Advanced Deep Sub-micron Technologies Research Articles

Examining the role of tap cell in suppressing single event transient effect in 28-nm CMOS technology

The Single Event Transient (SET) phenomenon, which occurs in combinational circuits, has emerged as the primary source of soft errors in Integrated Circuits (IC) in advanced deep-submicron technologies. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the underlying mechanisms of SET effects in order to gain valuable insights for mitigating SET in combinational circuits. In advanced technologies, specifically those at the 28-nm and below, tap cells are commonly utilized as the well and substrate contact to achieve higher device density. This article presents a comprehensive study on the impact of tap cells on SET sensitivity for the first time. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the SET sensitivity of conventional and tap cell-based well and substrate contact.

Impact of Strained-Si PMOS Transistors on SRAM Soft Error Rates

For advanced deep sub-micron technology nodes, the use of strained-Si is fast becoming the norm. The experimental Soft Error Rate (SER) of 40 nm technology triple-well SRAMs that incorporate strained-Si PMOS transistors are compared with the SER for 90 nm, 65 nm and 45 nm triple-well bulk CMOS SRAMs fabricated without strain. Results indicate that the total SER decreases by approximately 50% with strain. Most importantly, however, the Multiple-Cell Upset (MCU) Rate decreases significantly. The factors that result in improved SER for strained SRAMs are investigated.

CTBV Integrated Impulse Radio Design for Biomedical Applications

Improving quality of service in wireless communication links is of vital importance in biomedical applications. Limitations of current technology are evident with a limited number of channels and prone to fading. In this paper, we are exploring impulse radio as a feasible technology for health monitoring and even as novel detached sensors. By exploring advanced deep submicron technology and novel architectures, improved quality of service may be granted. Additional interesting biomedical functionality of the impulse radio is detached body sensors (short-range medical radar).

Impact of advanced processing modules on the low-frequency noise performance of deep-submicron CMOS technologies

Fundamental studies related to the low-frequency (LF) noise performance in semiconductors started more than 40 years ago. In 1957, McWhorter published the first model for the 1/ f noise in semiconductors, which is still in use. Whereas for many decades LF noise studies were mainly of fundamental and theoretical interests, in recent years, LF noise characterisation has become a very valuable diagnostic technique for the development of semiconductor materials and devices. Especially, the use of noise characterisation as a tool for reliability predictions has triggered the semiconductor engineering society. Not only the silicon starting material, but also many of the used process modules have a strong impact on the noise performance. This trend is becoming even more pronounced for the advanced deep-submicron technologies. For analog applications of scaled technologies, LF noise may even act as a showstopper. This review, therefore, focuses on the impact of advanced processing on the low-frequency noise behaviour. Both front- and back-end process modules are discussed.