CMOS VLSI Design Introduction ll materials are from the textbook Weste and Harris, 3 rd Edition CMOS VLSI DESIGN Introduction Chapter previews the entire field, subsequent chapters elaborate on specific topics Integrated circuits: many transistors on one chip. Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI): very many Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Fast, cheap, low power transistors Today: How to build your own simple CMOS chip CMOS transistors Building logic gates from transistors Transistor layout and fabrication Rest of the course: How to build a good CMOS chip Slide 2
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Slide 5 licon Lattice Transistors are built on a silicon substrate licon is a Group IV material Forms crystal lattice with bonds to four neighbors Slide 6 3
Dopants licon is a semiconductor Pure silicon has no free carriers and conducts poorly dding dopants increases the conductivity Group V: extra electron (n-type) Group III: missing electron, called hole (p-type) - + + s - B Slide 7 p-n Junctions junction between p-type and n-type semiconductor forms a diode. Current flows only in one direction p-type n-type anode cathode Slide 8 4
nmos Transistor Four terminals: gate, source, drain, body Gate oxide body stack looks like a capacitor Gate and body are conductors O 2 (oxide) is a very good insulator Called metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitor Source Gate Drain Even though gate is no longer made of metal Polysilicon O 2 n+ n+ p bulk Slide 9 nmos Operation Body is commonly tied to ground ( V) When the gate is at a low voltage: P-type body is at low voltage Source-body and drain-body diodes are OFF No current flows, transistor is OFF Source Gate Drain Polysilicon O 2 n+ p n+ bulk S D Slide 5
nmos Operation Cont. When the gate is at a high voltage: Positive charge on gate of MOS capacitor Negative charge attracted to body Inverts a channel under gate to n-type Now current can flow through n-type silicon from source through channel to drain, transistor is ON Source Gate Drain Polysilicon O 2 n+ p n+ bulk S D Slide pmos Transistor milar, but doping and voltages reversed Body tied to high voltage (V DD ) Gate low: transistor ON Gate high: transistor OFF Bubble indicates inverted behavior Polysilicon O 2 Source Gate Drain p+ p+ n bulk Slide 2 6
Slide 3 Power Supply Voltage GND = V In 98 s, V DD = 5V V DD has decreased in modern processes High V DD would damage modern tiny transistors Lower V DD saves power V DD = 3.3, 2.5,.8,.5,.2,., Slide 4 7
Transistors as Switches We can view MOS transistors as electrically controlled switches Voltage at gate controls path from source to drain g = g = nmos g d d OFF d ON s s s pmos g d s d s ON d s OFF Slide 5 Slide 6 8
CMOS Inverter V DD GND Slide 7 CMOS Inverter V DD OFF = = ON GND Slide 8 9
CMOS Inverter V DD ON = = OFF GND Slide 9 CMOS NND Gate B B Slide 2
CMOS NND Gate B = ON ON = OFF B= OFF Slide 2 CMOS NND Gate B = OFF ON = OFF B= ON Slide 22
CMOS NND Gate B = ON OFF = ON B= OFF Slide 23 CMOS NND Gate B = OFF OFF = ON B= ON Slide 24 2
CMOS NOR Gate B B Slide 25 3-input NND Gate pulls low if LL inputs are pulls high if N input is Slide 26 3
3-input NND Gate pulls low if LL inputs are pulls high if N input is B C Slide 27 3-input NOR Gate Slide 28 4
Slide 29 Pass Transistor Slide 3 5
Transmission Gate Slide 3 Why is it a bad design? Slide 32 6
Tristates EN =, = Z EN =, = Slide 33 Slide 34 7
What is the logic function of? = D S + D S Slide 35 Slide 36 8
D Latch D latch using one 2-input multiplexer and two inverters When CLK =, the latch is transparent, Q = D When CLK =, the latch is opaque, Q is unchanged Slide 37 D Latch D latch using two transmission gates and two inverters Slide 38 9
Positive edge triggered D flip flop master slave When CLK is low, QM follows D, (master samples the input D.) When CLK is high, Q = QM, now QM holds the D value. Slide 39 Positive edge triggered D flip flop Slide 4 2
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Clock skew problems will not occur as long as the phases do not overlap. Slide 43 CMOS Fabrication CMOS transistors are fabricated on silicon wafer Lithography process similar to printing press On each step, different materials are deposited or etched Easiest to understand by viewing both top and cross-section of wafer in a simplified manufacturing process Slide 44 22
Inverter Cross-section Typically use p-type substrate for nmos transistors Requires n-well for body of pmos transistors GND V DD O 2 n+ diffusion n+ n+ p+ n well p+ p+ diffusion polysilicon metal nmos transistor pmos transistor Slide 45 Well and Substrate Taps Substrate must be tied to GND and n-well to V DD Metal to lightly-doped semiconductor forms poor connection called Shottky Diode Use heavily doped well and substrate contacts / taps GND V DD p+ n+ n+ p+ p+ n+ n well substrate tap well tap Slide 46 23
Inverter Mask Set Transistors and wires are defined by masks Cross-section taken along dashed line GND V DD substrate tap nmos transistor pmos transistor well tap Slide 47 Detailed Mask Views x masks n-well Polysilicon n+ diffusion p+ diffusion Contact n well Polysilicon n+ Diffusion p+ Diffusion Contact Metal Metal Slide 48 24
Fabrication Steps Start with blank wafer Build inverter from the bottom up First step will be to form the n-well Cover wafer with protective layer of O 2 (oxide) Remove layer where n-well should be built Implant or diffuse n dopants into exposed wafer Strip off O 2 Slide 49 Oxidation Grow O 2 on top of wafer 9 2 C with H 2 O or O 2 in oxidation furnace O 2 Slide 5 25
Photoresist Spin on photoresist Photoresist is a light-sensitive organic polymer Softens where exposed to light Photoresist O 2 Slide 5 Lithography Expose photoresist through n-well mask Strip off exposed photoresist Photoresist O 2 Slide 52 26
Etch Etch oxide with hydrofluoric acid (HF) Seeps through skin and eats bone; nasty stuff!!! Only attacks oxide where resist has been exposed Photoresist O 2 Slide 53 Strip Photoresist Strip off remaining photoresist Use mixture of acids called piranah etch Necessary so resist doesn t melt in next step O 2 Slide 54 27
n-well n-well is formed with diffusion or ion implantation Diffusion Place wafer in furnace with arsenic gas Heat until s atoms diffuse into exposed Ion Implanatation Blast wafer with beam of s ions Ions blocked by O 2, only enter exposed O 2 n well Slide 55 Strip Oxide Strip off the remaining oxide using HF Back to bare wafer with n-well Subsequent steps involve similar series of steps n well Slide 56 28
Polysilicon Deposit very thin layer of gate oxide < 2 Å (6-7 atomic layers) Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of silicon layer Place wafer in furnace with lane gas (H 4 ) Forms many small crystals called polysilicon Heavily doped to be good conductor Polysilicon Thin gate oxide n well Slide 57 Polysilicon Patterning Use same lithography process to pattern polysilicon Polysilicon Polysilicon Thin gate oxide n well Slide 58 29
Self-ligned Process Use oxide and masking to expose where n+ dopants should be diffused or implanted N-diffusion forms nmos source, drain, and n-well contact n well Slide 59 N-diffusion Pattern oxide and form n+ regions Self-aligned process where gate blocks diffusion Polysilicon is better than metal for self-aligned gates because it doesn t melt during later processing n+ Diffusion n well Slide 6 3
N-diffusion cont. Historically dopants were diffused Usually ion implantation today But regions are still called diffusion n+ n+ n+ n well Slide 6 N-diffusion cont. Strip off oxide to complete patterning step n+ n+ n+ n well Slide 62 3
P-Diffusion milar set of steps form p+ diffusion regions for pmos source and drain and substrate contact p+ Diffusion p+ n+ n+ p+ p+ n+ n well Slide 63 Contacts Now we need to wire together the devices Cover chip with thick field oxide Etch oxide where contact cuts are needed Contact p+ n+ n+ p+ p+ n+ n well Thick field oxide Slide 64 32
Metalization Sputter on aluminum over whole wafer Pattern to remove excess metal, leaving wires Metal p+ n+ n+ p+ p+ n+ Metal Thick field oxide n well Slide 65 Layout Chips are specified with set of masks Minimum dimensions of masks determine transistor size (and hence speed, cost, and power) Feature size f = distance between source and drain Set by minimum width of polysilicon Feature size improves 3% every 3 years or so Normalize for feature size when describing design rules Express rules in terms of λ = f/2 E.g. λ =.3 μm in.6 μm process Slide 66 33
mplified Design Rules Conservative rules to get you started Slide 67 Inverter Layout Transistor dimensions specified as Width / Length Minimum size is 4λ / 2λ, sometimes called unit In f =.6 μm process, this is.2 μm wide,.6 μm long Slide 68 34
Summary MOS Transistors are stack of gate, oxide, silicon Can be viewed as electrically controlled switches Build logic gates out of switches Draw masks to specify layout of transistors Now you know everything necessary to start designing schematics and layout for a simple chip! Slide 69 Homework # due: September 4 class time No late homework accepted Chapter Exercises.,.3,.4,.6,.7 Slide 7 35