On circuit techniques to improve noise immunity of CMOS dynamic logic

Dynamic CMOS logic circuits are widely employed in high-performance VLSI chips in pursuing very high system performance. However, dynamic CMOS gates are inherently less resistant to noises than static CMOS gates. With the increasing stringent noise requirement due to aggressive technology scaling, the noise tolerance of dynamic circuits has to be first improved for the overall reliable operation of VLSI chips designed using deep submicron process technology. In the literature, a number of design techniques have been proposed to enhance the noise tolerance of dynamic logic gates. An overview and classification of these techniques are first presented in this paper. Then, we introduce a novel noise-tolerant design technique using circuitry exhibiting a negative differential resistance effect. We have demonstrated through analysis and simulation that using the proposed method the noise tolerance of dynamic logic gates can be improved beyond the level of static CMOS logic gates while the performance advantage of dynamic circuits is still retained. Simulation results on large fan-in dynamic CMOS logic gates have shown that, at a supply voltage of 1.6 V, the input noise immunity level can be increased to 0.8 V for about 10% delay overhead and to 1.0 V for only about 20% delay overhead.     

Skewed CMOS: noise-tolerant high-performance low-power static circuit family

In this paper, we present a noise-tolerant high-performance static circuit family suitable for low-voltage operation called skewed logic. Skewed logic circuits in comparison with Domino logic have better scalability and are more suitable for low voltage applications because of better noise margins. Skewed logic and its variations have been compared with Domino logic in terms of delay, power, and dynamic noise margin. A design methodology for skewed CMOS pipelined circuits has been developed. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed logic style, 0.35 /spl mu/m 5.56 ns CMOS 16/spl times/16 bit multipliers have been designed using skewed logic circuits and fabricated through MOSIS. Measurement results show that the multiplier only consumed a power of 195 mW due to its low clock load.     

Analysis of blocking dynamic circuits

In order for dynamic circuits to operate correctly, their inputs must be monotonically rising during evaluation. Blocking dynamic circuits satisfy this constraint by delaying evaluation until all inputs have been properly setup relative to the evaluation clock. By viewing dynamic gates as latches, we demonstrate that the optimal delay of a blocking dynamic gate may occur when the setup time is negative. With blocking dynamic circuits, cascading low-skew dynamic gates allows each dynamic gate to tolerate a degraded input level. The larger noise margin provides greater flexibility with the delay versus noise margin tradeoff (i.e., the circuit robustness versus speed tradeoff). This paper generalizes blocking dynamic circuits and provides a systematic approach for assigning clock phases, given delay and noise margin constraints. Using this framework, one can analyze any logic network consisting of blocking dynamic circuits.     

Dynamic noise model and its application to high speed circuit design

A dynamic noise model is developed and applied to analyze the noise immunities of precharge-evaluate circuits. With cross-talk being the main source of noise injection in the circuit, a simple metric represented as voltage-time product can be used to quantify the dynamic noise-margin. This is verified through HSPICE simulation on DOMINO gates. Based on this dynamic noise model, a tool is developed and applied to find the static and dynamic noise-margins at various points in the circuit with the effects of charge share and power/ground bounce taken into account. Obtained noise-margins are translated into maximum allowable coupling capacitances between the nodes for different types of precharge-evaluate logic circuits. The results show the difference in dynamic noise immunities in different logic families. Accurate estimates of dynamic noise-margins and coupling capacitance bounds will help design robust CMOS circuits.     

Floating-body effects in partially depleted SOI CMOS circuits

This paper presents a detailed study on the impact of a floating body in partially depleted (PD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET's on various CMOS circuits. Digital very large scale integration (VLSI) CMOS circuit families including static and dynamic CMOS logic, static cascade voltage switch logic (static CVSL), and dynamic cascade voltage switch logic (dynamic CVSL) are investigated with particular emphasis on circuit topologies where the parasitic bipolar effect resulting from the floating body affects the circuit operation and stability. Commonly used circuit building blocks for fast arithmetic operations in processor data-flow, such as static and dynamic carry lookahead circuits and Manchester carry chains, are examined. Pass-transistor-based designs including latch, multiplexer, and pseudo two-phase dynamic logic are then discussed. It is shown that under certain circuit topologies and switching patterns, the parasitic bipolar effect causes extra power consumption and degrades the noise margin and stability of the circuits. In certain dynamic circuits, the parasitic bipolar effect is shown to cause logic state error if not properly accounted for     

NORA: a racefree dynamic CMOS technique for pipelined logic structures

Describes a new dynamic CMOS technique which is fully racefree, yet has high logic flexibility. The circuits operate racefree from two clocks /spl phi/ and /spl phi/~ regardless of their overlap time. In contrast to the critical clock skew specification in the conventional CMOS pipelined circuits, the proposed technique imposes no restriction to the amount of clock skew. The main building blocks of the NORA technique are dynamic CMOS and C/SUP 2/MOS logic functions. Static CMOS functions can also be employed. Logic composition rules to mix dynamic CMOS, C/SUP 2/MOS, and conventional CMOS will be presented. Different from Domino technique, logic inversion is also provided. This means higher logic flexibility and less transistors for the same function. The effects of charge redistribution, noise margin, and leakage in the dynamic CMOS blocks are also analyzed. Experimental results show the feasibility of the principles discussed.     

A built-in technique for probing power supply and ground noise distribution within large-scale digital integrated circuits

Design of noise detector circuits as compact as standard logic cells is proposed. High-density large-scale digital integrated circuits that embed such built-in noise detectors enable in-depth characterization of dynamic power supply and ground noises. Dependence of power supply and ground voltage drops on the location of active cell rows within 1.8-V standard cell-based digital circuits are consistently measured by 1.8- and 2.5-V built-in detectors fabricated in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS triple-well technology. Measurements also show that ground noise distribution is distinctively more localized than power supply counterparts due to the presence of a substrate.     

Noise constrained transistor sizing and power optimization for dual V/sub t/ domino logic

Dynamic logic is susceptible to noise, especially in the ultra-deep submicrometer dual threshold voltage technology. When the dual threshold voltage is applied to the domino logic, noise immunity must be carefully considered since the significant subthreshold current of the low threshold voltage transistor makes the dynamic node much more susceptible to noise. In the first part of this paper, we introduce a new keeper transistor sizing method to determine the optimal keeper transistor size in terms of speed, power, and noise immunity. With the use of data obtained by presimulation, it is unnecessary to simulate all the design corners corresponding to the feasible NMOS evaluation transistor size ranges to find the optimal keeper transistor size. HSPICE simulation results show that the proposed keeper transistor sizing method can be broadly applied to all the domino logic gates. In the second part of this paper, we propose a new dual threshold voltage domino logic synthesis with the keeper transistor sizing to minimize the power consumption while meeting delay and noise constraints. With the optimal keeper transistor size determined by the proposed keeper transistor sizing method, the dual threshold voltage assignment to domino logic can be simplified to the discrete threshold voltage selection. Experimental results for ISCAS85 benchmark circuits show significant savings on leakage power and active power.     

A new true-single-phase-clocking BiCMOS dynamic pipelined logicfamily for high-speed, low-voltage pipelined system applications

New true-single-phase-clocking (TSPC) BiCMOS/BiNMOS/BiPMOS dynamic logic circuits and BiCMOS/BiNMOS dynamic latch logic circuits for high-speed dynamic pipelined system applications are proposed and analyzed. In the proposed circuits, the bootstrapping technique is utilized to achieve fast near-full-swing operation. The circuit performance of the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications are simulated by using HSPICE with 1 μm BiCMOS technology. Simulation results have shown that the new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits in both domino and pipelined applications have better speed performance than that of CMOS and other BiCMOS dynamic logic circuits as the supply voltage is scaled down to 2 V. The operating frequency and power dissipation/MHz of the pipelined system, which is constructed by the new clock-high-evaluate-BiCMOS dynamic latch logic circuit and clock-low-evaluate-BiCMOS (BiNMOS) dynamic latch logic circuit, and the logic units with two stacked MOS transistors, are about 2.36 (2.2) times and 1.15 (1.1) times those of the CMOS TSPC dynamic logic under 1.5-pF output loading at 2 V, respectively. Moreover, the chip area of these two BiCMOS pipelined systems is about 1.9 times and 1.7 times as compared with that of the CMOS TSPC pipelined system. A two-input dynamic AND gate fabricated with 1 μm BiCMOS technology verifies the speed advantage of the new BiNMOS dynamic logic circuit. Due to the excellent circuit performance in high-speed, low-voltage operation, the proposed new dynamic logic circuits and dynamic latch logic circuits are feasible for high-speed, low-voltage dynamic pipelined system applications     

Excess noise as an indicator of digital integrated circuit reliability

Excess noise measurements have been performed on CMOS logic integrated circuits. The noise has been observed in the power supply leakage current with no gates switching and in the dynamic power supply current when gates are switched. The presence and size of the noise has been shown to be a sensitive indicator of the quality and hence reliability of the device.     

三值双传输管电路的通用综合方法

提出采用双传管逻辑设计三值电路的方法,对每个MOS管的逻辑功能均采用传输运算予以表示以实现有效综合.建立了三值双传输管电路的反演法则和对偶法则.新提出的三值双传输管逻辑电路具有完全基于标准CMOS工艺,无需对MOS管作任何阈值调整,结构简单、规则,输入信号负载对称性好,逻辑摆幅完整以及无直流功耗等特点.采用TSMC 0.25μm工艺参数和最高电压为3V的HSPICE模拟结果验证了所提出综合方法的正确性.     

基于RTD与CMOS的新型数字电路设计

纳米电子器件RTD与CMOS电路结合,这种新型电路不仅保持了CMOS动态电路的所有优点,而且在工作速度、功耗、集成度以及电路噪声免疫性方面都得到了不同程度的改善和提高。文中对数字电路中比较典型的可编程逻辑门、全加器电路进行了设计与模拟,并在此基础上对4×4阵列纳米流水线乘法器进行了结构设计。同时讨论了在目前硅基RTD器件较低的PVCR值情况下实现相应电路的可行性。     

Resonant-tunneling diode and HEMT logic circuits with multiplethresholds and multilevel output

By using resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), we implement a new class of logic circuits that operate with multiple thresholds and multilevel output. The basic idea of the circuits is to synthesize transfer characteristics by key logic elements, namely, up and down literals. We first describe two fundamental logic circuits based on this idea: a ternary inverter and a literal gate. Then we present experimental results on these circuits fabricated by integrating InP-based RTDs and HEMTs. It is found that these circuits operate successfully with threshold voltages and output levels that have been predicted from individual device characteristics. Consequently, the validity of the basic idea behind the circuits presented here is proven. The device counts and the number of logic stages required for the present circuits are less than half those for conventional ones. A possible application is finally discussed     

Design and evaluation of a bipolar tri-state logic family

A three-valued bipolar logic family utilizing the two conventional TTL logic states plus the high impedance state is described. The functions realized permit the use of existing synthesis algorithms. The noise immunity for such circuits is defined and calculated. A comparison of circuit complexity between the three-valued family and binary TTL is made for three- and two-valued functions with approximately the same number of possible inputs.     

Thickness limitations of SiO2 gate dielectrics for MOSULSI

The impact of gate leakage current on MOSFET performance is examined and limits on gate oxide thickness for static and dynamic logic are determined. Leakage current has been found to be a greater problem for static logic than for dynamic logic circuits. Gate leakage current limits the minimum oxide thickness to approximately 2 nm for static logic configurations, and to approximately 3 nm in dynamic logic circuits. A poor drain design can become a limiting factor for dynamic logic circuits and raise the minimum oxide thickness required. Switching delay of static logic is relatively immune to the effects of leakage current. A MISFET with a 2.6 nm thick gate insulator of Si₃N ₄ has been fabricated showing typical drain current characteristics, but with a large amount of gate leakage current     

SET and noise fault tolerant circuit design techniques: Application to 7 nm FinFET

In the near future of high component density and low-power technologies, soft errors occurring not only in memory systems and latches but also in the combinational parts of logic circuits will seriously affect the reliable operation of integrated circuits. This paper presents a novel design style which reduces the impact of radiation-induced single event transients (SET) on logic circuits, and enhances the robustness in noisy environments. The independent design style of this method achieves SET mitigation and noise immunity by strengthening the sensitive nodes using a technique similar to feedback. A realization for this methodology is presented in 7 nm FinFET and in order to check the accuracy of our proposal, we compare it with others techniques for hardening radiation at the transistor level against a single event transient. Simulation results show that the proposed method has a good soft error tolerance capability as well as better noise immunity.     

The twin-transistor noise-tolerant dynamic circuit technique

This paper describes a new circuit technique for designing noise-tolerant dynamic logic. It is shown that voltage scaling aggravates the crosstalk noise problem and reduces circuit noise immunity, motivating the need for noise-tolerant circuit design. In a 0.35-μm CMOS technology and at a given supply voltage, the proposed technique provides an improvement in noise immunity of 1.8×(for an AND gate) and 2.5×(for an adder carry chain) over domino at the same speed. A multiply-accumulate circuit has been designed and fabricated using a 0.35-μm process to verify this technique. Experimental results indicate that the proposed technique provides a significant improvement in the noise immunity of dynamic circuits (>2.4x) with only a modest increase in power dissipation (15%) and no loss in throughput     

Charge recycling differential logic (CRDL) for low powerapplication

A novel logic family, called charge recycling differential logic (CRDL), has been proposed and analyzed. CRDL reduces power consumption by utilizing a charge recycling technique with the speed comparable to those of conventional dynamic logic circuits. It has an additional benefit of improved noise margin due to inherently static operation. The noise margin problem of true single-phase-clock latch (TSPC) is also eliminated when a CRDL logic circuit is connected to it. Two swing-suppressed-input latches (SSILs), which are introduced for use with CRDL, have better performance than the conventional transmission gate latch. Moreover, a pipeline configuration with CRDL in a true two-phase clocking scheme shows completely race-free operation with no constraints on logic composition. Eight-bit Manchester carry chains and full adders were fabricated using a 0.8 μm single-poly double-metal n-well CMOS technology to verify the relative performance of the proposed logic family. The measurement results indicate that about 16-48% improvements in power-delay product are obtained compared with differential cascode voltage switch (DCVS) logic     

Power-Supply and Substrate-Noise-Induced Timing Jitter in Nonoverlapping Clock Generation Circuits

This paper describes a study of power-supply noise and substrate noise impact on the timing properties of two nonoverlapping clock generation circuits that are typically used in sigma-delta modulators. The constituent logic blocks of the clock generation circuits are also individually characterized where special attention has been put on the inverter whose behavior is fully described in mathematical terms. The analytical model is verified with SPICE using 0.35-mum CMOS process parameters, and a reference simulation in 0.18 mum is also presented showing the trend of technology downscaling. Furthermore, the nonoverlapping clock generation circuits are characterized in the 0.18-mum process and the phenomenon of jitter peaking is described. Finally, all variations of connection configurations in the clock generation circuits are explored to reveal possible optimal configurations.     

High performance low power CMOS dynamic logic for arithmetic circuits

This paper presents the design of high performance and low power arithmetic circuits using a new CMOS dynamic logic family, and analyzes its sensitivity against technology parameters for practical applications. The proposed dynamic logic family allows for a partial evaluation in a computational block before its input signals are valid, and quickly performs a final evaluation as soon as the inputs arrive. The proposed dynamic logic family is well suited to arithmetic circuits where the critical path is made of a large cascade of inverting gates. Furthermore, circuits based on the proposed concept perform better in high fanout and high switching frequencies due to both lower delay and dynamic power consumption. Experimental results, for practical circuits, demonstrate that low power feature of the propose dynamic logic provides for smaller propagation time delay (3.5 times), lower energy consumption (55%), and similar combined delay, power consumption and active area product (only 8% higher), while exhibiting lower sensitivity to power supply, temperature, capacitive load and process variations than the dynamic domino CMOS technologies.