Introduction to CMOS VLSI Design

Logic Delay
Peter Kogge Joseph Nahas
University of Notre Dame Fall 2010 Modified and rearranged from original 2008 slides by Jay Brockman Based on lecture slides by David Harris, Harvey Mudd College http://www.cmosvlsi.com/coursematerials.html
CMOS VLSI Design

Outline for Today

Capacitance Effective Resistance RC Delay Inverter Delay The Elmore Model Effect of Load Capacitance

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 2

CMOS R and C
Gate Capacitance

Source/Drain Capacitance

Channel On-Resistance

Interconnect Capacitance and Resistance

Req

A A
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 3

Capacitance
Any two conductors separated by an insulator have capacitance Gate to channel capacitor is very important Creates channel charge necessary for operation Source and drain have capacitance to body Across reverse-biased diodes Called diffusion capacitance because it is associated with source/drain diffusion

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 4

Gate Capacitance
Approximate channel as connected to source Cgs = oxWL/tox = CoxWL = CpermicronW proportional to width Cpermicron = ox(L/tox) typically ~2 fF/m of gate width L and tox both scale with process Often just Cg
polysilicon gate W tox n+ L p-type body
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 5

Cgs

n+

SiO2 gate oxide (good insulator, ox = 3.90)

Diffusion Capacitance
Csb, Cdb = source/drain to bulk Undesirable, called parasitic capacitance Capacitance depends on area and perimeter Comparable to Cg for contacted diff Cg for uncontacted Cdb Varies with process Cdb Often just Cd
Csb Cdb Csb Cdb Csb

Cdb Cdb Csb

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 6

RC Delay Model
Use equivalent circuits for MOS transistors Ideal switch + capacitance and ON resistance Unit nMOS has resistance R, capacitance C Unit pMOS has resistance 2R, capacitance C Capacitance proportional to width k Resistance inversely proportional to width k
d R/k g kC s kC kC d k s kC kC d
CMOS VLSI Design Slide 7

kC 2R/k

d k s

Logic Delay

Driving Another Gate

NMOS

NMOS

Logic Delay

Output of 1st gate sees aggregate input capacitance of 2nd Termed Load Capacitance CL
CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 8

Between Cells

Rp A Rn A CL

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 9

Falling Output (1)

Vin Rp Vout

Rn

CL

Before t=0, input stable & capacitor fully charged

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 10

Falling Output (2)

Vin Rp Vout

Rn

CL

After t-0, capacitor discharges through NMOS

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 11

Rising Output (1)

Vin Rp Vout

Rn

CL

Before t=0, input stable & capacitor fully discharged

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 12

Rising Output (2)

Vin Rp Vout

Rn

CL

After t=0, capacitor charges through PMOS

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 13

Solving
How long does it take to discharge the output from starting voltage V0 to voltage V1?
Kirchhoffs current law at output

Rp V IR Rn IC CL

If V1 = V0/2, Time = RC ln(2)

Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 14

Definitions
Waveform Rise time tr = time to rise from 20% of Vdd to crossing 80% of Vdd Fall time tf = time fall from 80% of Vdd to crossing 20% of Vdd Edge Rate trf = (tr + tf)/2 Logic gate input to output Propagation delay tpd = max time from input crossing 50% of Vdd to output crossing 50% of Vdd tpdr = delay when input is rising
tpHL = delay when output goes from High to Low

tpdf = delay when input is falling

tpLH = delay when output goes from Low to High

Delay tp = (tpHL + tpLH)/2 Contamination delay tpd = min time from input crossing 50% of Vdd to output crossing 50% of Vdd

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 15

Delay Definitions
Vin Vin
Propagation delay input waveform
50%

Vout

tp = (tpHL + tpLH)/2 t
80% 50% 20%

tpHL Vout
output waveform

tpLH

signal slopes

tf
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design

tr

t
Slide 16

RC Propagation Delay Estimation

Vin Vout

Vin

assume Vin rise time is 0 t

Vout

V0 = Vdd V1 = Vdd/2 t t0
Logic Delay

t1
CMOS VLSI Design Slide 17

Effective Resistance
Shockley models have limited value Not accurate enough for modern transistors Too complicated for much hand analysis Simplification: treat transistor as resistor Replace Ids(Vds, Vgs) with effective resistance R Ids = Vds/R R averaged across switching of digital gate Too inaccurate to predict current at any given time But good enough to predict RC delay

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 18

Switching Voltages

Vgs

Vds

Vgs

Vds

Vds = Vdd Vds = Vdd/2 t t0 t1

Slide 19

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Approximating Output Resistance

2.5 2
X 10-4

VDD/2

3VDD/4

VDD
VGS = 2.5V

ID (A)

1.5 1 0.5 0 0 0.5

R2

Req

R1
VGS = 2.0V VGS = 1.5V VGS = 1.0V

1.5

2.5

VDS (V)

3 VDD 3 2.5V Req = = = 8.5K 4 IDsat 4 220A

Slide 20

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Approximating RON

C = 50 ff t = 0.27 ns R = t /(0.69 C) = 7.8 K

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 21

RC Values
Capacitance C Cg Csb Cdb 2 fF/m of gate width Values similar across many processes for minimal gate length. VDD Resistance 0.6 m: 5 V 0.35 m: IDsat 550 A/m 0.25 m: VDD 0.18 m: Req 0.75 VDD/Idsat 130 nm: 90 nm: 1.2 V Req 7 K*m in 0.6 m process Req 2 K*m in 90 nm process Unit transistors May refer to minimum contacted device (4/2 ) Or maybe 1 m wide device Doesnt matter as long as you are consistent
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 22

Inverter Delay Estimate

Estimate the delay of a fanout-of-1 inverter

2 Y 1

2 1

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 23

Inverter Delay Estimate

Assume input going Low to High
2C R 2C 2C Y 1 R C C

2 Y 1

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 24

Inverter Delay Estimate

Estimate the delay of a fanout-of-1 inverter
2C R 2C 2C Y 1 R C R C C C 2C 2C

2 Y 1

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 25

Inverter Delay Estimate

Estimate the delay of a fanout-of-1 inverter
2C R 2C 2C Y 1 R C R C C C 2C 2C

2 Y 1

What is Aggregate C?

d 6RC
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 26

Inverter Delay Estimate

Estimate the delay of a fanout-of-1 inverter
2C R 2C 2C Y 1 R C R C C C 2C 2C

2 Y 1

d 6RC 6 (7 K)(2 fF) 84 ps 0.6 m process 6 (2 K)(2 fF) 24 ps 90 nm process

Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 27

Compare three delay cases

1 2 3
In

54

In
1 27

Out

2 1

6 3

18 9

54

Out
27

4 2

8 4

16 8

32 16

54

In
1 27

Out

Is Case 1, Case 2 or Case 3 Faster?

Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 28

Delay Case 1
54C

27C

d = 84 RC

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 29

Delay Case 2
6C 6C R/3 3C 3C 9C R/9 18C 18C 9C 27C 54C

d1 = 12 RC

d2 = 36/3 RC = 12 RC

d2 = 108/9 RC = 12 RC

d = d1 + d2 + d3 = 36 RC << 84 RC Note the geometric progression in size! 3X per stage. The delay for each stage is the same
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 30

Delay Case 3
4C 4C R/2 2C 2C 4C R/16 8C 32C 16C 27C 54C

d1 = 9 RC

d2 = 9RC d3 = 9RC d4 = 9RC

d5 = 129/16 RC = 8.1 RC

d = d1 + d2 + d3 + d4 + d5 = 44.1 RC Case 2 = 36 RC < Case 3 = 44 RC < Case 1 = 84 RC You can have too much of a good thing!
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 31

Some Review
k: transistors width is k times unit width On resistance is 1/k times unit transistor Cg is capacitance of gate to body Cg-k is k times Cg-unit of unit transistor Cdiff is capacitance to body from a contacted source or drain Approximately = Cg Diffusion capacitance of uncontacted source or drain is less but approx as same

k Cg

Cdiff

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 32

3 Input NAND

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 33

Elmore Delay Model

Vout

Delay = Rn-iCi ~ CiRj

i i=1 j=1

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 34

What If Output Not At End?

Vout

Ignore R2 thru Rn, & just sum Cs

Delay = R1*Ci
In reality, C2, CN shielded by Rs (dont have to charge all way to voltage at Y) Thus a conservative estimate
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 35

Elmore Delay of 3 NAND

Assume not driving any other gates This is called the Parasitic Delay Fall Delay = (R/3)3C + (2R/3)3C + (3R/3)9C = 12RC Rise time = R*(9C + 3C + 3C) Why is this worst case?

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 36

Whats the Capacitance Were Driving?

Assuming: gate size is indicated as # in each transistor gate capacitance of unit transistor 1 Cg = C
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 37

Simple Example: Effects of Drive

Estimate worst-case rising and falling delay of 2input NAND driving h identical gates.

2 A B

2 2 2x

Y
h copies

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 38

Summary Delay Estimation

Assume driving h identical 2in NANS Only 1 pmos on for slowest case Assume int node charged

Rise delay

Fall delay

Size 2 because in series Elmore delays: Worst Case Rise = R(6+4h)C = (6+4h)RC Worst Case Fall = (R/2)(2C) + R*(6+4h)C = (7+4h)RC
Logic Delay CMOS VLSI Design Slide 39

Lets Do the Books 3NAND

=h copies

What is the load on Y? What is the fall time? What is the rise time?

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 40

Contamination Delay
Contamination = min possible On fall, best if both bottom NMOS Ts on Diffusion cap already drained Only R effective left Delay = On rise, best when ALL 3 PMOS turn on Resistances in parallel Delay =

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 41

Layout Dependent Capacitance

Assuming all diffusion nodes contacted

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 42

Folding Wide Transistors

24/12 Inverter

4 unit transistor has diff cap C Total cap = 4.5C

Total cap = 9C

Logic Delay

CMOS VLSI Design

Slide 43