978-1-4244-1882-4/08/$25.

00 2008 IEEE
PROC. 26th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MICROELECTRONICS (MIEL 2008), NI, SERBIA , 11-14 MAY, 2008
EKV MOSFET Model Implementation in Matlab and
Verilog-A
G. Angelov, I. Panayotov, M. Hristov
Abstract The present paper presents a straightforward yet
effective approach to implementing a MOS transistor compact
model (EKV v.2.6) in two different environments Matlab and
Verilog-A. This is useful for circuit-level design purposes
enabling the designer to manipulate open-source models having
direct access to model equation sets and program structure. EKV
v.2.6 is selected for its simple model core and efficiency in
describing device behaviors. A comparison of the simulation
results between the two model implementations as well as a
comparison to a reference model (BSIM3v3) has been illustrated
in details.
I. INTRODUCTION
The compact MOS transistor (MOST) model is at the
core of circuit-level design of CMOS analog and radio
frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) enabling the designer
to efficiently achieve design goals. Accurate device
modeling is at the core of correct design and analysis of
electronic circuits especially the analog ones. With CMOS
technologies passed the sub-100 nm dimensions the
demand for robust, consistent, physics-based, flexible, and
full-featured compact models has increased. And the
availability of such compact models has become critical to
the successful utilization of any circuit simulation tool.
Traditionally, MOST device models that are built-in
circuit simulators have been developed using general-
purpose programming languages like C, C++, or Fortran.
Thus, they are targeted specifically to the interface and
internal data structures of their host simulator, and hence
are inherently non-portable. Facilities for adding custom
open models or user-defined models have been made
available in some simulation environments, but such
interfaces have typically been non-standard, non-portable,
and inefficient. Under these conditions, modification/
optimization of a model or new model creation was thus a
time-consuming and error-prone task.
II. CONTEXT OF THE WORK
A prospective comprehensive solution to the
aforementioned gap between analog model development
and its deployment could be the implementation of the
models in analog HDLs such as Verilog-A/AMS. Initially
conceived as a general-purpose analog modeling language,
Verilog-A has over the past several years become
increasingly viewed as a leading candidate for new
compact model development [1]. The recent rise in interest
for Verilog-A based compact model development has
resulted in compiled solutions becoming available, with an
ongoing emphasis on improved simulation performance.
On the other hand, the general-purpose mathematical
package Matlab is widely used in modeling various objects
in engineering, mathematics, etc and in particular in
transistor modeling. The high speed of simulation within
Matlab is essential to the optimization process. It is suitable
as platform to modify or optimize modeling structure and
thus is capable of leading to real benefits to both device
simulation and circuit design.
The use of standardized, special-purpose analog HDLs
such as Verilog-A and/or the general-purpose
computational platforms such as Matlab allows device
modelers and circuit designers to focus on their area of
expertise, rather than on the underlying simulator-specific
implementation details. This means that a model developer
can focus on model behavior, and let the underlying
implementation automatically take care of the simulator-
specific details (such as matrix stamping and loading,
analysis-specific data structures, symbolic derivative
computation, etc.). The device modeling engineer is thus
shielded from the idiosyncrasies and complexities of the
various device interfaces in existence today.
Furthermore, both environments Matlab and
Verilog-A offer direct access to their code and thus
enable the designer to benefit the open source code
structure. The open source model codes allow direct access
to model equations and parameters which is essential to
model power users and model developers.
In this context EKV v2.6 MOST model is quite
suitable as an implementation example in Matlab and
Verilog-A as it provides accurate modeling with a small set
of parameters. In Matlab the model could be tuned to best
conform to a specific design need. Next, formulating the
model in Verilog-A language enables its use in a CAD tool
such as Cadence design framework as a standard cell. Thus
the designer accesses model parameters directly within
Cadence interface rather than modifying the model code
itself. Besides, EKV model is developed to explicitly
address many issues in modeling for submicron CMOS
technologies and low-power low-voltage analog circuits
[2].
G. Angelov, I. Panayotov, and M. Hristov are with the Dept. of
Microelectronics, Faculty of Electronic Engineering and
Technology, Technical University of Sofia, 8 Kl. Ohridski, 1797
Sofia, Bulgaria, E-mail: gva@ecad.tu-sofia.bg
BSIM3v3, being most comprehensive in describing
device behaviors, is used as a reference for verification
purposes. For circuit design purposes we have generated a
cellview, which makes the Verilog-A EKV model
applicable to the standard Cadence design flow.
III. BRIEF EKVMODEL FORMULATION
A primary concern for advanced MOST models is
their physical basis. The charge-based model approach
taken within the EKV model is itself based on a surface-
potential analysis. The basic charge modeling approach [3],
[4] allows physically consistent and accurate modeling of
current, terminal charges and noise, without introducing
artificial parameters besides the physical parameters of
surface potential modeling. For many circuit applications,
even at RF frequencies, operation in weak and particularly
moderate inversion may offer a favorable trade-off among
power consumption, linearity, matching, noise, and
bandwidth. The charge-based approach offers suitable
expressions for hand calculation, which a surface-potential
only model cannot offer.
EKV v2.6 model is described in detail in the
literature [3], [5]. In EKV the gate, source and drain
voltages, V
G
, V
S
and V
D
, are referred to the substrate in
order to preserve the intrinsic symmetry of the device.
Besides EKV proceeds from the pinch-off voltage V
P
(rather than the threshold voltage V
Th
). The EKV model is
based on the charge-sheet linearization approach with the
with the following essential characteristics: 1) Symmetric
handling of source/drain effects combined with substrate
reference, 2) Coherent charge-based modeling of static
large-signal and dynamic small signal aspects including
non-quasistatic aspects, as well as noise, 3) Analytical,
continuous, physically correct description of weak,
moderate and strong inversion and linear/saturation
operation.
Below we briefly provide the main equations and
quantities of the model. The drain current I
D
, is expressed
as
I
D
= I
F
I
R
(1)
where I
F
is the forward component of the current
(independent of V
D
) and I
R
is the reverse component of the
current (independent of V
S
). The currents (forward I
F
, and
reverse I
R
) are obtained by integrating the inversion charge
along the channel:
2
) (
) (
2
exp 1 ln

(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
t
D S P
S R F
U
V V
I I (2)
with the thermodynamic voltage U
t
= kT/q (0.026 V at
300 K) and
2
2
t S
U n I | specific current (3)
( )
eff eff ox
L W C' = | transfer parameter (4)
t P
U PHI V
n
4 2
GAMMA
1
+ +
+ = slope factor (5)
The gate-, source- and drain transconductances are
defined as,
G
D
mg
V
I
g
c
c
,
S
D
ms
V
I
g
c
c
,
D
D
md
V
I
g
c
c
(6)
where V
G
, V
S
, and V
D
are the respective voltages referred to
the substrate.
IV. RESULTS
In particular, we simulate N-channel MOS transistors
with respective channel length L and width W to obtain
output, transfer, and transconductance characteristics.
Fig. 1. Output characteristics simulated in Matlab with EKV v2.6
model for 0.0 V < V
G
< 3.0 V.
Fig. 2. Output characteristics simulated with BSIM3v3 and EKV
v2.6 models for 0.5 V < V
G
< 0.9 V.
Based on the Matlab implementation of the EKV
v2.6 model from [6] we have adapted it for this particular
investigation (in Fig.1 we show, for example, the output
characteristic of the EKV model); the same approach
applies to the BSIM3v3 model. Afterwards we have
rewritten Matlab code in Verilog-A. A standard cell in
Cadence Design Framework has been created from the
Verilog-A module, ready for circuit design purposes.
Verilog-A implementations are carried out using
Verilog-A version 2.1 and not using the new Verilog-AMS
2.2 standard (the new version supports additional operators
for compact modeling, e.g. ddx, that would have ease
model development). This is due to the fact that our
simulator does not support the enhanced features of the
language.
In the Figures 2-4 we show the simulated output and
transfer characteristics obtained by the BSIM3v3 and EKV
v2.6 Verilog-A implementations. The results show quite
good agreement to each other. We have split the output
characteristic in two (for 0.5 V < V
G
< 0.9 V and 1.0 V <
V
G
< 3.0 V) to ensure better readability of the plots.
Fig. 3. Output characteristics simulated with BSIM3v3 and EKV
v2.6 models for 1.0 V < V
G
< 3.0 V.
Fig. 4. Transfer characteristics simulated with BSIM3v3 and EKV
v2.6 models for 0.0 V < V
D
< 3.3 V.
In Figure 5 we have derived the transconductance
using the embedded deriv function in Cadence Spectre
here the match is very good as well.
Fig. 5. Transconductance g
mg
characteristics simulated with
BSIM3v3 and EKV v2.6 models.
V. CONCLUSION
To overcome the gap between model development and
model implementation we suggest the following simple
approach. First to use a general purpose program
environment (Matlab) for modifying/adapting a compact
model and next to code it in a HDL to make it ready-for-
use in standard simulation tools like Cadence Design
Environment. In this context we implement the well known
EKV 2.6 model in Matlab, as a representative of C-like
language, which is widely available, full-featured
mathematical platform and on the other hand Verilog-A
as a representative of HDLs, that are gaining popularity as
a means for implementation of compact models.
We have chosen EKV for its simplicity from
mathematical point of view, and Matlab as widely adopted
as computational platform.
Following the approach we can first use Matlab to test
and tune the model and then to transform it into Verilog-A
to make it available for use in circuit simulations. Verilog-
A implementations are performed using Verilog-A version
2.1 and not the latest version 2.2 which extends the support
for compact modeling.
The results obtained demonstrate the validity of the
suggested open model implementation into an industrial
CAD tool. Verilog-A code makes the model tool-
independent the same code can be used in every
simulator that supports the language. The fast and accurate
simulations with comparable accuracy to commercial
simulator models show the practical applicability of the
method to optimization process. The main advantage is the
method offers open source modeling and enables designers
to directly access model equations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The present work is carried out within the framework
of the Project BY-TH-115/2005.
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