Patent Grant
11887895
The present disclosure relates in general to semiconductor structures and fabrication and more particularly to electronic devices and systems and methods for making and using the same.
Electronic devices have become an integral part of daily life as never before. Systems such as personal computers and mobile phones have fundamentally reshaped how we work, how we play, and how we communicate. Each passing year brings the introduction of new devices such as digital music players, e-book readers and tablets, as well as improvements to preexisting families of products. These new devices show ever increasing innovation that continues to transform how we conduct our lives.
The rising importance of electronic systems to the world economy and modem culture has, to date, been enabled in significant part by the semiconductor industry's adherence to Moore's Law. Named after Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel who first observed the phenomenon, Moore's Law provides that the number of transistors that can be made inexpensively within the same area on an integrated circuit (or chip) steadily increases over time. Some industry experts quantify the law, stating, for example, that the number of transistors within the same area roughly doubles approximately every two years. Without the increase in functionality and related decreases in cost and size provided by Moore's Law, many electronics systems that are widely available today would not have been practicable or affordable.
For some time the semiconductor industry has succeeded in holding to Moore's Law by using bulk CMOS technology to make circuits in chips. Bulk CMOS technology has proven to be particularly “scalable,” meaning that bulk CMOS transistors can be made smaller and smaller while optimizing and reusing existing manufacturing processes and equipment in order to maintain acceptable production costs. Historically, as the size of a bulk CMOS transistor decreased, so did its power consumption, helping the industry provide increased transistor density at a reduced cost in keeping with Moore's Law. Thus, the semiconductor industry has been able to scale the power consumption of bulk CMOS transistors with their size, reducing the cost of operating transistors and the systems in which they reside.
In recent years, however, decreasing the power consumption of bulk CMOS transistors while reducing their size has become increasingly more difficult. Transistor power consumption directly affects chip power consumption, which, in turn, affects the cost of operating a system and, in some cases, the utility of the system. For example, if the number of transistors in the same chip area doubles while the power consumption per transistor remains the same or increases, the power consumption of the chip will more than double. This is due in part by the need to cool the resulting chip, which also requires more energy. As a result, this would more than double the energy costs charged to the end user for operating the chip. Such increased power consumption could also significantly reduce the usefulness of consumer electronics, for example, by reducing the battery life of mobile devices. It could also have other effects such as increasing heat generation and the need for heat dissipation, potentially decreasing reliability of the system, and negatively impacting the environment.
There has arisen among semiconductor engineers a widespread perception that continued reduction of power consumption of bulk CMOS is infeasible, in part because it is believed that the operating voltage VDD of the transistor can no longer be reduced as transistor size decreases. A CMOS transistor is either on or off. The CMOS transistor's state is determined by the value of a voltage applied to the gate of the transistor relative to a threshold voltage VT of the transistor. While a transistor is switched on, it consumes dynamic power, which can be expressed by the equation:
Pdynamic=CVDD2f
Where VDD is the operating voltage supplied to the transistor, C is the load capacitance of the transistor when it is switched on, and f is the frequency at which the transistor is operated. While a transistor is switched off, it consumes static power, which can be expressed by the equation: Pstatic=IOFF VDD, where IOFF is the leakage current when the transistor is switched off. Historically, the industry has reduced transistor power consumption primarily by reducing the operating voltage VDD, which reduces both dynamic and static power.
The ability to reduce the operating voltage VDD, depends in part on being able to accurately set the threshold voltage VT, but that has become increasingly difficult as transistor dimensions decrease because of a variety of factors, including, for example, Random Dopant Fluctuation (RDF). For transistors made using bulk CMOS processes, the primary parameter that sets the threshold voltage VT is the amount of dopants in the channel. Other factors that affect VT are halo implantation, source and drain extension, and other factors. In theory, this can be done precisely, such that the same transistors on the same chip will have the same VT, but in reality the threshold voltages can vary significantly. This means that these transistors will not all switch on at the same time in response to the same gate voltage, and some may never switch on. For transistors having a channel length of 100 nm or less, RDF is a major determinant of variations in VT, typically referred to as sigma VT or σVT, and the amount of σVT caused by RDF only increases as channel length decreases. As shown in
For these and other reasons, engineers in the semiconductor industry widely believe that bulk CMOS must be abandoned in future process nodes despite the fact that there are many known techniques for reducing σVT in short channel devices. For example, one conventional approach to reducing σVT in bulk CMOS involves acting to provide a non-uniform doping profile that increases dopant concentration in a channel as it extends vertically downward (away from the gate toward the substrate). Although this type of retrograde doping profile does reduce the sensitivity to the doping variations, it increases the sensitivity to short channel effects that adversely affect device operation. Because of short channel effects, these doping parameters are generally not scalable for nanoscale devices, making this approach not generally suitable for use with nanoscale, short channel transistors. With technology moving toward short channel devices formed at the 45 nm or even 22 nm process nodes, benefits of the retrograde approach in such devices are perceived to be limited.
Semiconductor engineers working to overcome these technological obstacles have also attempted to use super steep retrograde wells (SSRW) to address performance issues associated with scaling down to the nanoscale region. Like retrograde doping for nanometer scale devices, the SSRW technique uses a special doping profile, forming a heavily doped layer beneath a lightly doped channel. The SSRW profile differs from retrograde doping in having a very steep increase in dopant levels to reduce the channel doping to as low a level as possible. Such steep dopant profiles can result in reduction of short channel effects, increased mobility in the channel region, and less parasitic capacitance. However, it is very difficult to achieve these structures when manufacturing these devices for high volume, nanoscale integrated circuit applications. This difficulty is due in part to out-diffusion of the retrograde well and SSRW dopant species into the channel region, especially for a p-well device such as the NMOS transistor. Also, use of SSRW does not eliminate issues with random dopant density fluctuations that can increase σVT to unacceptable levels.
In addition to these and other attempts to work through shortcomings of existing bulk CMOS implementations, the industry has become heavily focused on CMOS transistor structures that have no dopants in the channel. Such transistor structures include, for example, fully depleted Silicon On Insulator (SOI) and various FINFET, or omega gate devices. SOI devices typically have transistors defined on a thin top silicon layer that is separated from a silicon substrate by a thin insulating layer of glass or silicon dioxide, known as a Buried Oxide (BOX) layer. FINFET devices use multiple gates to control the electrical field in a silicon channel. Such can have reduced σVT by having low dopants in the silicon channel. This makes atomic level variations in number or position of dopant atoms implanted in the channel inconsequential. However, both types of devices require wafers and related processing that are more complex and expensive than those used in bulk CMOS.
Given the substantial costs and risks associated with transitioning to a new technology, manufacturers of semiconductors and electronic systems have long sought a way to extend the use of bulk CMOS. Those efforts have so far proven unsuccessful. The continued reduction of power consumption in bulk CMOS has increasingly become viewed in the semiconductor industry as an insurmountable problem.
A suite of novel structures and methods is provided to reduce power consumption in a wide array of electronic devices and systems. Some of these structures and methods can be implemented largely by reusing existing bulk CMOS process flows and manufacturing technology, allowing the semiconductor industry as well as the broader electronics industry to avoid a costly and risky switch to alternative technologies.
As will be discussed, some of the structures and methods relate to a Deeply Depleted Channel (DDC) design. The DDC can permit CMOS devices having reduced σVT compared to conventional bulk CMOS and can allow the threshold voltage VT of FETs having dopants in the channel region to be set much more precisely. The DDC design also can have a strong body effect compared to conventional bulk CMOS transistors, which can allow for significant dynamic control of power consumption in DDC transistors. There are many ways to configure the DDC to achieve different benefits, and additional structures and methods presented herein can be used alone or in conjunction with the DDC to yield additional benefits.
Also provided are advantageous methods and structures for integrating transistors on a chip including, for example, implementations that can take advantage of the DDC to provide improved chip power consumption. In addition, the transistors and integrated circuits in some embodiments can enable a variety of other benefits including lower heat dissipation, improved reliability, miniaturization, and/or more favorable manufacturing economics. There are a variety of approaches to accentuate some or all of the advantages of the new transistor structure, both statically and dynamically. Many of the developments at the integrated circuit level provide advantages even in the absence of the novel transistors discussed herein. Many of the methods and structures may be useful in types of devices other than bulk CMOS transistors including, for example, other types of transistors that have dopants in the channel and/or a body.
Also provided are methods and structures for incorporating and using the innovations described herein in systems, such as in electronic products, to provide benefits including, in some implementations, improved power consumption at the system level, improved system performance, improved system cost, improved system manufacturability and/or improved system reliability. As will be demonstrated, the innovations can advantageously be employed in a wide range of electronic systems including, in some embodiments, in consumer devices such as personal computers, mobile phones, televisions, digital music players, set top boxes, laptop and palmtop computing devices, e-book readers, digital cameras, GPS systems, flat panel displays, portable data storage devices and tablets, as well as in a variety of other electronic devices. In some of these implementations, the transistors and integrated circuits can materially enhance the operation and, accordingly, the commercial suitability, of the electronic system as a whole. In some embodiments, innovative transistors, integrated circuits and systems that contain them as described herein may also enable more environmentally friendly implementations than alternative approaches.
In one embodiment, a novel Field Effect Transistor (FET) structure is provided that has precisely controlled threshold voltage in comparison to conventional short channel devices. It can also have improved mobility and other important transistor characteristics. This structure and methods of making it can allow FET transistors that have a low operating voltage as compared to conventional devices. In addition, or alternatively, they can allow for the threshold voltage of such a device to be dynamically controlled during operation. The FET in some implementations can provide designers with the ability to design an integrated circuit having FET devices that can be dynamically adjusted while the circuit is in operation. The FET structure in an integrated circuit, in some embodiments, can be designed with nominally identical structure, and in addition or alternatively can be controlled, modulated or programmed to operate at different operating voltages in response to different bias voltages. These structures can enable a circuit to statically specify and/or dynamically change modes of operation in an efficient and reliable manner. In addition, in some implementations these structures can be configured post-fabrication for different applications within a circuit.
These and other benefits provide an advancement in digital circuits that fulfills many needs of designers, producers, and consumers. These benefits can provide systems composed of novel structures that enable continued and further advancement of integrated circuits, resulting in devices and systems with improved performance. In some implementations, bulk CMOS may continue for an additional period to keep pace with Moore's Law and further innovations in bulk CMOS based circuits and systems can continue to improve at advanced performance rates. The embodiments and examples will be described herein with reference to transistors, integrated circuits, electronic systems, and related methods, and will highlight the features and benefits that the novel structures and methods provide at various levels of the manufacturing process and the chain of commerce, including to end users of electronic products. The application of concepts inherent in these examples to structures and methods of producing integrated circuits and electronic systems will prove expansive. Accordingly, it will be understood that the spirit and scope of the inventions is not limited to these embodiments and examples, but is only limited by the claims appended herein and also in related and co-assigned applications.
A nanoscale Field Effect Transistor (FET) structure with a gate length less than 90 nanometers is provided with a more precisely controllable threshold voltage than conventional nanoscale FET devices. Additional benefits include improved carrier mobility and reduced variance in threshold voltage due to RDFs. One embodiment includes a nanoscale FET structure operable to have a depletion zone or region that extends to a depth below the gate set to be greater than one-half the gate length. The FET structure has at least two regions with different doping concentrations to help define a DDC in this depletion zone or region below the gate. In one example, a first region near the gate has a lower dopant concentration than a second region separated from the first region, and located at a distance below the gate. This provides a first low doped channel region (typically a substantially undoped epitaxially grown channel layer) paired with a second doped screening region that can act to define a DDC by terminating electric fields emanating from the gate when a threshold voltage or greater is applied to the gate. The deeply depleted region can alternatively be referred to as a DDC or deeply depleted zone, and will vary in spatial extent and characteristics depending on transistor structure and electrical operating conditions. There are many variations on the exact geometry and location of these structures and regions, and some are described in more detail below.
These structures and the methods of making the structures allow for FET transistors having both a low operating voltage and a low threshold voltage as compared to conventional nanoscale devices. Furthermore, they allow for the threshold voltage of such a device to be dynamically controlled during operation. Ultimately, these structures and the methods of making structures provide for designing integrated circuits having FET devices that can be dynamically adjusted while the circuit is in operation. Thus, transistors in an integrated circuit can be designed with nominally identical structure, and can be controlled, modulated or programmed to operate at different operating voltages in response to different bias voltages, or to operate in different operating modes in response to different bias voltages and operating voltages. In addition, these can be configured post-fabrication for different applications within a circuit.
Certain embodiments and examples are described herein with reference to transistors and highlight the features and benefits that the novel structures and methods provide transistors. However, the applicability of concepts inherent in these examples to structures and methods of producing integrated circuits is expansive and not limited to transistors or bulk CMOS. Accordingly, it will be understood in the art that the spirit and scope of the inventions is not limited to these embodiments and examples or to the claims appended herein and also in related and co-assigned applications, but may be advantageously applied in other digital circuitry contexts.
In the following description, numerous specific details are given of some of the preferred ways in which the inventions may be implemented. It is readily apparent that the inventions can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known circuits, components, algorithms, and processes have not been shown in detail or have been illustrated in schematic or block diagram form in order not to obscure the inventions in unnecessary detail. Additionally, for the most part, details concerning materials, tooling, process timing, circuit layout, and die design have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the inventions as they are considered to be within the understanding of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. Similarly, it will be appreciated that components may be referred to by different names and the descriptions herein are not intended to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to,” for example.
Various embodiments and examples of the methods and structures mentioned above are described herein. It will be realized that this detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will be made in detail to embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same or like parts.
In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations and embodiments described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation of the inventions herein, numerous implementation-specific decisions will typically be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
Also, concentrations of atoms implanted or otherwise present in a substrate or crystalline layers of a semiconductor to modify physical and electrical characteristics of a semiconductor will be described in terms of physical and functional regions or layers. These may be understood by those skilled in the art as three-dimensional masses of material that have particular averages of concentrations. Or, they may be understood as sub-regions or sub-layers with different or spatially varying concentrations. They may also exist as small groups of dopant atoms, regions of substantially similar dopant atoms or the like, or other physical embodiments. Descriptions of the regions based on these properties are not intended to limit the shape, exact location or orientation. They are also not intended to limit these regions or layers to any particular type or number of process steps, type or numbers of layers (e.g., composite or unitary), semiconductor deposition, etch techniques, or growth techniques utilized. These processes may include epitaxially formed regions or atomic layer deposition, dopant implant methodologies or particular vertical or lateral dopant profiles, including linear, monotonically increasing, retrograde, or other suitable spatially varying dopant concentration. The embodiments and examples included herein may show specific processing techniques or materials used, such as epitaxial and other processes described below and illustrated in
The FET 100 is shown as an N-channel transistor having a source and drain made of N-type dopant material, formed upon a substrate as P-type doped silicon substrate providing a P-well 114 formed on a substrate 116. However, it will be understood that, with appropriate change to substrate or dopant material, a non-silicon P-type semiconductor transistor formed from other suitable substrates such as Gallium Arsenide based materials may be substituted.
The source 104 and drain 106 can be formed using conventional dopant implant processes and materials, and may include, for example, modifications such as stress inducing source/drain structures, raised and/or recessed source/drains, asymmetrically doped, counter-doped or crystal structure modified source/drains, or implant doping of source/drain extension regions according to HDD (highly doped drain) techniques. The extension regions 132 are generally formed within the substrate and facilitate absorption of some of the potential associated with the drain. Various other techniques to modify source/drain operational characteristics can also be used, including source drain channel extensions (tips), or halo implants that facilitate scaling the device channel length by creating localized dopant distributions near the source/drain (S/D) regions, where the distributions may extend under the channel. In certain embodiments, heterogeneous dopant materials can be used as compensation dopants to modify electrical characteristics.
The gate electrode 102 can be formed from conventional materials, including, but not limited to certain metals, metal alloys, metal nitrides and metal silicides, as well as laminates thereof and composites thereof. The gate electrode 102 may also be formed from polysilicon, including, for example, highly doped polysilicon and polysilicon-germanium alloy. Metals or metal alloys may include those containing aluminum, titanium, tantalum, or nitrides thereof, including titanium containing compounds such as titanium nitride. Formation of the gate electrode 102 can include silicide methods, chemical vapor deposition methods and physical vapor deposition methods, such as, but not limited to, evaporative methods and sputtering methods. Typically, the gate electrode 102 has an overall thickness from about 1 to about 500 nanometers.
The gate dielectric 128 may include conventional dielectric materials such as oxides, nitrides and oxynitrides. Alternatively, the gate dielectric 128 may include generally higher dielectric constant dielectric materials including, but not limited to hafnium oxides, hafnium silicates, zirconium oxides, lanthanum oxides, titanium oxides, barium-strontium-titanates and lead-zirconate-titanates, metal based dielectric materials, and other materials having dielectric properties. Preferred hafnium-containing oxides include HfO2, HfZrOx, HfSiOx, HfriOx, HfAlOx, and the like. Depending on composition and available deposition processing equipment, the gate dielectric 128 may be formed by such methods as thermal or plasma oxidation, nitridation methods, chemical vapor deposition methods (including atomic layer deposition methods) and physical vapor deposition methods. In some embodiments, multiple or composite layers, laminates, and compositional mixtures of dielectric materials can be used. For example, a gate dielectric can be formed from a SiO2-based insulator having a thickness between about 0.3 and 1 nm and the hafnium oxide based insulator having a thickness between 0.5 and 4 nm. Typically, the gate dielectric has an overall thickness from about 0.5 to about 5 nanometers.
Below the gate dielectric 128, the channel region 110 is formed above screening layer 112. The channel region 110 contacts and extends between, the source 104 and the drain 106. Preferably, the channel region includes substantially undoped silicon, or advanced materials such as those from the SiGe family, or silicon doped to very low levels. Channel thickness can typically range from 5 to 50 nanometers.
The discussion immediately below will focus on bulk CMOS devices. In many nanoscale bulk CMOS FET devices, carrier mobility is adversely affected by high concentrations of the channel dopant required to set the threshold voltage, VT. While high dopant concentration levels may prevent significant power leakage, when dopants are present in high concentrations they may act as scattering centers that greatly reduce channel mobility of mobile carriers such as electrons. In such a case, the electrons in the channel region are scattered, and do not efficiently move through the channel between a source and drain. Effectively, this limits the maximum amount of current (Idsat) the channel can carry. In addition, the very thin gate and resultant high electric fields at the gate dielectric/channel interface may lead to severe quantum mechanical effects that reduce inversion layer charge density at a given gate voltage, which is associated with a decrease in the mobility and an increase in the magnitude of the threshold voltage VT, again degrading device performance. Due to these characteristics, conventional scaling of bulk CMOS devices to the desired smaller size is perceived as increasingly difficult.
As an additional benefit, the use of a substantially undoped channel region can enhance the effectiveness of certain conventional techniques often used to improve transistor performance. For example, the source 104 and drain 106 positioned on opposing sides of the channel region 110 can be structured to modify stress applied in the channel region. Alternatively, the channel region can be modified by lattice matched and strained silicon germanium (SiGe) crystalline thin film lattice placed to cause a compressive strain in an in-plane direction of the channel. This can cause changes in band structure such that hole mobility increases as compared with intrinsic Si. Stress conditions can be modified by changing germanium (Ge) composition (higher Ge increases strain and the hole mobility becomes higher). For tensile strain, channel region Si can be formed on lattice-relaxed SiGe having a greater lattice constant. This results in both the electron mobility and the hole mobility increasing as compared with unstrained Si channel regions. Again, as germanium composition of the base SiGe is increased, the amount of the strain in the strained Si channel region and the carrier mobilities tend to increase. As will be understood, continuous stress layers are not required for application of stress to the channel regions, with non-contiguous or multiple separated stress layers being usable to apply a compressive or tensile force to various locations along the channel regions, including stress layers above, below, laterally arranged, or abutting, effectively allowing greater control over the applied stress.
In certain embodiments, stress layers may represent a layer of any material suitable to apply a stress to the channel region when applied adjacent to or abutting the channel. As one example, in particular embodiments, a stress layer may include a material that has a different thermal expansion rate than some or all of the remainder of semiconductor substrate. During fabrication of such embodiments, as the temperature of semiconductor substrate is reduced, certain portions differentially shrink, causing stretching or compressing of the channel region. As a result, at least a portion of the channel region may become strained, improving carrier mobility. In particular embodiments, a stress layer may include a material such as silicon nitride that has a greater thermal expansion coefficient than some or all of the semiconductor substrate. Additionally, or alternatively, different stress layers may be applied to various portions of the FET 100 to selectively improve the mobility of either holes or electrons in the channel region. For example, in particular embodiments, where complementary n-type and p-type transistor pairs are isolated from one another via appropriate p-type and n-type well structures a stress layer may be applied to the n-type transistor to apply a tensile stress to the channel region of the n-type transistor. This tensile stress may induce a strain in the channel region that improves the mobility of electrons through the channel region. Another stress layer may be applied to the p-type transistor to apply a compressive stress to the channel region of the p-type transistor. This compressive stress may induce a strain in the p-type channel region that improves the mobility of holes.
Provision of a transistor having a substantially undoped channel brings other advantages when stress is applied. For example, stress may be applied by compressive or tensile stress applied via the source/drain or channel stress techniques. As compared to conventional nanoscale transistors with uniformly or highly doped channels, a strained channel region FET transistor will provide a larger strain enhanced mobility due to the low concentrations of dopants near the gate dielectric (reduced ionized impurity scattering) and the lower electric field (reduced surface roughness scattering). Due to the reduced scattering, stress enhanced mobility will be significantly larger than in a conventional device. This mobility advantage attributable to strain will actually increase with downward size scaling of the transistor.
In either of these configurations, the threshold voltage tuning region can be formed as a separate epitaxially grown silicon layer, or formed as part of a single silicon epitaxial layer that also includes a depleted channel region. The threshold tuning region thickness can typically range from 5 to 50 nanometers in thickness. When substantially undoped, appropriate selection of the thickness of the region itself slightly adjusts threshold voltage, while for more typical applications the threshold voltage tuning region is doped to have average concentrations ranging from between 5×1017 and 2×1019 atoms/cm3. In certain embodiments, dopant migration resistant layers of carbon, germanium, or the like can be applied above and/or below the threshold voltage tuning region to prevent dopant migration into the channel region, or alternatively, from the screening region into the threshold voltage tuning region.
The screening region is a highly doped region buried under the channel region and threshold voltage tuning region, if provided. The screening layer is generally positioned at a distance to avoid direct contact with the source and the drain. In certain other embodiments, it may be formed as a sheet extending under multiple source/drain/channel regions, while in other embodiments it may be a self-aligned implant or layer coextensive with the channel region. The screening region thickness can typically range from 5 to 50 nanometers. The screening region is highly doped relative to the channel, the threshold voltage tuning region (if provided), and the P-well. In practice, the screening region is doped to have a concentration between 1×1018 and 1×1020 atoms/cm3. In certain embodiments, dopant migration resistant layers of carbon, germanium, or the like can be applied above screening region to prevent dopant migration into the threshold voltage tuning region.
In operation, when a predetermined voltage greater than the threshold voltage is applied to the conductive gate, a deeply depleted region is formed between the gate stack and the screening region. Below the conductive gate the deeply depleted region typically extends downward into the screening region, although in certain highly doped embodiments the deeply depleted region may terminate in the threshold voltage tuning region, if provided. As will be appreciated, the exact depth below the conductive gate of the depletion region is determined by a number of factors that can be adjusted by design of the FET. For example, the depletion region depth may be determined by spatial positioning and absolute or relative dopant concentration of other elements of the FET. For instance, the FET may have a channel defined between a source region and a drain region and below a gate having a gate length LG. DDC depth (Xd) may be set to be larger than half of the gate length, possibly by a factor of half of the gate length, or fractions thereabout. In one example, this DDC depth may be set at around or about equal to one-half the channel length, which in operation allows for precise setting of the threshold voltage even at low operating voltages below one volt. Depending on the requirements of a particular application, different depths may provide different beneficial results. Given this disclosure, it will be understood that different DDC depths are possible in different applications, different device geometries, and various parameters of particular designs. Depending on the parameters of a particular application, different region thicknesses, dopant concentrations, and operating conditions used in forming the DDC transistor may provide different beneficial results.
For example, according to another embodiment, the depletion depth can be maintained from ⅓ the gate length to a depth about equal to the gate length. However, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, if structure and operation of the transistor are such that the depletion depth becomes smaller than one-half the gate length, the performance of the device in terms of power consumption will degrade gradually, and the benefits of the DDC will diminish. The device can still achieve modest improvement over the conventional device when the depletion depth, Xd is between ⅓ and ½ the gate length, such as, for example, a DDC transistor having a depletion depth below the gate set to be approximately 0.4×LG. In this example, a suitable thickness range for the screening region is between 5 to 50 nm with a dopant concentration ranging from 1×1018 to 1×1020 atoms/cm3. A suitable thickness range for the threshold voltage tuning region is between 5 to 50 nm with a dopant concentration ranging from 5×1017 to 2×1019 atoms/cm3. The undoped channel region is chosen to be deep enough to meet the constraint of Xd>½×LG and has a concentration less than 5×1017 atoms/cm3.
In effect, providing a deeply depleted region for a DDC transistor can allow for significantly tightening the tolerances for setting the threshold voltages in a circuit with multiple transistors and related devices, and can further reduce the variation due to RDF. The result is a more predictable and reliable threshold voltage that can be set across multiple devices in an integrated circuit. This benefit can be used to reduce power in a device or system, and can lead to better overall performance.
One other benefit potentially enabled by this embodiment is an adjustable threshold voltage, which can be statically set or varied dynamically during the operation of a device or system configured with one or more of the described transistor structures. Also illustrated in
A dopant profile according to various embodiments is defined such that three regions occur. The three regions are defined in Table 1, with Region 1 corresponding to the channel region located near a gate dielectric, Region 2 corresponding to the threshold voltage tuning region, and Region 3 corresponding to the screening layer, and where LG is the gate length. As will be understood, gate length is substantially equal to the channel length, and t1, t2 and T3 are the respective thicknesses of the three regions. Each of these regions can be expressed via a representative thickness and a dopant dose measured as numbers of atoms per cubic centimeter. The values of these thickness and doses are given in Table 1.
The layer thicknesses are process node dependent, with their respective thicknesses t1, t2 and t3 being related to the gate length (LG) of the device and process node of interest. Table 2 contains representative numbers for 90 nm to 15 nm process nodes illustrating the effect of scaling LG on the thickness requirements of the regions.
In practice, designers and manufacturers gather statistical data from mathematical models and sample measurements from actual circuits to determine the variance of threshold voltages of a circuit design. The voltage differential mismatch between transistors, whether derived from manufacturing variations or RDFs, is determined as σVT. One such example of a statistical rendering of different threshold voltages from various devices plotted against supply voltages is illustrated in
A structure and method of its production are provided that reduces σVT, reducing the range of variance of the threshold voltage of the transistors across the integrated circuit. With reduced σVT, the static value of VT can be set more precisely and can even be varied in response to a changing bias voltage. One example of improved σVT according to one embodiment is reflected in
In contrast,
Referring to
DDC transistors also preferably offer improved carrier mobility, a feature of great interest in the industry. Mobility is a quantitative measure of the ability of mobile carriers to move from a source to a drain across a transistor's channel when a voltage greater than the threshold voltage VT is applied to the gate. One goal of an optimized device is to have electrons or mobile carriers move with minimal hindrance from source to drain, typically in accordance with a relationship between the gate applied electric field and the measured mobility known as a universal mobility curve. This universal mobility curve is a well-established relationship seen in MOSFET devices between carrier mobility in an inversion region of a channel and an electric field that induces that inversion region (or inversion charge).
A second mobility curve (dashed line) is appropriate for nanoscale gate length transistors having highly doped channels (often necessary to compensate for scaling effects) and a proportionally scaled downward gate voltage and consequent lower electric fields. These curves can match at operating conditions supporting high electric fields in the channel, because mobility is dominated by surface roughness associated with an interface between a gate dielectric and channel silicon. When operating a transistor at lower gate voltages (and consequent lower electric fields) these two curves diverge due to the presence of dopant atoms and the dominance of channel dopant scattering (commonly called ionized impurity scattering) that act to decrease electron mobility. This can be seen as region C. While low power devices operating with electric fields falling within region C can be constructed, the required high channel doping results in a degradation of mobility due to dopant scattering in the area marked as region A in
The operation point of a DDC transistor lies along the universal mobility curve as seen as region B in
With these novel structures and methods for creating them, circuits can now be produced and configured with the ability to change VT dynamically. The structures are preferably configured with a small σVT compared to conventional devices, giving the devices the ability to have not only a lower nominal threshold voltage VT, and lower operating voltage VDD, but also a precisely adjustable VT that can be varied in response to the bias voltage. In operation, a bias voltage can be placed across a transistor that operates to raise and lower the device's VT. This enables a circuit to statically specify and/or dynamically change modes of operation in an efficient and reliable manner, particularly if the operating voltage VDD is also dynamically controlled. Still further, the adjustment of VT can be done on one or more transistors, groups of transistors, and different sections or regions of a circuit. This breakthrough enables designers to use generic transistors that can be adjusted to serve different functions in a circuit. Additionally, there are many circuit- and system-level innovations that result from the features and benefits of these integrated circuit structures.
In one embodiment, a semiconductor structure is provided with a DDC having a DDC depth, where a channel is formed between a source region and a drain region. In one example, the DDC depth is at least half as large as the channel length of the device. These structures can operate at lower voltages than conventional devices and are not as limited by effects of RDFs in a device channel. The novel structure can also be fabricated using conventional bulk CMOS processing tools and process steps.
According to one embodiment a channel region of a transistor can be configured with a plurality of regions having different dopant concentrations. In one example, a DDC transistor is constructed such that three distinct regions exist below the gate. From the gate dielectric proceeding deeper into the substrate, these regions include a channel, a threshold voltage adjust region and a screening regions. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that different combinations or permutations of these regions may exist.
The channel region is the region where the minority carriers travel from the source to the drain during the operation of the integrated circuit. This constitutes the current flowing through the device. The amount of dopant in this region affects the mobility of the device via impurity scattering. Lower dopant concentration results in higher mobility. Additionally, RDFs also decrease as the dopant concentration decreases. This undoped (low-doped) channel region can allow the DDC transistor to achieve both high-mobility and low RDFs.
The threshold voltage adjust or tuning region allows for complementary dopants, such as an N-type dopant in PMOS and a P-type dopant in NMOS, to be introduced below the channel regions. The introduction of this VT-adjust region, coupled to its proximity to the channel region and the level of dopants, preferably allows the threshold voltage tuning region to alter the depletion region within the channel without directly doping the channel. This depletion control allows the VT of the device to be altered to achieve the desired result. Additionally, the VT-adjust region can aid in preventing sub-channel punch-through and leakage. In some embodiments this provides improved short channel effects, DIBL and sub-threshold slopes.
In conventional processes, others have addressed different performance metrics of a transistor by changing particular structures and concentrations. For example, gate metal alloys or polysilicons may be used to adjust the doping concentration to improve short channel effects or other parameters. The gate dielectric located under the gate and above the channel may also be adjusted. Other processes also exist that can set the dopant concentrations in or around the channel of a transistor. Unlike these prior attempts to improve short channel effects and other parameters of a device, some of the embodiments described herein not only improve more parameters of a device, they can also improve the accuracy and reliability in setting the threshold voltage for a device. Still further, in some implementations the improved devices can also enable the dynamic control of the threshold voltage of a device for enhanced performance, and also for providing new features and operations of a device or system when employed.
In one embodiment, a transistor device is provided with a monotonically increasing dopant concentration from the top of the channel near the gate and down into the channel. In one example, there is a linear increase in dopants proceeding from the gate dielectric. This may be accomplished by forming a screening region at a distance from the gate, and having a depleted region between the screening region and the gate. This depleted region may take on different forms, including one or more regions of different dopant concentrations. These regions address different improvements in transistor devices, including improving the reliability of setting a particular threshold voltage, improving mobility in the transistor channel, and enabling the dynamic adjustment of the threshold voltage to improve and expand different operating modes of a device. These dopant concentrations may be expressed in a graph of concentrations, such as that illustrated in
The depleted channel region provides an area for electrons to freely move form a source to a drain of a transistor, thus improving mobility and overall performance. The threshold voltage tuning region is used in conjunction with the screening region to set the nominal intrinsic threshold voltage of the device. The screening region is a highly doped region which increases the body coefficient of the FET device. The higher body coefficient allows the body bias to have a larger effect in dynamically changing the threshold voltage of the FET. These three regions can be used in unison to achieve multiple specialized devices. Multiple combinations of two or three of the regions can be used to achieve various design benefits. For example, all the regions can be used with poly, band edge metal, and off-band edge metal gates to achieve a low power device with various intrinsic VT values (achieved by threshold voltage adjust doping) and dynamic modes of operations (via body effect).
The channel and screening regions can be used in conjunction with off band edge metal gate stacks to achieve ultra-low power devices (where the off band edge metal serves to increase the threshold voltage without the aid of the threshold voltage adjust region). The channel and screening regions can alternatively be used in conjunction with dual work function metal gate stacks to achieve ultra-low power devices. In addition, the formation of these regions can be achieved in multiple ways. In some implementations, a single epitaxial flow can be used, whereby in-situ doping controlled and modulated during growth achieves the desired profile without additional implants, and where multiple implants followed by an undoped epitaxial region can be used to achieve the profile. Alternatively, a dual epitaxial flow with implants similar to the desired concentrations can be used. Or, a multiple epitaxial-flow consisting of any number of combinations of epitaxial and implants can be used to achieve the desired profile. Such variations would not, however, depart from the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereto.
In another example of a device, in addition to the DDC region formed on a substrate, an oxide region or other gate insulator may be formed on the top of the substrate over the channel region. The device may include a metal gate region formed on the oxide region. The resulting device in this example is a transistor that has dynamically controllable threshold voltage, while still being insensitive to RDF in the channel region. In this example, in operation the DDC region has a very low σVT, while the low VDD keeps leakage in deep depletion regions low. In addition, an implant may be provided to enable legacy devices requiring transistor operation at one volt or above.
In the examples below, various device configurations, systems incorporating such devices, and methods of making such devices and systems are discussed and further illustrated in the FIGUREs. These examples are illustrated in a diagrammatic manner that is well understood by those skilled in the art of such devices, systems, and the methods of making them. These examples describe and illustrate details of the devices along with discussion of the feasibility and possible operation characteristics and performance of the underlying systems.
Further comparisons to conventional structures are illustrated in
Thus, in particular embodiments DDC structures can provide comparable benefits in a short channel device that is currently only realized in long channel devices, which are not practical replacements for short channel devices. Referring to
As discussed in the background, certain transistors can be formed to have a channel layer doped according to a Super Steep Retrogradient Well (SSRW) profile. This technique uses a special doping profile to form a heavily doped region beneath a lightly doped channel. Referring to
Many conventional CMOS fabrication processes can be used to fabricate DDC transistors.
DDC transistor process according to the example in
DDC transistors can be formed using available bulk CMOS processing technology, including techniques for depositing dopant migration resistant layers, advanced epitaxial layer growth, ALD, or advanced CVD and PVD, or annealing that are all available on advanced integrated circuit process node technologies, such as those at 65 nm, 45 nm, 32 nm, and 22 nm. While these process nodes generally have a low thermal budget for STI isolation, gate processing, and anneals they are still suitable for formation of DDC transistors.
First, referring to
An optional N-well implantation 1402 and a P-well implantation 1404 are formed on the p-substrate 1406. Then, a shallow P-well implantation 1408 is formed over N-well 1402, and a shallow N-well implantation 1410 is formed over P-well 1404. These different regions may be formed by first forming a pad oxide onto the P-substrate 1406, followed by a first N-well implant of N-well 1402 using a photo resist. The P-well 1404 may be implanted with another photo resist. The shallow N-well 1410 may be formed by implant together with another photo resist. The shallow P-well 1408 may then be implanted together with another photo resist. The process may then be followed by an anneal process.
Proceeding to
Referring next to
The above process flow prepares the device by creating a channel for subsequent processing to make two transistors or other more complicated circuitry. However, the following process flow discloses examples of remaining steps for creating an n-channel and a p-channel transistor as illustrated in
Referring to
In addition, Partial Trench Isolation (PTI) 1430, 1434 may be optionally applied to create an area where a well tap can be connected. The depth of the PTIs 1430, 1434 are set so that the PTIs will go partially into the shallow P-well. An insulator such as an oxide region 1438, 1442 is then deposited in the area where a channel will be formed, as shown in
Referring to
While certain steps of fabricating the DDC device are described above, other optional steps may be included to further improve the performance of the device, or to otherwise comply with different application specifications. For example, a technique known in the art as source/drain extension, as shown in
The threshold voltage tuning region and screen region doping levels are limited to a region between spacer edges under the channel. In one method, silicon is etched for outside spacers 1452 using a mask defined by spacers around respective gates 1436 and 1440 and hardmask on gate. The silicon depth that is etched is larger than the depth of screen region. In this example, silicon is etched for both NMOS and PMOS in the same or different steps. After the silicon etch, silicon 1466 is grown epitaxially to a level slightly higher than the gate dielectric as shown in
As will be appreciated, being able to efficiently operate a circuit in multiple power modes is desirable. Also, being able to quickly and efficiently switch between different power modes can significantly improve the power saving capability and overall performance of a transistor, as well as chips made using such transistors, and also systems that implement such chips. With the ability to efficiently change modes of operation, a device can deliver high performance when needed and conserve power by entering into sleep mode while inactive. According to one embodiment, the modes of individual sub-circuits and even individual devices can be controlled dynamically. With the ability to vary the threshold voltage of a device dynamically, the modes of a device can also be varied dynamically.
Deeply depleted channel devices can have a wide range of nominal threshold voltages and can be operated using a wide range of operating voltages. Some embodiments may be implemented within current standard bulk CMOS operating voltages from 1.0 volts to 1.1 volts, and may also operate at much lower operating voltages, such as 0.3 to 0.7V for example. These provide circuit configurations for low power operation. Furthermore, DDC devices can be more responsive than conventional devices due to their strong body effect. In this respect, a strong body effect can allow the devices to effect change in a circuit through a substantially direct connection to other devices via a common shared well. In one example, a shared well may include a common P-well or N-well that underlies a group of devices. In operation, these devices are able to change modes by modifying the settings of the respective body bias voltages and/or operating voltages of the device. This enables the switching of a single device or one or more groups of devices much faster and using less energy than conventional devices. Thus, dynamic changes in modes can occur quickly, and systems can better manage power savings and overall system performance.
Also, in some applications, backward compatibility to an existing environment may be required so that DDC based devices can operate seamlessly with conventional devices. For example, there may be a mix of new DDC-based devices and conventional devices running at an operating voltage of 1.1 volts. There may be a need to perform level shifting in order to interface the DDC-based device with conventional devices. It is very desirable for DDC-based devices to operate seamlessly with legacy devices.
The screen region provides a high body effect, which is leveraged for responsive multimode switching in transistors. The response of a transistor having a screen region can vary within a wider range to a change in the body bias. More specifically, the high doping screening region can allow the device ON-current and OFF-current to change more widely under various body biases and can thereby facilitate dynamic mode switching. This is because the DDC devices can be configured with a lower σVT than conventional devices, a lower variance of a set threshold voltage. Thus, the threshold voltage, VT, can be set at different values. Even further, a device or group of devices can be body biased in order to change the threshold voltage, thus VT itself can be varied in response a changing body bias voltage. Thus, a lower σVT provides a lower minimum operating voltage VDD and a wider range of available nominal intrinsic values of VT. The increased body effect allows for dynamic control of VT within that wider range.
Furthermore, it can also desirable to configure the device to maximize performance if needed, even if such performance may result in an increase in power consumption. In an alternative embodiment, it may be desirable to place the device in a significantly low-power mode (Sleep mode) when the device is not in a high performance active operating condition. In utilizing DDC transistors in circuit, mode switching can be provided with an adequately fast switching time so as not to affect the overall system response time.
There are several different types of modes that may be desired in a transistor or group of transistors configured according the various DDC embodiments and examples illustrated and described herein. One mode is Low Power Mode, where the bias between body and source voltage, VBS, is zero. In this mode, the device operates with low operating voltage VDD and lower active/passive power then non-DDC devices, but with equivalent performance as any conventional device. Another mode is Turbo mode, where the bias voltage of the device, VBS, is forward biased. In this mode, the device operates with low Vcc and matched passive power with high performance. Another mode is Sleep mode, where the bias voltage, VBS, is reverse biased. In this mode, the device operates with low Vcc and substantially low passive power. In legacy mode, the process flow is modified to allow for non-DDC MOSFET devices to operate substantially the same as legacy devices.
While a DDC structured device provides great performance advantages over conventional devices, it can also enable enhanced dynamic mode switching as a result of a strong body effect afforded by the screen region. The body tap allows for the application of a desired body bias applied to the device to achieve a desired mode. This may be achieved with a DDC having a low-doped channel and a screening region as discussed above, or alternatively with a DDC with multiple regions or layers having different dopant concentrations. When multi-mode switching is used for a group of transistors such as memory blocks or logic blocks, individual transistor control using conventional bulk CMOS techniques may be impractical and may result in substantial overhead for the control circuit. Extra control circuitry would need to be implemented, extensive dedicated wiring for controlling different devices or different groups of devices, and all would significantly add to the overall cost of the integrated circuit.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop sub-circuits or units that can be used to create one or more groups of transistors for dynamic mode switching. Furthermore, it is also desirable to provide a solution that may offer the body bias control technique to legacy devices so that, standing alone or in a mixed environment, legacy devices may also benefit from dynamic control.
Additionally, the relatively high body effect of the transistor with a screen region makes it suitable in certain embodiments for using the body bias as a means for controlling the device for operating in various modes, whether statically by design or dynamically, while a conventional bulk CMOS device may require physical design alterations.
A basic multi-mode device having a highly doped screen region and a mechanism to apply a body bias voltage to the body is shown in
In a conventional bulk CMOS device, the substrate is often connected to the source to maintain the same source body voltage. Thus, the body bias is typically the same for all devices on a substrate. This is similar to the condition in which the DDC device is used in the normal low-power/low-leakage mode as discussed above, wherein the normal operating voltage is applied and zero bias voltage is applied, so VBS=0. However, a multi-mode device configured according to various embodiments described herein may provide an effective mode control means in lieu of the body tap. This is particularly the case where the device includes a heavily doped screen region at a distance from the gate as described above. Unlike silicon-on-insulator based devices, which have low body effect, DDC-based devices can be configured on bulk silicon to produce a device having a high body effect. Thus, DDC configured devices can utilize a varying body bias as a means to enable multi-mode operations. A multi-mode transistor, as shown in the example of
The body bias voltage applied between the source and the body can effectively alter the behavior of a CMOS device. For the aforementioned device having a body tap, the source-body voltage can be applied independent of the gate-source and drain-source voltages. One of the advantages of using the body bias as a control means for multi-mode control is that the device can be connected as if it were a conventional device, for example, where the gate-source voltage and the drain-source voltage are configured the same way. In this case, the mode selection can be made in response to the body bias. Therefore, a device can be operated normally at zero bias, which is the same as a conventional device. When a higher performance mode (Turbo mode) is desired, a forward bias voltage may be applied between well tap and source, i.e., VBS>0. The operating voltage for the Turbo mode can be the same or slightly higher than that of the normal mode. On the other hand, when a Sleep mode is desired, a reverse bias voltage may be applied between well tap and source, i.e., VBS<0. The operating voltage for Sleep mode can be the same or slightly lower than that of the normal mode.
When a zero body bias is applied, the multi-mode device is operated in the normal low power mode. The body bias can be forward biased, a positive voltage applied, between the body and the source as shown in the example of
One other potential benefit of a transistor that can provide a reduced a VT, and thus a VT that can be more precisely controlled, is the ability to control VT dynamically. In conventional devices, σVT is so large that VT needs to be accounted for across a broad range. According to embodiments described herein, VT can be varied dynamically by adjusting the body bias voltage. Dynamic adjustment of VT is provided by the increased body effect, and the range of dynamic control is provided by a reduced σVT. Referring to
According to another embodiment, while
Thus, improved systems can be configured utilizing the DDC structures, such as the transistor structures illustrated in
While the transistor embodiments described thus far generally may provide for continued power scaling of bulk CMOS transistors and other devices, among other things, one desiring to take full advantage of some of the benefits and features of DDC structures at the chip level may also be able to do so by appropriate modification of the layout and routing of circuit blocks on the chip in accordance with the transistor embodiments discussed herein. For example, as discussed previously, the concept of dynamically adjusting the body bias voltage of transistors to adjust their threshold voltages is known but has generally not proven practical to implement in nanoscale devices. Reasons for this include that, in some implementations, (1) the large σVT of conventional bulk CMOS nanoscale devices may not provide for sufficient differentiation between transistors in relation to existing nanoscale-scale devices; (2) the relatively low body coefficient of conventional bulk CMOS nanoscale devices may not provide the ability to switch between operating modes quickly enough to avoid affecting chip operation; and (3) routing the body bias lines to each transistor or circuit block can significantly reduce the number of transistors that can be integrated on a chip, thus inhibiting scaling at the chip level. Some DDC transistor embodiments can address the first two issues by (1) providing a significantly reduced σVT, which allows the same transistor to be designed not only to work at different threshold voltages but at different operating voltages; and/or (2) providing a significantly increased body coefficient that allows transistors and circuit blocks to quickly and efficiently switch between operating modes. DDC transistors can, in some embodiments, be treated as chameleon-like field programmable transistors (FPTs), in which some or all have the same nominal structure and characteristics but are independently configurable to operate as transistors that would have had to have been fabricated differently in conventional bulk CMOS. Improved routing of body bias lines is another element of the following discussion, which also provides further examples of how multi-mode transistors may be used.
In the following examples, various transistors will be described. These transistors are intended to be used as building blocks to form a group of transistors into blocks with an isolated body. Referring again to
In yet another embodiment of the dynamic multimode transistor, a body access transistor can be formed between the actual transistor and the body tap as shown in
As discussed above, partial trench isolation (PTI) is another preferred way to isolate the body tap from the transistor. According to another embodiment illustrated in
The relative planar location of the active area for the source/drain and the active area for well tap may be arranged differently to create a variation of a 4-terminal transistor 2400 having PTI as shown in the example in
While the above examples illustrate a 4-terminal transistor providing a body tap for applying body bias voltage, there are situations in which the fourth terminal for body bias may not be needed. For example, when CMOS transistors have a shallow P-well and N-well on a common N-well, the p-channel transistors having shallow N-well on the N-well will always have a common N-well. In such implementations, there may be no need to provide a separate fourth terminal connecting to the body. Consequently, several examples of 3-terminal transistors are illustrated here and will be used as building blocks to create a group of transistors with body-isolated blocks. In another scenario, the transistor may have a shallow well on a complementary well where said transistor is intended to operate with the body float. In such implementations, there may be no need to use the fourth terminal.
For one example of a 3-terminal structure 2500, a local interconnect connects the gate and the body to reduce the number of terminals from four to three, as shown in
In yet another embodiment, a 3-terminal dynamic multimode transistor is formed by using the body contact under the poly. The oxide under the gate is removed using a GA (Gate to Active) contact mask. Over the gate dielectric removed area, a Polysilicon Gate Contact (PGC) implant may be made that has the same polarity as the SPW. The use of PGC 2650 connects the body to the gate, as shown in structure 2600 of
Alternatively, the body contact can be made in an active area extended under a gate extension, similar to the 3-terminal single gate transistor 2700, as shown in
While the contacts for gate and well tap can be at different locations along the poly as shown in the example in
In another embodiment, the layout will allow for a programmable 4-terminal/3-terminal transistor. As shown in the structure 2900 of
Various transistors have been described herein, and the different structures described in the various embodiments and examples can be used in different combinations and substructures to make useful systems, with improved performance over conventional systems in many instances. These transistor structures may also be used as building blocks for creating a group of transistors divided into multiple blocks and having individual body bias connections for dynamic mode switching. Some examples are described below.
One of the preferred advantages of the transistors configured according to some of the embodiments described herein is dynamic mode switching capability. This can be enabled by applying a controlled body bias voltage to set or adjust variable operating voltages.
As shown in
Furthermore, it can also be extended to device 3300 illustrated in the example in
The following FIGUREs illustrate a number of circuit examples that may be formed using multiple methods and structures, which can be used as building blocks for integrated circuits according to embodiments discussed herein. The discussion will begin with examples using some building-block processes and structures that are currently used in the industry. Later-described FIGUREs will illustrate examples using building-block structures and processes that materially improve on conventional approaches.
In
While
The preceding examples illustrate various dynamic mode switching implementations using bulk CMOS. Nevertheless, the novel body tie design can also be applied to a semiconductor device using a non-CMOS bulk device. For example, the body taps can be formed on the partially depleted (PD) SOI technology, as shown in
Static random access memory is widely used in, or in association with, various digital processors, such as central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors/microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other devices. There are several device structures in wide use in the industry. Among them, the 6T-SRAM (6-Transistor SRAM) cell is most often used because it can be implemented using generic CMOS processes. Consequently, it can be easily embedded into any digital processor. Utilizing the novel structures discussed above, an improved SRAM can be configured with better performance, and reduced circuit area. By implementing novel body taps, body access transistors, and/or the novel DDC structures, a significantly improved SRAM can be produced using well known processing equipment and facilities. Also, some of these SRAM circuit embodiments may be made using the novel DDC structured transistors, and also other types of transistors in combination with the novel DDC structured transistors. And, some of the embodiments herein may be configured without DDC configured transistors while still benefiting from improved SRAM performance and features.
In one embodiment, the basic 6-T SRAM cell includes two pull-up (PU) transistors and two pull-down (PD) transistors that store one bit of data and use two pass gate (PG) transistors to control the bit_line and the inverted bit_line. An example of this is shown in
Memory access can consume significant amounts of power in an electronic system. There have been efforts in the field to develop implementations and systems for lowering power consumption during memory access as well as during data retention. SRAM is typically used in a computer system for program as well as data storage. During program execution or data access, part of the memory may be actively accessed while other parts may be idle. It would be beneficial if the mode of operation for an SRAM could be dynamically switched at a fine granularity. In one embodiment, the body of each cell may be structurally isolated so that the bias of the cell can be individually controlled. In practice, a row of cells may be controlled together by connecting the source voltage for the row. In addition to the VSS based 6T SRAM mode switch control and the body tap and body access transistor techniques described above, this is another approach to create a multi-mode enabled SRAM. The approach can be implemented for use in an SRAM, for instance, by breaking the shallow well diffusion for a block of cells using body access transistor technology. A desired body bias can be selectively applied to the block of SRAM cells via the body tap to determine the desired mode of operation.
In order to create a dynamic multi-mode SRAM array, examples of embodiments are provided that use component building blocks. These blocks include various 4-terminal, 3-terminal, and programmable 3/4-terminal transistors. These building blocks together with various body connection structures may be combined to build improved SRAM circuits that operate more efficiently. For example, body access transistor can be formed by converting poly over STI into a transistor, while treating the body tap as one of the source/drain pairs. The body access cell can be added to surrounding areas to isolate the shallow well of an SRAM array so that the body bias can be individually applied to the SRAM array. An example of a 6T SRAM implementation and associated body access transistors along with the process of connecting the SRAM cells and the body access cells to create a dynamic multi-mode SRAM array is described below.
Cross sections of one preferred layout for a SRAM cell structure 3900 are shown in
While
The body control signals (VSPWn) can run parallel to the word line. During operation of the SRAM array, body bias of the selected word group can be switched to positive if any word in the selected word group is selected. This helps improve read and write performance. All other word groups in the sub-array can have body reverse biased (or zero biased) for leakage reduction when reading or writing from a particular word group.
In some usages of the 6T SRAM using body tap/body access cell to facilitate mode switch, the shallow P-well body can be used for dynamic switching while the p-channel body (N-well) can be used for static bias. Any word selected in the group can cause the shallow P-well body of all n-channel transistors in selected word group to switch. The bias for the p-channel and n-channel can be set to zero, and then forward or reverse biased according to desired mode.
The body access cell-based dynamic mode switching SRAM array as described above has advantages in scalable fine granular control. However, this approach will require body access cells in addition to the SRAM cells. There are other methods and systems that do not require the extra body access cell. One of these approaches uses VSS per row while all the cells of the SRAM array in the body access cell based approach share a common Vss. If the VSS can be individually controlled per row, a unique VSS can be applied to each row to create a desired body bias for the row. In this scenario, the body voltage may not be controllable. However, the VSS can be separately controlled to cause different VBS voltage (the voltage between the body and the source) and achieve dynamic mode switching.
In a full layout of the 4×4 SRAM array corresponding to
An alternative implementation of the VSS-based mode switch for 6T SRAM 5000 is shown in
The mode of operation for the cell is determined according to several conditions including VSS, n-channel bias, word line (WL) state, bit line (BL) state, VDD and p-channel body bias. The VSS, n-channel bias, word line (WL) state and bit line (BL) state can be used for dynamic control while VDD and p-channel body bias can be used for static mode control. For the SRAM array, dedicated VSS is used on a per-row basis (VSS0, −VSS2, VSS3). Similarly, the WL, which is connected to the shallow P-well to dynamically control the n-channel body bias, is also organized with one WL per row (WL0-WL3). The BL and VDD lines are used to connect the cells in the vertical direction. As shown, both BL and VDD are organized to provide one BL and one VDD per column. A typical SRAM may include Read/Write, NOP (No Operation) and deep sleep modes. Further details of these modes are discussed below.
In Standby and Data Retention modes (corresponding to a deep sleep mode), VSS can be biased positive to reverse bias the body of the n-channel devices, and to reduce effective VDS. This configuration lowers standby leakage. For example, VSS can be set to 0.3V and VDD set to no more than 0.6V such that VDS≤0.3V. Both the PG and PD transistors will be reverse biased under this condition. The p-channel device is zero biased or reverse biased to keep the PU transistor current 1000× that of the PD off current. In the NOP mode, both PG and PD n-channel devices have a biased body with reverse bias and the PU p-channel device body is biased at zero bias or reverse bias. As an example, the VDD is set to 1.0V and VSS and BL are set to 0.6V, so that VDS≤0.4V and a low standby current are achieved.
In the Read mode, both PG and PD n-channel devices can have forward bias. The dynamic Vss switching may be limited to a selected word (or row). For a PG device, VGS=VBS≤0.6V and VDS≤0.6V. For a PD device, VGS=1.0V and VBS≤0.6V. A favorable PD/PG beta ratio can be achieved due to a larger PD VDS. The PG device width can be the same as the PD device width. This can achieve favorable read static noise margin and low read cell current.
In the write mode, both PG and PD n-channel devices can have forward bias. The dynamic VSS switching may be limited to the selected word (or row). For a PG device, VGS=VBS≤0.6V. While the n-channel PG transistors and PD transistors in a shallow P-Well and the p-channel PU transistors are used in the above example, the p-channel PG transistor and PD transistor in a shallow N-Well and the n-channel PU transistors can also be used to achieve the same design goal.
While the VSS per-row technique does not require body access cells for shallow well isolation, each SRAM cell is larger than the SRAM cell for the body access cell based technique. In order to isolate the cell from neighboring cells to facilitate Vss based body bias control per row, inactive areas can be added around the cell. Consequently, the cell height may be increased, in this example, by 130 nm. This corresponds to about a 38% increase in cell area. All transistors are oriented in the same direction. As a design example, the dimensions of transistors are as follows:
Passgate (PG):W/L=70 nm/40 nm
Pulldown (PD):W/L=85 nm/35 nm
Pullup (PU):W/L=65 nm/35 nm
This example results in an area, x*y=0.72)μm*0.475 μm=0.342)μm2 in a 45 nm process node.
According to some embodiments, System 5200 is an electronics system having multiple, independently packaged components and/or subassemblies. Examples of such systems today include personal computers, mobile telephones, digital music players, e-book readers, gaming consoles, portable gaming systems, cable set top boxes, televisions, stereo equipment, and any other electronic similar electronics system that might benefit from the increased control of power consumption provided by the technologies disclosed herein. In such systems, the functional units 5201, 5201, 5203, 5204-1 through 5204-n are the typical system components for such systems, and the interconnect 5210 is typically provided using a printed wiring board or backplane (not shown). For example, in the case of personal computers, the functional components would include the CPU, system memory, and a mass storage device such as hard disk drive or solid state disk drive, all of which would be interconnected as necessary by a system interconnect implemented on a motherboard. Similarly, a mobile telephone would include a variety of one or more chips and a display panel, for example, all of which typically would be interconnected using one or more printed wiring boards (PWBs), which may include flex connectors
According to other embodiments, system 5210 is a system-in-package (SIP) in which each of the functional units is an integrated circuit, all of which are packaged together in a single multi-chip package. In SIP systems, the interconnect 5210 may be provided by direct chip-to-chip interconnections such as wire bonds, lead bonds, solder balls or gold stud bumps, for example, as well as by interconnections provided by a package substrate, which may include common bus-type interconnects, point-to-point interconnects, voltage planes and ground planes, for example.
According to yet other embodiments, System 5200 is a single chip, such as a system-on-chip (SOC), and the functional units are implemented as groups of transistors (e.g., circuit blocks or cells) on a common semiconductor substrate or semiconductor-on-insulator substrate (e.g., when bulk CMOS and Sal structures are implemented on an Sal substrate). In such embodiments, interconnect 5210 may be provided using any technique available for interconnecting circuit blocks in an integrated circuit.
As discussed above, the transistor and integrated circuit technologies discussed allow the manufacture and use of multi-mode transistors that can be independently specified, statically by design and/or dynamically by adjusting body bias and/or operating voltage, on a common semiconductor substrate. These same technologies can also provide similar benefits at the system level, even if only one of the functional units implements the technology. For example, functional unit 5202 may include logic (not shown) that dynamically adjusts the operational mode(s) of its DDC transistors to reduce power consumption. This may be done, for example, through digital or analog techniques implemented on functional unit 5202. Alternatively, functional unit 5202 may control power consumption in response to external control signals from another functional unit, e.g., functional unit 5201. Whether the power consumption is each functional unit is controlled locally by the functional unit, centrally by a controller functional unit, or by a hybrid approach, typically more control over power consumption can be achieved.
System level control of power consumption is something that is known, particularly in computing systems. For example, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification is an open standard for power management of system components by the operating system. The deeply depleted channel, transistor, and integrated circuit technologies described above complement and extend the capabilities of such power management approaches by allowing system control of individual circuit blocks in each functional unit in the system. For example, the lowest level of control provided by ACPI is the device level, which corresponds to the functional unit (e.g., a chip or a hard drive) of a multi-component system such as personal computers. By providing granular individual control over the power consumption of individual circuit blocks within a device, many more device and system power states are possible.
System level power management may be of particular benefit in SOC systems that use DDC structures. As discussed previously, DDC structures allow for a high level of programmability in nanoscale transistors. Because of the relatively wide range of available nominal threshold voltages VT, the relatively low σVT, and the relatively high body coefficient of DDC structures, transistors that are all manufactured to have the same intrinsic VT and to be operated with the same operating voltage VDD can be configured after to power up to operate in distinct operating modes, using different actual VT and, potentially, different actual operating voltages VDD, on a circuit block by circuit block basis. This kind of flexibility allows the same chip to be designed for use in a variety of target systems and operating conditions and dynamically configured for operation in situ. This could be particularly useful for systems, whether sacs or not, that are connected to AC power sometimes and use battery power at other times.
The deeply depleted channel, transistor, integrated circuit and system technologies described above provide the ability for highly granular control of systems attached to a network. Having such a high level of control over networked systems could be of particular use in enterprise networks to reduce energy costs incurred by equipment that is on but not being used. Such control could also be of subscription-based wireless networks including, for example, cellular telephone networks, whether to assist in controlling power consumption, turning system capabilities on or off depending on the terms of subscription, selectively putting certain functional units or portions thereof into a higher performing mode of operation (e.g., “turbo mode”) to boost performance.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/129,518 filed Sep. 12, 2018, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/398,471 filed Jan. 4, 2017 and now U.S. Pat. No. 10,217,668, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/241,337 filed Aug. 19, 2016 and now U.S. Pat. No. 10,224,244, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/642,156 filed Mar. 9, 2015 and now U.S. Pat. No. 10,074,568, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/082,931 filed Nov. 18, 2013 and now U.S. Pat. No. 8,975,128, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/616,859 filed Sep. 14, 2012 and now U.S. Pat. No. 8,604,530, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/708,497 filed Feb. 18, 2010 and now U.S. Pat. No. 8,273,617, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/247,300, filed Sep. 30, 2009 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/262,122, filed Nov. 17, 2009. The disclosure all of the above are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
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