Tutorial 7

Derek Wright
Monday, March 7th, 2005
 Silicon MOSFETs
Introduction
MOS Capacitors
MOSFET Structure
MOSFET Scaling
Gate Dielectrics
Gates
Junctions and Contacts
Alternate MOSFET Structures
 Introduction
MOSFETs are a kind of Field Effect
Transistor used in digital ICs
Use a FET because gate voltage uses less
current than BJTs base current
BJT was developed first, and FET was
theorized, but impractical
Couldnt make the Field Effect work due to
technology constraints at the time
 MOS Capacitor
Its important to understand how a MOS
capacitor works:
Capacitance is a limiting factor in IC
performance
Mobile charges in gate
Mobile charges in channel (between drain
and source)
Separated by dielectric (gate oxide)
= capacitor
MOS Capacitor
 MOS Capacitor
http://jas.eng.buffalo.edu/education/mos
/mosCap/biasBand10.html
Shows how a depletion layer forms
The blue charge is what lets current go from
source to drain
Other good applets on the site
MOS Capacitor
 MOS Capacitor
Capacitance changes
with applied voltage
Leads to complicated
CMOS simulations
Can be exploited in
some kinds of VCOs
(MOS Varactor)
 MOSFET Structure
We use a MOS capacitor in inversion
mode
The minority carriers form the channel
Ions are implanted on either side of the
gate to act as sources of carriers
Contacts are put on the diffusions to form
the source and drain
Carriers go from the source to the drain
MOSFET Structure
MOSFET Structure
MOSFET Structure
 MOSFET Scaling
Reducing the size of MOSFETs in ICs has
many benefits:
Higher density
Higher speed
Lower Power
It also introduces many problems:
Thin gate oxides
Short channel effects
Higher leakage current
MOSFET Scaling
 Gate Dielectrics
Gate thickness scales by
1/ with decreasing
device dimensions
Were fast approaching
the practical limit of how
thin SiO2 gates can get
Tunneling can occur
causing gate leakage
Other problems like hot
carriers start to become
problematic
 Gate Dielectrics
We can use a thicker
dielectric if it has a higher
r
These high-k dielectrics
mean that a given gate
voltage will produce a
higher E-field
Or, a given gate voltage
will produce the same E-
field with a thicker
dielectric layer
 Gate Dielectrics
Problems with a thin gate:
Oxide thickness variation
Impurities from poly gate (particularly B)
Reliability and lifetime problems
High gate current
Gate leakage current (VG = 1V):
1pA/cm2 at 3.5 nm
10A/cm2 at 1.5 nm
Gate Dielectrics
 Gate Dielectrics
Solutions to gate problems:
Add nitrogen to SiO2
Use high-k dielectrics
High-k dielectrics must meet a number of criteria
Must be thermally stable
Good electronic properties
Microstructural stability
Deposition tools and chemistry
Process compatibility
Gate Dielectrics
 Gates
Poly-silicon is used for gates because:
Adjustable work function through doping
Process compatibility
Drawbacks include:
Its a semiconductor, so it forms a depletion layer
which adds to the EOT (effective oxide thickness)
High resistivity
Metal is considered as the successor to poly-
silicon gates
Gates
 Junctions and Contacts
Other resistances must be less than 10%
of the channel resistance (Rchan)
Rchan = [(W/L) (ox/tox (VG VT)]-1
L Rchan (scaling)
Rchan (new substrates)
ox Rchan (high-k dielectrics)
tox Rchan (high-k dielectrics and scaling)
VT (VG VT) Rchan (doping)
 Junctions and Contacts
Contacts connect the metal lines to the
source/drain/gate of a MOSFET
Contact resistance becomes a problem as
geometries shrink
This can be partially solved by using
silicides:
Silicides are metal/silicon alloys with a low
resistance
 Junctions and Contacts
Formation of self-
aligned silicides
(salicides)
Metal is deposited
over entire wafer
Reacts with exposed
silicon
Unreacted metal is
selectively etched off
 Alternate MOSFET Structures
Silicon On Insulator (SOI) wafers eliminate
capacitive coupling to the substrate
An oxide layer is buried below the transistors,
eliminating coupling to the substrate
SOI:
reduces leakage
reduces capacitance
higher speed
less susceptible to soft errors
 Alternate MOSFET Structures
New technologies for coming years:
High-k gate dielectrics
Low-k Dielectrics
Metal gate electrodes
SOI
Strained silicon
Vertical multi-gate structures
 Thank You!
This presentation will be available on the
web.