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Introduction. Manufacturing Processes. Transistor Characteristics.

Since FPGAs are standard parts we have no control over the detailed design of the chips.

However, many aspects of VLSI design do determine the characteristics of the FPGA and how we must use it to implement our logic.

Silicon a semiconductor, forms the starting material.

MOS (Metal Oxide Silicon) structure created by superimposing several layers of conducting, insulating, and transistor forming materials.

IC built on silicon substrate:

some structures diffused into substrate; other structures built on top of substrate.

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The key figure of merit for fabrication process is the size of the smallest transistor. - fabrication technologies are usually identified by their min: transistor length. - a process which can produce a transistor with a 0.13 m min: channel length is called a 0.13 m process. Substrate regions are doped with n-type and p-type impurities. (n+ = heavily doped). Wires made of polycrystalline silicon (poly) or metals insulated from the substrate by Silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is an insulator. The n-type and p-type regions and the polysilicon can be used to make wires as well as transistors. But metal (either copper or a aluminum) is the primary material for wiring together transistors because of its superior electrical properties. There may be multiple layers of aluminum/copper wires to create all necessary connections.

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Forming Tubs Adding Oxide and Polysilicon Diffusing source/drain regions Adding Metals Passivation Layer

During transistor operation we use the gate voltage to modulate the current through the channel.

An ideal transistor would act as a switch, but realistic transistors have more complex characteristics that we can be understand by looking at the structure of the transistor.

n-type transistor

Fig: shows the cross-section of an n-type MOS transistor.

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It is embedded in a p-type substrate. Formed at the intersection of an n-type diffusion region and a polysilicon wire.

The region at the intersection, called the channel, is where the transistor action takes place.

The channel connects to the two n-type wires which form the source and drain, but is itself doped to be p-type.

The insulating silicon dioxide at the channel (called the gate oxide) is much thinner than it is away from the channel (called the field oxide).

Having a thin oxide at the channel is critical to the successful operation of the transistor.

Gate-to-source voltage modulates the amount of current that can flow between the source and drain. When the gate voltage (Vgs) is zero, no current can flow from the source to the drain. As Vgs rises above zero, current flows between the source and drain. While the channel region contains predominantly p-type carriers, it has also have some minority carriers. The positive voltage on the gate attracts the electrons, they collect at the top of the channel . At the critical voltage called the threshold voltage (Vt) , enough electrons have collected at the channel boundary to form an inversion layer, a layer of electrons dense enough to conduct current between the source and drain.

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The size of the channel region is labeled relative to the direction of current flow. The channel length (L) is along the direction of current flow between the source and drain, while the width (W) is perpendicular to current flow. The amount of current flow is a function of the W/Lratio. P-type transistors have identical structures but complementary materials. P-type conducts by forming an inversion region of holes in the ntype channel, therefore the gate-to-source voltage must be negative for the transistor to conduct current.

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N-type: If gate is 0the source is disconnected from the drain and if gate is 1, source is connected to the drain P-type: If gate is 0the source is connected to the drain and if gate is 1, source is disconnected from the drain. It works like a switch. Depends on the voltage applied at the Gate N-type 0on Gate makes it open and 1closes P-type 1on Gate makes it open and 0closes open state is a high impedance state.

The behavior of both n-type and p-type transistors is described by two equations and two physical constants, the sign of one of constants distinguishes the two types of transistors. The variables that describe a transistors behavior are: - Vgs : the gate-to-source voltage; - Vds : the drain-to-source voltage; - Id : the current flowing between the drain and source. The constants that determine the magnitude of source-to-drain current in the transistor are: - Vt : the transistor threshold voltage, which is positive for an ntype transistor and negative for a p-type transistor; - k : the transistor transconductance, which is positive for both types of transistors; -W/L : the width-to-length ratio of the transistor.

The equations that govern the transistors behavior are traditionally written to show the drain current as a function of the other parameters. For an n-type transistor, we have: Linear region (Vds < Vgs - Vt):
Id = k (W/L)(Vgs - Vt)(Vds - 0.5 Vds2)

Saturation region (Vds >= Vgs - Vt):

Id = 0.5k (W/L)(Vgs - Vt) 2  For a p-type transistor, the drain current is negative and the device is on Vgs is the below the devices negative threshold voltage.

Fig: plots the equations over some typical values for an n-type device. Each curve shows the transistor current as Vgs is held constant and Vds is swept from 0V to a large voltage.

Typical parameters:
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n-type:
kn = 13 QA/V2 Vtn = 0.14 V

p-type:
kp = 7 QA/V2 Vtp = -0.21 V

A minimum-size transistor has a channel with aspect ratio of L=2 and W=3. Given this size of transistor and the 90 nm transistor characteristics. Find the current through a minimum-sized n-type transistor when the gate is at the low voltage (1) Vgs =0.25V and (2) Vgs =1.0V. Solution Use 90 nm parameters. Let W/L = 3/2. The current through a minimum-sized transistor at the boundary between the linear and saturation region when the gate is at the low voltage Vgs = 0.25V would be :
Id = 0.5k(W/L)(Vgs-Vt)2= 0.12 QA The saturation current when the n-type transistors gate is connected to Vgs = 1V would be: Id = 7.2 QA

Assume the value k= QA/V2 , W/L= 2 Vgs=5v and Vt=1V. If Vds=2.5v then find the current in the transistor? ` If Vds=5v, then find current in transistor?
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Submission Date: 30

th

Jan, 2012