The present invention relates to a structure of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a technique effectively applied to an in-vehicle electronic control device (in-vehicle control device) requiring for high reliability.
In vehicle fields, an in-vehicle semiconductor device is widely used for engine control (power train), an in-vehicle information system (cockpit), electric vehicle motor control (EV.HEV), or the like, and the quality of the in-vehicle semiconductor device is required to be extremely highly managed.
In an analog circuit of the in-vehicle semiconductor device, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a current mirror circuit to obtain a stable current output or a differential amplifier circuit to amplify a minute signal is incorporated, and characteristics of a plurality of transistors constituting such a circuit are required to coincide with each other with high accuracy.
As a background art of the present technical field, for example, there is a technique as disclosed in PTL 1.
PTL 1 discloses that “in order to provide a semiconductor device capable of implementing high consistency of characteristics of each of a plurality of circuit elements requiring relative accuracy, in a case where a certain metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor element and another MOS transistor element requiring accuracy relative to the MOS transistor element are formed in one active region, high relative accuracy can be obtained by separating a gate electrode of the MOS transistor element from an interface between the active region and the element separation region in a channel direction of the MOS transistor element by 10 μm or more”.
PTL 1: JP 2010-027842 A
As described above, in a transistor element in a current mirror circuit or a differential amplifier circuit that requires high relative accuracy, even in a case where the high relative accuracy is obtained immediately after manufacturing, as the circuit is used for a long time, the accuracy varies, and a performance of the circuit varies with time.
For example, in a case where a current is stably generated in the current mirror circuit, even when a desired current value is obtained as an initial characteristic, characteristics of the transistor may vary due to thermal or mechanical stress during use, and thus relative accuracy may vary. As a result, the current value may vary.
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device having small characteristic variations with time and high reliability and an in-vehicle control device using the same, the semiconductor device including a plurality of transistor elements constituting a current mirror circuit or a differential amplifier circuit that requires high relative accuracy.
In order to solve the above problems, a semiconductor device according to the present invention includes a first metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor, a second MOS transistor paired with the first MOS transistor, and insulation separation walls which insulate and separate elements from each other, wherein relative characteristics of the first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor are in a predetermined range, the first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor are relatively arranged in a gate width direction or a gate length direction, and distances between gate oxide films of the first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor and the insulation separation walls facing the gate oxide films are the same as each other in a direction perpendicular to the gate width direction or the gate length direction.
According to the present invention, a semiconductor device having small characteristic variations with time and high reliability and an in-vehicle control device using the same can be implemented, the semiconductor device including a plurality of transistor elements constituting a current mirror circuit or a differential amplifier circuit that requires high relative accuracy.
Objects, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of embodiments.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described using the drawings. It should be noted that in the respective drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same components and detailed overlapped description thereof will be omitted.
A semiconductor device and an in-vehicle control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Insulation separation walls 9 and 10 and insulation separation walls 11 and 12 which insulate and separate elements from each other are provided around these MOS transistors 501 and 502, respectively.
The insulation separation wall 9 is a first insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501 in a direction perpendicular to a gate length direction 110 of the first MOS transistor 501.
The insulation separation wall 10 is a second insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501 in a direction perpendicular to the gate length direction 110 of the first MOS transistor 501.
The insulation separation wall 11 is a third insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 in a direction perpendicular to a gate length direction 110 of the second MOS transistor 502.
The insulation separation wall 12 is a fourth insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 in a direction perpendicular to the gate length direction 110 of the second MOS transistor 502.
It should be noted that although the insulation separation walls 9, 10, 11, and 12 are arranged independently of each other in
In the semiconductor device of the present embodiment, as illustrated in
In a general MOS transistor, a current flowing between a drain and a source is controlled. Lengths of gate insulation films (oxide films) 3 and 7 in a direction in which a current flows are called gate lengths 111 and 113, respectively, and lengths of the gate insulation films (oxide films) 3 and 7 in a direction perpendicular thereto are called gate widths 112 and 114, respectively. That is, a gate width and a gate length which are indexes determining a performance of a MOS transistor are determined by a size of each of the active regions 2 and 6 and a width of each of the gate electrodes 1 and 5.
A MOS transistor 503 is formed on a silicon layer 230, and includes a gate oxide film 222, a gate electrode layer 220, and source or drain regions 224. A predetermined voltage is applied to the gate electrode 220 so as to control a current flowing in a conduction region (channel region) 231 of the MOS transistor. One of the MOS transistors and another transistor are separated by an element separation layer 226. Insulation separation walls 227a and 227b are mainly used to increase electrical insulating properties between elements used in a circuit or between a specific circuit region and another circuit region. An upper portion of the MOS transistor is a wiring layer region 228.
In general, a material having a high conductivity, such as polysilicon (Poly-Si) is used for a gate electrode, and a material having high insulating properties, such as a silicon oxide film (SiO2) is used as the gate oxide film 222, the element separation layer 226, and the insulation separation walls 227a and 227b. In addition, aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu) is used as a main material of a wiring in the wiring layer region 228, and a material such as SiO2, SiOF, SiN, or SiC is used for an insulation film between wirings.
Since the mechanical stress varies depending on a distance from the insulation separation wall 227a, in a case where distances 117 and 118 between the gate oxide film 222 of the first MOS transistor 503 and the gate oxide film 223 of the second MOS transistor 504, from the insulation separation wall 227a are different from each other, a difference in characteristics of the first MOS transistor 503 and the second MOS transistor 504 may be generated.
When the amount of strain at the interface 237 between the silicon 235 and the inter-layer insulation film 234 is analyzed through a simulation, it can be seen that, as a distance x from the insulation separation wall 233 is decreased, the strain is increased, and the strain is transmitted even at a position separated by 20 μm or more, as illustrated in
The stress is generally in proportion to the amount of strain, as it is close to the insulation separation wall 233, the stress is increased and the characteristics of the MOS transistor is highly likely to vary. In addition, the stress near the SiO2/Si interface 237 may be relieved by thermal stress or the like. Even in this case, a method of varying the characteristics of the MOS transistor may vary depending on a difference in distance from the insulation separation wall 233. Therefore, as illustrated in
Meanwhile, for example, in
As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce characteristics variations with time of a plurality of transistor elements constituting the current mirror circuit or the differential amplifier circuit that requires high relative accuracy. Therefore, it is possible to improve reliability of the semiconductor device including the current mirror circuit or the differential amplifier circuit and the in-vehicle control device using the same.
A semiconductor device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Insulation separation walls 16 and 17 and insulation separation walls 18 and 19 which insulate and separate elements from each other are provided around these MOS transistors 501 and 502, respectively.
The insulation separation wall 16 is a first insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501 in a direction perpendicular to a gate width direction 109 of the first MOS transistor 501.
The insulation separation wall 17 is a second insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501 in a direction perpendicular to the gate width direction 109 of the first MOS transistor 501.
The insulation separation wall 18 is a third insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 in a direction perpendicular to a gate width direction 109 of the second MOS transistor 502.
The insulation separation wall 19 is a fourth insulation separation wall extending to face the gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 in a direction perpendicular to the gate width direction 109 of the second MOS transistor 502.
It should be noted that although the insulation separation walls 16, 17, 18, and 19 are arranged independently of each other in
In the semiconductor device of the present embodiment, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
A semiconductor device according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
Even in the present embodiment, similarly to the second embodiment, characteristics variations with time of the plurality of transistor elements can be reduced. In addition, the plurality of transistors constitute the second MOS transistor 502, such that a current larger than that of the first MOS transistor 501 can be output from the second MOS transistor 502.
A semiconductor device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Even in the present embodiment, similarly to the third embodiment, characteristics variations with time of the plurality of transistor elements can be reduced. In addition, each of the first MOS transistor 501, the second MOS transistor 502, and the third MOS transistor 502b is composed of a plurality of transistors, such that a current output from each of the transistor groups can be larger than that of one MOS transistor composed of the transistor groups.
A semiconductor device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The first and second MOS transistors 501 and 502 are composed of active regions 2 and 6 and gate electrodes 1 and 5, respectively, and insulation separation walls 9 and 10 and insulation separation walls 11 and 12 which insulate and separate elements from each other are provided around these MOS transistors, respectively.
The first and second MOS transistors 501 and 502 are arranged in a gate width direction 109, and distances 101 and 103 between one sides of gate oxide films 3 and 7 and insulation separation walls 9 and 11 in a gate length direction 110 perpendicular to the gate width direction 109 are 25 μm or less and have the same length.
There is no problem even in a case where any one of distances 102 and 104 between the other sides of the gate oxide films 3 and 7 and insulation separation walls 10 and 12 is more than 25 μm and the insulation separation walls 10 and 12 are arranged in different lengths.
The method is effective to sufficiently reduce an influence of stress on characteristics of the MOS transistor from the insulation separation wall when the distance from the insulation separation wall is 25 μm or more, as illustrated in
A semiconductor device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The first and second MOS transistors 501 and 502 are composed of active regions 2 and 6 and gate electrodes 1 and 5, respectively, and insulation separation walls 16 and 17 and insulation separation walls 18 and 19 which insulate and separate elements from each other are provided around these MOS transistors, respectively.
The first and second MOS transistors 501 and 502 are arranged in a gate length direction 110, and distances 105 and 107 between one sides of gate oxide films 3 and 7 and insulation separation walls 16 and 18 in a gate width direction 109 perpendicular to the gate length direction 110 are 25 μm or less and have the same length.
There is no problem even in a case where any one of distances 106 and 108 between the other sides of the gate oxide films 3 and 7 and insulation separation walls 17 and 19 is more than 25 μm and the insulation separation walls 17 and 19 are arranged in different lengths.
The method is effective to sufficiently reduce an influence of stress on characteristics of the MOS transistor from the insulation separation wall when the distance from the insulation separation wall is 25 μm or more, as illustrated in
A semiconductor device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The first and second MOS transistors 501 and 502 are composed of active regions 2 and 6 and gate electrodes 1 and 5, respectively, and are surrounded by insulation separation walls 20 and 21, respectively.
Distances 120, 121, 122, and 123 between the insulation separation wall 20 surrounding the first MOS transistor 501 and four sides of a gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501, and distances 124, 125, 126, and 127 between the insulation separation wall 21 surrounding the second MOS transistor 502 and four sides of a gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 are the same as each other, respectively.
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce characteristic variations with time between the first MOS transistor 501 and the second MOS transistor 502 surrounded by the insulation separation walls 20 and 21, respectively.
A semiconductor device according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Similarly to the seventh embodiment (
Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, distances 120, 121, 122, and 123 between the insulation separation wall 20 and four sides of a gate oxide film region 3 of the first MOS transistor 501, and distances 124, 125, 126, and 127 between the insulation separation wall 21 and four sides of a gate oxide film region 7 of the second MOS transistor 502 are the same as each other, respectively, when each of the distances is 25 μm or less.
The method is effective to sufficiently reduce an influence of stress on characteristics of the MOS transistor from the insulation separation wall when the distance from the insulation separation wall is 25 μm or more, as illustrated in
A semiconductor device according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As described in the seventh embodiment (
In the present embodiment, the first MOS transistor 501 and the second MOS transistor 502 are arranged so that the gate length direction 110 of the first MOS transistor 501 and the gate length direction 110 of the second MOS transistor 502 are orthogonal to each other.
Therefore, in an analog circuit, a degree of freedom in layout design of the current mirror circuit or the differential amplification circuit is improved.
It should be noted that in each of the above-described embodiments, although a semiconductor substrate on which each of the MOS transistors and the insulation separation walls are formed has been described by assuming a semiconductor substrate (bulk wafer) formed of bulk silicon, a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate provided with an embedded oxide film (SiO2) inside the semiconductor substrate is used, such that a stray capacity or a leak current between elements can be reduced and reliability of the semiconductor device can be further improved.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to assist in the understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not always limited to embodiments having all the described components. In addition, it is possible to replace a part of components of an embodiment with components of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add a component of another embodiment to a component of an embodiment. In addition, regarding a part of components of each embodiment, it is possible to perform addition, deletion, or substitution using other components.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JP2018-115337 | Jun 2018 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2019/017126 | 4/23/2019 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2019/244470 | 12/26/2019 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20030151112 | Yamada | Aug 2003 | A1 |
20050189595 | Okamoto | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20090236672 | Harashima | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20130168767 | Lin et al. | Jul 2013 | A1 |
20180211898 | Oshima | Jul 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2003-243528 | Aug 2003 | JP |
2005-243928 | Sep 2005 | JP |
2009-231563 | Oct 2009 | JP |
2010-027842 | Feb 2010 | JP |
WO-2017038344 | Mar 2017 | WO |
Entry |
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International Search Report with English translation and Written Opinion issued in corresponding application No. PCT/JP2019/017126 dated Aug. 13, 2019. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210233935 A1 | Jul 2021 | US |