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     

On the SiO2-based gate-dielectric scaling limit forlow-standby power applications in the context of a 0.13 μm CMOS logictechnology

This paper describes a leading-edge 0.13 μm low-leakage CMOS logic technology. To achieve competitive off-state leakage current (I _off) and gate delay (T_d) performance at operating voltages (V_cc) of 1.5 V and 1.2 V, devices with 0.11 μm nominal gate length (L_g-nom) and various gate-oxide thicknesses (T_ox) were fabricated and studied. The results show that low power and memory applications are limited to oxides not thinner than 21.4 Å in order to keep acceptable off-state power consumption at V_cc=1.2 V. Specifically, two different device designs are introduced here. One design named LP (T_ox=26 Å) is targeted for V_cc=1.5 V with worst case I_off <10 pA/μm and nominal gate delay 24 ps/gate. Another design, named LP1 (T_ox=22 Å) is targeted for V_cc =1.2 V with worst case I_off<20 pA/μm and nominal gate delay 27 ps/gate. This work demonstrates n/pMOSFETs with excellent 520/210 and 390/160 μA/μm nominal drive currents at V_cc for LP and LP1, respectively. Process capability for low-power applications is demonstrated using a CMOS 6T-SRAM with 2.43 μm² cell size. In addition, intrinsic gate-oxide TDDB tests of LP1 (T _ox=22 Å) demonstrate that gate oxide reliability far exceeding 10 years is achieved for both n/pMOSFETs at T=125°C and V _cc=1.5 V     

A high performance super self-aligned 3 V/5 V BiCMOS technologywith extremely low parasitics for low-power mixed-signal applications

A high performance BiCMOS technology, BEST2 (Bipolar Enhanced super Self-aligned Technology) designed for supporting low-power multiGHz mixed-signal applications is presented. Process modules to produce low parasitic device structures are described. The developed BiCMOS process implemented with 1 μm design rules (0.5 μm as one nesting tolerance) has achieved f_l and f_max for npn bipolar (A_e=1×2 μm²) of 23 GHz and 24 GHz at V_ce=3 V, respectively, with BV_ceo⩾5.5 volts, and βV_A product of 2400. Typical measured ECL gate delay is 48 ps/37 ps per stage (A_e=1×2 μm² ; 500 mV swing) at 0.6 mA/2.1 mA switching currents, and CMOS gate delay (gate oxide=125 Å, L_eff=0.6 μm; V_th,nch =0.45 V; V_th,pch=-0.45 V) 70 ps/stage. A BiCMOS phase-locked-loop (emitter width=1 μm; gate L_eff=0.7 μm) has achieved 6 GHz operation at 2 V power supply with total power consumption of 60 mW     

The design and characterization of nonoverlapping superself-aligned BiCMOS technology

An optimal device structure for integrating bipolar and CMOS is described. Process design and device performance are discussed. Both the vertical n-p-n and MOS devices have non-overlapping super self-aligned (NOVA) structures. The base-collector and source/drain junction capacitances are significantly reduced. This structure allows complete silicidation of active polysilicon electrodes, cutting down the parasitic resistances of source, drain, and extrinsic base. The critical gate and emitter regions are protected from direct reactive ion etching exposure and damage. All shallow junctions are contacted by polysilicon electrodes which suppress silicide-induced leakage. An arsenic buried layer minimizes collector resistance and collector-substrate capacitance. A novel selective epitaxy capping technique suppresses lateral autodoping from the arsenic buried layer. Fully recessed oxide with polysilicon buffer layer is used to achieve a low defect density device isolation. CMOS with L_eff=1.1 μm and W _n/W_p=10 μm/10 μm exhibits averaged ring oscillator delay of 128 ps/stage. An n-p-n transistor with f_T, of 14 GHz and low-power emitter-coupled logic ring oscillator with a delay of 97 ps/stage have been fabricated     

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     

Experimental high performance sub-0.1 μm channel nMOSFET's

Very high performance sub-0.1 μm channel nMOSFET's are fabricated with 35 Å gate oxide and shallow source-drain extensions. An 8.8-ps/stage delay at V_dd=1.5 V is recorded from a 0.08 μm channel nMOS ring oscillator at 85 K. The room temperature delay is 11.3 ps/stage. These are the fastest switching speeds reported to date for any silicon devices at these temperatures. Cutoff frequencies (f_T) of a 0.08 μm channel device are 93 GHz at 300 K, and 119 GHz at 85 K, respectively. Record saturation transconductances, 740 mS/mm at 300 K and 1040 mS/mm at 85 K, are obtained from a 0.05 μm channel device. Good subthreshold characteristics are achieved for 0.09 μm channel devices with a source-drain halo process     

Self-aligned control of threshold voltages in sub-0.2-μm MOSFETs

We propose a new method to control the threshold voltages (V_th) in sub-0.2 μm MOSFETs. The method suppresses V_th fluctuations caused by variations in the fabricated gate length. Our scheme is to change the concentration of the channel impurity according to the gate length by tilted ion implantation from two directions after the polysilicon gate formation. We show the feasibility of our process by two-dimensional (2-D) process and device simulations. Then we clarify that our scheme was realized in fabricated nMOSFETs. We also measured the V_th in numerous MOSFETs and show that our method can indeed suppress V_th fluctuations caused by variations in the fabricated gate length     

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     

Multigigahertz CMOS dual-modulus prescaler IC

A low-power CMOS dual-modulus (divide-by-128/129) prescaler IC is described. The IC has been fabricated with symmetric CMOS technology that optimizes simultaneously the characteristics of both the p-channel and n-channel transistors for low-power-supply-voltage operation. Two different gate oxide thicknesses of 175 and 100 Å have been used. The best prescalar fabricated with 175-Å gate oxide functions at 2.06 GHz with 25-m W power consumption (L_eff=0.5 μm; V_dd=3.5 V). Preliminary results for prescalars fabricated with 100-Å gate oxide show that 4.2-GHz operation is possible (L_eff=0.4 μm; V _dd=3.5 V). Power-supply voltage as low as 1.7 V can be used for the prescalar to function at 1 GHz with a power consumption of only 4 mW     

Threshold voltage model for deep-submicrometer fully depleted SOIMOSFET's

The threshold voltage, V_th, of fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) MOSFET with effective channel lengths down to the deep-submicrometer range has been investigated. We use a simple quasi-two-dimensional model to describe the V_th roll-off and drain voltage dependence. The shift in threshold voltage is similar to that in the bulk. However, threshold voltage roll-off in FDSOI is less than that in the bulk for the same effective channel length, as predicted by a shorter characteristic length l in FDSOI. Furthermore, ΔV_th is independent of back-gate bias in FDSOI MOSFET. The proposed model retains accuracy because it does not assume a priori charge partitioning or constant surface potential. Also it is simple in functional form and hence computationally efficient. Using our model, V _th design space for Deep-Submicrometer FDSOI MOSFET is obtained. Excellent correlation between the predicted V_th design space and previously reported two-dimensional numerical simulations using MINIMOS5 is obtained     

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)     

Choice of power-supply voltage for half-micrometer and lowersubmicrometer CMOS devices

The tradeoff between circuit performance and reliability is theoretically and experimentally examined in detail, down to half-micrometer and lower submicrometer gate lengths, taking into account high-field effects on MOSFETs. Some guidelines for optimum power-supply voltage and process/device parameters for half-micrometer and lower submicrometer CMOS devices are proposed in order to maintain MOS device reliability and achieve high circuit performance. It is shown that power-supply voltage must be reduced to maintain reliability and improved performance and that the optimum voltage reduction follows the square root of the design rule. Trends for scaling down power-supply voltage have been experimentally verified by results obtained from measurements on CMOS devices over a wide range of gate oxide thickness (7-45 nm) and gate lengths (0.3-2.0 μm)     

CMOS current steering logic for low-voltage mixed-signal integratedcircuits

A quiet logic family-complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) current steering logic (CSL)-has been developed for use in low-voltage mixed-signal integrated circuits. Compared to a CMOS static logic gate with its output range of ΔV_logic≈V_dd , a CSL gate swings only ΔV_logic≈V_T+0.25 V because the constant current supplied by the PMOS load device is steered to ground through either an NMOS diode-connected device or switching network. Owing to the constant current, digital switching noise is 100× smaller than in static logic. Another useful feature which can be used to calibrate CSL speed against process, temperature, and voltage variations is propagation delay that is approximately constant versus supply voltage and linear with bias current. Several CSL circuits have been fabricated using 0.8 and 1.2 μm high-V_T n-well CMOS processes. Two self-loaded 39-stage ring oscillators fabricated using the 1.2 μm process (1.2 V power supply) exhibited power-delay products of 12 and 70 fJ with average propagation delays of 0.4 and 0.7 ns, respectively. High-V_T and low-V_T CSL ALU's were operational at V _dd≈=0.70 V and V_dd≈0.40 V, respectively     

An 0.1-μm voidless double-deck-shaped (DDS) gate HJFET withreduced gate-fringing-capacitance

This paper describes a novel double-deck-shaped (DDS) gate technology for 0.1-μm heterojunction FETs (HJFETs) which have about half the external gate fringing capacitance (C_f^ext) of conventional T-shaped gate HJFET's. By introducing a T-shaped SiO₂-opening technique based on two-step dry-etching with W-film masks, we fabricated 0.1-μm gate-openings which were suitable for reducing the C_f^ext and filling gate-metals with voidless. The fine gate-openings are completely filled with refractory WSi/Ti/Pt/Au gate-metal by using WSi-collimated sputtering and electroless Au-plating, resulting in high performance 0.1-μm DDS gate HJFETs are fabricated. The 0.1-μm n-Al _0.2Ga_0.8As/i-In_0.15Ga_0.85As pseudomorphic DDS gate HJFETs exhibited an excellent V_th standard-deviation (σV_th) of 39 mV because dry-etching techniques were used in all etching-processes. Also, an HJFET covered with SiO₂ passivation film had very high performance with an f_T of 120 GHz and an f_max of 165 GHz, due to the low C_f^ext with the DDS gate structure. In addition, a high f_T of 151 GHz and an f_max of 186 GHz were obtained without a SiO₂ passivation film. This fabrication technology shows great promise for high-speed IC applications     

High-frequency characterization of sub-0.25-μm fully depletedsilicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

A cutoff frequency, f_T, of 85 GHz was measured on a fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) n-MOSFET with a gate length of 0.15 μm. The p-MOSFET with 0.22-μm gate length has an f_T of 42 GHz. The high-frequency equivalent circuits were derived from scattering parameters for MOSFETs with various gate lengths. The effects of gate length and other device parameters on the performance of FDSOI MOSFETs at RF are discussed     

Inverter performance of 0.10 μm CMOS operating at roomtemperature

The switching performance of 0.10 μm CMOS devices operating at room temperature has been discussed on the basis of both experimental and simulated results. The measured propagation delay time of a 0.10 μm gate length CMOS has been quantitatively divided into intrinsic and parasitic components for the first time. The results have shown that the drain junction capacitance strongly affects the propagation delay time in the present 0.10 μm CMOS. The switching performance of a 0.10 μm ground rule CMOS has been simulated by using device parameters extracted from the experimental results. In the 0.10 μm ground rule CMOS, it has been shown that an increase of the contact resistance will degrade the propagation delay time, which is one of the most essential problems in further device miniaturization. It has been also demonstrated that even if the specific contact resistance ρ_c is reduced to be less than 1×10^-7 Ω cm, further reduction of the gate overlap capacitance C_ov will be required to achieve the propagation delay time to be less than 10 ps in the 0.10 μm ground rule CMOS at room temperature     

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     

Empirically Verified Thermodynamic Model of Gate Capacitance and Threshold Voltage of Nanoelectronic MOS Devices With Applications to HfO2 and ZrO2 Gate Insulators

A thermodynamic variational model derived by minimizing the Helmholtz free energy of the MOS device is presented. The model incorporates an anisotropic permittivity tensor and accommodates a correction for quantum-mechanical charge confinement at the dielectric/substrate interface. The energy associated with the fringe field that is adjacent to the oxide is of critical importance in the behavior of small devices. This feature is explicitly included in our model. The model is verified using empirical and technology-computer-aided-design-generated capacitance-voltage data obtained on MOS devices with ZrO₂, HfO₂, and SiO₂ gate insulators. The model includes considerations for an interfacial low-k interface layer between the silicon substrate and the high-k dielectric. This consideration enables the estimation of the equivalent oxide thickness. The significance of sidewall capacitance effects is apparent in our modeling of the threshold voltage (V_th) for MOS capacitors with effective channel length at 30 nm and below. In these devices, a variation in high-k permittivity produces large differences in V_th. This effect is also observed in the variance of V_th, due to dopant fluctuation under the gate.     

Accurate statistical process variation analysis for 0.25-μm CMOSwith advanced TCAD methodology

Effects of statistical process variation on the 0.25-μm CMOS performance have been accurately characterized by using a new calibrated TCAD methodology. To conduct the variation analysis, a series of TCAD simulations was conducted on the basis of DoE (design of experiments) with optimum variable transformations, which resulted in RSF's (response surface functions) for threshold voltage (V_th) and saturation drain current (I_ds). A new global calibration of the RSF model based on experimental data gives excellent accuracy within 0.02 V error in V_th and 3% error in I_ds. Using calibrated RSF, statistical process variation effects on the device characteristics have been quantitatively evaluated for each process recipe. It is found that variation of the gate-oxide formation process shows the most significant effect on the NMOS ΔI_ds in the production process. Furthermore we have designed an optimized 0.25-μm CMOS process and device on the basis of the RSF and also predicted the process variation effects on the device performance. It is shown that the V_th and I_ds variations of the 0.25-μm CMOS exhibit less than 10% I_ds variation in the production level process, which is similar to the value of 0.35-μm CMOS experimental data. Additional TCAD simulations for MOS model parameter generation of the 0.25-μm device was also conducted to allow circuit-designers to use predictive worst case circuit design parameters before experimental chip fabrication     

Physically-based threshold voltage determination for MOSFET's ofall gate lengths

A reliable method to determine the threshold voltage V_th for MOSFETs with gate length down to the sub-0.1 μm region is proposed. The method determines V_th by linear extrapolation of the transconductance g_m to zero and is therefore named “GMLE method”. To understand the physical meaning of the method and to prove its reliability for different technologies 2-D simulation was applied. The results reveal that determined V_th values always meet the threshold condition, i.e., the onset of inversion layer buildup