Dynamic threshold-voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) for ultra-low voltage VLSI

In this paper, we propose a novel operation of a MOSFET that is suitable for ultra-low voltage (0.6 V and below) VLSI circuits. Experimental demonstration was carried out in a Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology. In this device, the threshold voltage of the device is a function of its gate voltage, i.e., as the gate voltage increases the threshold voltage (V_t) drops resulting in a much higher current drive than standard MOSFET for low-power supply voltages. On the other hand, V_t is high at V_gs=0, therefore the leakage current is low. We provide extensive experimental results and two-dimensional (2-D) device and mixed-mode simulations to analyze this device and compare its performance with a standard MOSFET. These results verify excellent inverter dc characteristics down to V_dd=0.2 V, and good ring oscillator performance down to 0.3 V for Dynamic Threshold-Voltage MOSFET (DTMOS)     

工作在动态阈值MOS的特性研究

通过将衬底和栅极连接在一起实现了MOSFET的动态阈值,DTMOS与标准的MOSFET相比具有更高的迁移率,在栅极电压升高时DTMOS阈值电压会随之降低,从而获得了比标准的MOSFET大的电流驱动能力。DTMOS是实现低电压、低功耗的一种有效手段。     

high-performance and high-reliability 80-nm gate-length DTMOS with indium super steep retrograde channel

In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time a high-performance and high-reliability 80-nm gate-length dynamic threshold voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) using indium super steep retrograde channel implantation. Due to the steep indium super steep retrograde (In SSR) dopant profile in the channel depletion region, the novel In-SSR DTMOS features a low V/sub th/ in the off-state suitable for low-voltage operation and a large body effect to fully exploit the DTMOS advantage simultaneously, which is not possible with conventional DTMOS. As a result, excellent 80-nm gate length transistor characteristics with drive current as high as 348 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m (off-state current 40 nA//spl mu/m), a record-high Gm=1022 mS/mm, and a subthreshold slope of 74 mV/dec, are achieved at 0.7 V operation. Moreover, the reduced body effects that have seriously undermined conventional DTMOS operation in narrow-width devices are alleviated in the In-SSR DTMOS, due to reduced indium dopant segregation. Finally, it was found for the first time that hot-carrier reliability is also improved in DTMOS-mode operation, especially for In-SSR DTMOS.     

High performance 0.1 μm dynamic threshold MOSFET using indiumchannel implantation

In this letter, we demonstrate a high-performance 0.1 μm dynamic threshold voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) for ultra-low-voltage (i.e., <0.7 V) operations. Devices are realized by using super-steep-retrograde indium-channel profile. The steep indium-implanted-channel DTMOS can achieve a large body-effect-factor and a low V_th simultaneously, which results in an excellent performance for the indium-implanted DTMOS     

High-voltage and high-temperature applications of DTMOS with reverse Schottky barrier on substrate contacts

In this letter, for the first time, application of dynamic threshold voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) with reverse Schottky barrier on substrate contacts (RSBSCs) for high voltage and high temperature is presented. By this RSBSC, DTMOS can be operated at high voltage (>0.7 V), and exhibits excellent performance at high temperature in terms of ideal subthreshold slope, low threshold voltage and high driving current.     

High-performance 0.07-μm CMOS with 9.5-ps gate delay and 150 GHzfT

We report room-temperature 0.07-μm CMOS inverter delays of 13.6 ps at 1.5 V and 9.5 ps at 2.5 V for an SOI substrate; 16 ps at 1.5 V and 12 ps at 2.5 V for a bulk substrate. This is the first room-temperature sub-10 ps inverter ring oscillator delay ever reported. PFETs with very high drive current and reduction in parasitic resistances and capacitances for both NFETs and PFETs, realized by careful thermal budget optimization, contribute to the fast device speed. Moreover, the fast inverter delay was achieved without compromising the device short-channel characteristics. At V_dd=1.5 V and I_off ~2.5 nA/μm, minimum L_eff is about 0.085 μm for NFETs and 0.068 μm for PFETs. PFET I_on is 360 μA/μm, which is the highest value ever reported at comparable V_dd and I_off. The SOI MOSFET has about one order of magnitude higher I_off than a bulk MOSFET due to the floating-body effect. At around 0.07 μm L_eff, the NFET cut-off frequencies are 150 GHz for SOI and 135 GHz for bulk. These performance figures suggest that subtenth-micron CMOS is ready for multi-gigahertz digital circuits, and has good potential for RF and microwave applications     

Impact of electron and hole inversion-layer capacitance on lowvoltage operation of scaled n- and p-MOSFET's

The influence of inversion-layer capacitance (C_inv) on supply voltage (V_dd) of n- and p-MOSFET's is quantitatively examined. The physical origin of the effect of C_inv on V_dd consists in the band bending of a Si substrate in the inversion condition due to C_inv, which is not scaled with a reduction in gate oxide thickness. The amount and the impact of the band bending is accurately evaluated on a basis of one dimensional (1-D) self-consistent calculations including two-dimensional (2-D) subband structure of inversion-layer electrons and holes. It is demonstrated that additional band bending of a Si substrate due to C_inv becomes a dominant factor to limit the lowering of V_dd for CMOS with ultrathin gate oxides. The operation at V_dd lower than 0.6 V is quite difficult even with effective T_ox less than 1 nm     

High voltage applications and NBTI effects of DT-pMOSFETS with reverse Schottky substrate contacts

In this study, the characteristics of DT-pMOSFETs are discussed using the reverse Schottky substrate contacts. With this diode, the DTMOS can be operated at high voltage and temperature. In addition, it exhibited an improved driving current, DIBL, transconductance, and subthreshold slope. The driving current for DTMOS was 20% larger, and was 12 mV improved for DIBL under DTMOS operation. Furthermore, the NBTI effects of DTMOS were also reported for the first time. This is because DTMOS could operate just below 0.7 V of V_G due to the junction turn-on behavior. It is interesting to note that the shift of the ΔV_TH of pMOSFETs under NBTI measurement was significantly alleviated in the DT operating mode, about 30 mV improved after 10,000 s stressing, due to the alleviated electrical field across the gate oxide which was due to the substrate bias and the threshold voltage adjustment under DTMOS operation.     

The impact of device scaling and power supply change on CMOS gateperformance

Based a new empirical mobility model that is solely dependent on V _gs, V_t, and T_ox and a corresponding saturation drain current (I_dsat) model, the impact of device scaling and power supply voltage change on CMOS inverter's performance is investigated in this paper. It shows that the T_ox which maximizes inverter's speed may be thicker than reliability consideration requires. In addition, very high speed can be achieved even at low V_dd (for low power applications) if V_t can be lowered     

High drive-current electrically induced body dynamic threshold SOIMOSFET (EIB-DTMOS) with large body effect and low threshold voltage

A novel electrically induced body dynamic threshold metal oxide semiconductor (EIB-DTMOS) is proposed where the body is electrically induced by substrate bias and its high performance is demonstrated by experiments and simulations. EIB-DTMOS achieves a large body effect and a low V_th at the same time. The upper limit of the supply voltage of the EIB-DTMOS is higher than that of a conventional DTMOS, because the forward biased p-n junction leakage current of the EIB-DTMOS is lower. Among several DTMOSs, the accumulation mode EIB-DTMOS shows the highest drive-current at fixed off-current due to a large V_th Shift (or large back gate capacitance) and a suppressed short channel effect     

A novel dynamic threshold Voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) using heterostructure channel of Si/sub 1-y/C/sub y/ interlayer

We have demonstrated the fabrication of dynamic threshold voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) using the Si/sub 1-y/C/sub y/(y=0.005) incorporation interlayer channel. Compare to conventional Si-DTMOS, the introduction of the Si/sub 1-y/C/sub y/ interlayer for this device is realized by super-steep-retrograde (SSR) channel profiles due to the retardation of boron diffusion. A low surface channel impurity with heavily doped substrate can be achieved simultaneously. This novel Si/sub 1-y/C/sub y/ channel heterostructure MOSFET exhibits higher transconductance and turn on current.     

Poly-Si Thin-Film Transistors: An Efficient and Low-Cost Option for Digital Operation

In this paper, we propose an optimization methodology to design low-temperature polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistors (LTPS TFTs) for submicrometer ultralow-power digital operation. LTPS TFTs incur low fabrication cost and can be fabricated on a variety of substrates (flexible such as polymer, glass, etc.). LTPS TFT has significantly reduced mobility, resulting in reduced driving current; however, we show that, for ultralow-power subthreshold operation (V_dd < V_th) , LTPS TFTs can be optimized to achieve comparable performance as a single-crystalline silicon (c-Si) silicon-on-insulator (SOI). For LTPS TFTs with T_S1 < 10 nm , ring oscillators (operating in subthreshold region) show significant reduction in intrinsic delay when the midgap trap density gets properly controlled (< 10¹² cm^-2) after hydrogenation with less dynamic energy consumption under isostatic power consumption compared to a c-Si SOI MOSFET. We also address the inherent variations in grain boundaries at device and circuit levels to gain practical insights.     

0.25 μm gate length CMOS devices for cryogenic operation

Under cryogenic operation, a low V_th realizes a high speed performance at a greatly reduced power-supply voltage, which is the most attractive feature of Cryo-CMOS. It is very important in sub-0.25 μm Cryo-CMOS devices to reconcile the miniaturization and the low V_th. Double implanted MOSFET's technology was employed to achieve the low V_th while maintaining the short channel effects immunity. We have investigated both the DC characteristics and the speed performance of 0.25 μm gate length CMOS devices for cryogenic operation. The measured transconductances in the saturation region were 600 mS/mm for 0.2 μm gate length n-MOSFET's and 310 mS/mm for 0.25 μm gate length p-MOSFET's at 80 K. The propagation delay time in the fastest CMOS ring oscillator was 22.8 ps at V_dd=1 V at 80 K. The high speed performance at extremely low power-supply voltages has been experimentally demonstrated. The speed analysis suggests that the sub-l0 ps switching of Cryo-CMOS devices will be realized by reducing the parasitic capacitances and through further miniaturization down to 0.1 μm gate length or below     

SOI反偏肖特基势垒动态阈值MOS特性

将Ti硅化物-p型体区形成的反偏肖特基势垒结构引入绝缘体上硅动态阈值晶体管.传统栅体直接连接DTMOS,为了避免体源二极管的正向开启,工作电压应当低于0.7V.而采用反偏肖特基势垒结构,DTMOS的工作电压可以拓展到0.7V以上.实验结果显示,室温下采用反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS结构,阈值电压可以动态减小200mV.反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS结构相比于传统模式,显示出优秀的亚阈值特性和电流驱动能力.另外,对浮体SOI器件、传统模式SOI器件和反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS的关态击穿特性进行了比较.     

0.3-μm mixed analog/digital CMOS technology for low-voltageoperation

A 0.3-μm mixed analog/digital CMOS technology for low-voltage operation has been demonstrated, including a new MOSFET structure with laterally doped buried layer (LDB) and a double-polysilicon capacitor with low voltage coefficient. The LDB-structure MOSFET provides constant threshold voltage which is independent of channel length, high current drivability 10% over that of a conventional structure, and low junction capacitance which is less than 1/2 that of the conventional structure. The double-polysilicon capacitor achieves a voltage coefficient of 1/10 that of a conventional capacitor by introducing arsenic ion implantation to the top polysilicon plate and a Si₃N₄ capacitor-insulator, despite the insulator thickness being scaled down to oxide-equivalent 20 nm     

SOI反偏肖特基势垒动态阈值MOS特性

将Ti硅化物-p型体区形成的反偏肖特基势垒结构引入绝缘体上硅动态阈值晶体管.传统栅体直接连接DTMOS,为了避免体源二极管的正向开启,工作电压应当低于0.7V.而采用反偏肖特基势垒结构,DTMOS的工作电压可以拓展到0.7V以上.实验结果显示,室温下采用反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS结构,阈值电压可以动态减小200mV.反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS结构相比于传统模式,显示出优秀的亚阈值特性和电流驱动能力.另外,对浮体SOI器件、传统模式SOI器件和反偏肖特基势垒SOI DTMOS的关态击穿特性进行了比较.     

SOI 动态阈值MOS 研究进展

随着器件尺寸的不断缩小,传统MOS器件遇到工作电压和阈值电压难以等比例缩小的难题,以至于降低电路性能,而工作在低压低功耗领域的SOI DTMOS可以有效地解决这个问题。本文介绍了四种类型的SOI DTMOS器件．其中着重论述了栅体直接连接DTMOS、双栅DTMOS和栅体肖特基接触DTMOS的工作原理和性能．具体分析了优化器件性能的五种方案,探讨了SOI DTMOS存在的优势和不足。最后指出,具有出色性能的SOI DTMOS必将在未来的移动通讯和SOC等低压低功耗电路中占有一席之地。     

Exploring Variability and Performance in a Sub-200-mV Processor

In this study, we explore the design of a subthreshold processor for use in ultra-low-energy sensor systems. We describe an 8-bit subthreshold processor that has been designed with energy efficiency as the primary constraint. The processor, which is functional below V_dd=200 mV, consumes only 3.5 pJ/inst at V_dd=350 mV and, under a reverse body bias, draws only 11 nW at V_dd=160 mV. Process and temperature variations in subthreshold circuits can cause dramatic fluctuations in performance and energy consumption and can lead to robustness problems. We investigate the use of body biasing to adapt to process and temperature variations. Test-chip measurements show that body biasing is particularly effective in subthreshold circuits and can eliminate performance variations with minimal energy penalties. Reduced performance is also problematic at low voltages, so we investigate global and local techniques for improving performance while maintaining energy efficiency.     

Bipolar-FET hybrid-mode operation of quarter-micrometer SOI MOSFETs[MESFETs read MOSFETs]

A hybrid mode of device operation, in which both bipolar and MOSFET currents flow simultaneously, has been experimentally investigated using quarter-micrometer-channel-length MOSFET's which were fabricated on SIMOX silicon-on-insulator substrates. This mode of device operation is achieved by connecting the gate of a non-fully-depleted SOI MOSFET to the edges of its floating body. Both the maximum G _m and current drive at 1.5× higher than the MOSFET's normal mode. Bipolar-junction-transistor (BJT)-like 60-mV/decade turn-off behavior is also achieved. This mode of operation is very promising for low-voltage, low-power, very-high-speed logic as well as for on-chip analog functions     

Impact of gate direct tunneling current on circuit performance: asimulation study

The influence of gate direct tunneling current on ultrathin gate oxide MOS (1.1 nm⩽t_ox⩽1.5 nm, L_g=50-70 nm) circuits has been studied based on detailed simulations. For the gate oxide thickness down to 1.1 nm, gate direct tunneling currents, including the edge direct tunneling (EDT), show only a minor impact on low V_dd static-logic circuits. However, dynamic logic and analog circuits are more significantly influenced by the off-state leakage current for oxide thickness below 1.5 nm, under low-voltage operation. Based on the study, the oxide thicknesses which ensure the International Technological Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) gate leakage limit are outlined both for high-performance and low-power devices