VDD
Temp
Cycle time
S
S
S
S
Power
F
F
F
F
Subthreshold
leakage
F
F
F
S
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Example 3
Consider an nMOS transistor manufactured in 65nm
process, with nominal threshold voltage equal to 0.3
V and doping levels of 8x10^17 cm^(-3). The
substrate is connected to ground with a contact.
What will be the change in the treshold voltage at
room temperature if the sourse is at 0.6V instead of
0V?
(Assume tox = 1.05 nm, q=1.6x10^(-19) Cb, vT =
kT/q = 26mV, ni = 1.45x10^10 cm^(-3), εox =
3.9x8.85x10^(-14) F/cm, εSi = 11.7x8.85x10^(-14)
F/cm)
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Example 4
An nMOS transistor has a threshold voltage of 0.4V and
Vdd = 1.2V. A designer considers reducing the threshold
voltage by 100 mV in order to increase transistor speed
(i) By how much would the saturation current increase
(for Vgs=Vds=Vdd) if the transistors were ideal?
(ii) By how much would the subthreshold leakage current
increase in room temperature for Vgs=0; Assume n=1.4
(iii) By how much would the subthreshold leakage current
increase at 120°C?
Assume that Vt is constant.
k=1.380 6504(24)×10−23 J/K
4: Nonideal Transistor Theory
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Example 5
Find the subthreshold leakage current of an inverter
at room temperature if the input A=0. Let βn=2βp =
1mA/V^2., n=1.4, and ABS(Vt)=0.4V. Assume the
body effect and DIBL coefficients are zero.
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