This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-185602, filed Sep. 6, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to integrated circuit devices.
A gate array method is one of the methods for producing an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The gate array method is a method by which a common process is used to form an array of transistors or common circuit elements. The transistor gates can then be connected (wired) to each other by formation of a wiring layer in accordance with a specific integrated circuit needed by the user for an application.
In the gate array method, to make the high-speed operation characteristics and the low-power consumption characteristics of the integrated circuit compatible with each other, it is possible to form a “master slice” arrangement in which a column including vertically arranged basic cells, each including a high-speed operation transistor, and a column including vertically arranged basic cells, each including a low-power consumption transistor, are alternately disposed. Since the two types of transistors may be used, compatibility between the high-speed operation characteristics and the low-power consumption characteristics can be provided. However, since it is rare that a nearly equal number of the two types of transistors is used in the integrated circuit, many transistors that are not used as circuit elements remain on the master slice. These unused transistors cause an increase in the area of the integrated circuit and an increase in a production cost.
According to the present exemplary embodiments, there is provided an integrated circuit device that is capable of producing an integrated circuit in which the high-speed operation characteristics and the low-power consumption characteristics are compatible with each other while reducing the transistors that are not used as circuit elements.
In general, according to one embodiment, an integrated circuit device includes a plurality of basic cells each including a first transistor pair having two p-channel transistors of a first-type and a second transistor pair having two p-channel transistors of a second-type. The second-type transistors are configured to consume less power and operate more slowly than the first-type transistors. The basic cell further includes a third transistor pair having two n-channel transistors of a third-type. The third transistor pair is disposed between the first and second transistor pairs. Gate electrodes are separately provided for each transistor in the first, second, and third transistor pairs.
In some embodiments, each basic cell includes a first transistor pair including two p-type high-speed transistors, a second transistor pair including two p-type low-power transistors having a property of consuming a lower amount of power and operating more slowly than the p-type high-speed transistors, a third transistor pair that includes two n-type transistors and is disposed in such a way as to be sandwiched between the first transistor pair and the second transistor pair, and a plurality of gate electrodes provided for each transistor.
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the inventions are not limited to the embodiments described below. Incidentally, common portions in the drawings are identified with common reference symbols, and overlapping explanations may be omitted. Moreover, the drawings are schematic diagrams for explaining the embodiments and facilitating the understanding thereof and include some portions whose shapes, dimensions, ratios, etc. are different from the shapes, dimensions, ratios, etc. of an actual device, but design changes of the shapes, dimensions, ratios, etc. may be appropriately performed in consideration of the following explanations and publicly known techniques.
The basic cell 10 includes a p-type high-speed transistor pair 31 including two p-channel high-speed operation transistors (hereinafter, p-type high-speed transistors: HS), a p-type low-power transistor pair 32 including two p-channel low-power consumption transistors (hereinafter, p-type low-power transistors: LP), and an n-type transistor pair 40 including two n-channel transistors (hereinafter, n-type transistors). The basic cell 10 includes three rows when viewed from above, as depicted in the
A plurality of gate electrodes 50 are provided for each transistor. The gate electrodes 50 are not electrically connected to one another and are independent for each transistor when initially fabricated.
On the n-type transistor pair 40, a power-supply wiring electrode 51 extending in an X direction of the drawing is provided. Incidentally, in
The n-type transistor pair 40 is an n-type transistor pair that can be combined with both the p-type high-speed transistor and the p-type low-power transistor to provide an integrated circuit. For example, the n-type transistor pair 40 may be an n-type high-speed transistor pair or an n-type low-power transistor pair. Alternatively, the n-type transistor pair 40 may include two n-type intermediate level transistors having characteristics intermediate between the high-speed transistor and the low-power transistor.
On the surface of the master slice 1, a plurality of basic cells 10 are disposed in a matrix along the X direction and the Y direction. Specifically, some of the basic cells 10 are disposed in such a way that the basic cells 10 are turned upside down (depicted as the second row from above in
Hereinafter, a method of formation of a transistor included in the basic cell 10 will be described. The p-type low-power transistor has the property of consuming a lower amount of power and operating more slowly than the p-type high-speed transistor. In addition, the two types of p-type transistors (the p-type high-speed transistor and the p-type low-power transistor) may be formed separately by adjusting the concentration of an impurity injected into a channel region of a transistor. For example, a transistor having a relatively high p-type impurity concentration in a channel region has a greater threshold value (Vth) and becomes a low-power transistor. On the other hand, a transistor having a relatively low p-type impurity concentration in a channel region has a smaller Vth and becomes a high-speed transistor.
The n-type transistor may also be formed in a similar manner. For example, to form an n-type low-power transistor, the n-type impurity concentration of a channel region is simply increased relatively to make the Vth of the transistor closer or equal to the Vth of the p-type low-power transistor. Therefore, the Vth of the n-type low-power transistor is closer to the Vth of the p-type low-power transistor as compared to the Vth of the p-type high-speed transistor. On the other hand, to form an n-type high-speed transistor, the n-type impurity concentration of a channel region is simply decreased relatively to make the Vth of the transistor closer or equal to the Vth of the p-type high-speed transistor. Therefore, the Vth of the n-type high-speed transistor is closer to the Vth of the p-type high-speed transistor as compared to the Vth of the p-type low-power transistor. Moreover, when an n-type intermediate level transistor is formed, the impurity concentration is adjusted so that the transistor has a Vth intermediate between the Vth of the p-type low-power transistor and the Vth of the p-type high-speed transistor. Incidentally, when the impurity concentrations of the channel regions of the n-type transistor and the p-type transistor are made to be equal to each other, the Vth of the n-type transistor becomes smaller than the Vth of the p-type transistor and the operation speed of the n-type transistor becomes higher than the operation speed of the p-type transistor.
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The integrated circuits of
According to this first embodiment, the basic cell 10 includes two types of p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32 and one n-type transistor pair 40. The two p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32 share one n-type transistor pair 40.
Here, as a comparative example, assume that the master slice includes equal numbers of two types of basic cells, a first-type type basic cell including one p-type high-speed transistor pair and one n-type high-speed transistor pair, and a second-type basic cell including one p-type low-power transistor pair and one n-type low-power transistor pair. In this case, for example, when an integrated circuit using only a high-speed transistor is formed, the basic cell (the second-type basic cell) provided with the low-power transistor pair is not used as a circuit element. That is, one basic cell of the two basic cells (one half of the master slice) is not used.
On the other hand, according to the first embodiment, even when an integrated circuit using only a high-speed transistor is formed, only one p-type low-power transistor pair 32 of one basic cell 10 is not used as a circuit element. That is, only one third of the master slice 1 is not used. Incidentally, the same goes for an integrated circuit in which only a low-power transistor is used.
As described above, according to the first embodiment, by making the p-type high-speed transistor pair 31 and the p-type low-power transistor pair 32 share one n-type transistor pair 40, the number of n-type transistor pairs included in the basic cell 10 is reduced. As a result, the number of unused transistor pairs that are not used as circuit elements may be reduced. Therefore, the area of a semiconductor chip for configuring an integrated circuit may be reduced and a production cost of the integrated circuit may be reduced.
In addition, according to the first embodiment, since one basic cell 10 has two types of p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32, even an integrated circuit including both of the two types of p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32 may be configured without drawing out the wiring lines 60 in a long distance. Therefore, resistance of the wiring lines 60 may be reduced and the characteristics of the integrated circuit may be accordingly improved.
Moreover, in the basic cell of the above-described comparative example, a common gate electrode shared by the two transistor pairs is formed in advance in such a way as to electrically connect the p-type transistor pair and the n-type transistor pair. Therefore, in the integrated circuit, the p-type transistor pair and the n-type transistor pair have to be used in combination. On the other hand, in the first embodiment, since the gate electrode 50 is independent for each transistor, the integrated circuit may be configured by combining the transistors arbitrarily via the wiring lines 60.
The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a basic cell 20 has two types of n-type transistor pairs 41 and 42.
According to the second embodiment, since the basic cell 20 includes the two types of n-type transistor pairs 41 and 42, any one of the n-type transistor pairs 41 and 42 may be selected in accordance with the type of the p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32 used in the integrated circuit. In addition, since an integrated circuit may be configured by combining the p-type transistor pair and the n-type transistor pair of the same type, the balance of the integrated circuit is improved.
Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, since the basic cell 20 includes the two types of p-type transistor pairs 31 and 32 and the gate electrode 50 that is independent for each transistor, the same advantages as the advantages of the first embodiment may be produced.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-185602 | Sep 2013 | JP | national |