In a memory, a sensing amplifier (SA) is an important functional device, which can amplify and output a data signal output from the memory cell, or amplify an external signal and write it into a memory unit. The sensing amplifier consists of a pair of P-type transistors (referred to as PSA) and a pair of N-type transistors (referred to as NSA). However, during the manufacturing process, there are some deviation or mismatch problems in the PSA, which reduces the performance of the sensing amplifier.
The disclosure relates to a technical field of semiconductors, and in particular to a semiconductor structure and a memory.
In a first aspect, embodiments of the disclosure provide a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a first active area, a first gate, a second active area and a second gate.
The first gate is located on the first active area, and the first active area and the first gate are configured to form a first transistor.
The second active area and the first active area are arranged along a first direction, and the second active area and the first active area are independent from each other.
The second gate is located on the second active area, and the second active area and the second gate are configured to form a second transistor.
Sizes of the first transistor and the second transistor are same, and a deviation between an electrical parameter of the first transistor and an electrical parameter of the second transistor is below a preset threshold, and the first transistor and the second transistor belong to a cross coupling amplifying unit.
In a second aspect, embodiments of the disclosure provide a memory including the semiconductor structure according to the first aspect.
The technical solutions of embodiments of the disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the disclosure. It can be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the related application, but not to limit the application. In addition, it should also be noted that, for convenience of description, only the parts related to the related application are shown in the drawings.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as those commonly understood by one person skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit the disclosure.
In the following description, reference is made to “some embodiments” that describe subsets of all possible embodiments, but it should be understood that “some embodiments” may be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments and may be combined with each other without conflict.
It should be pointed out that, the term “first/second/third” referred to in the embodiments of the disclosure is used only to distinguish similar objects, and does not represent a specific ordering of objects. It can be understood that the “first/second/third” may be interchanged in a particular order or sequence where permitted to enable the embodiments of the disclosure described herein to be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein.
The abbreviations involved in the disclosure are explained as followed.
MOS: metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor.
PMOS: P-type MOS, which is a semiconductor dominated by the hole conduction, also known as a P-type transistor.
NMOS: N-type MOS, which is a semiconductor dominated by the electronic conduction, also known as an N-type transistor.
BL: bit line.
WL: word line.
In an integrated circuit, the MOS is still the most commonly used unit device. For a sensing amplifier (SA) in a memory, its core is a cross coupling amplifying unit composed of a pair of NMOSs and a pair of PMOSs. Referring to
As shown in
Referring to
Embodiments of the disclosure provide a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a first active area; a first gate located on the first active area, in which the first active area and the first gate are configured to form a first transistor; a second active area, in which the second active area and the first active area are arranged along a first direction, and the second active area and the first active area are independent from each other; a second gate located on the second active area, in which the second active area and the second gate are configured to form a second transistor, in which sizes of the first transistor and the second transistor are the same, and a deviation between an electrical parameter of the first transistor and an electrical parameter of the second transistor is below a preset threshold, and the first transistor and the second transistor belong to a cross coupling amplifying unit. In this way, since the first active area and the second active area are independent from each other, the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the first transistor are very close to the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of second transistor, and thus the symmetry of the first transistor and the second transistor is improved, the deviation between the electrical parameters of first transistor and the second transistor is smaller, the signal amplification capability of the cross coupling amplifying unit can be improved and the performance of a sensing amplifier in a memory is finally improved.
The embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, referring to
The first gate 12 is located on the first active area 11, and the first active area 11 and the first gate 12 are configured to form a first transistor.
The second active area 13 and the first active area 11 are arranged along a first direction, and the second active area 13 and the first active area 11 are independent from each other.
The second gate 14 is located on the second active area 13, and the second active area 13 and the second gate 14 are configured to form a second transistor.
Sizes of the first transistor and the second transistor are the same, and a deviation between an electrical parameter of the first transistor and an electrical parameter of the second transistor is below a preset threshold, and the first transistor and the second transistor belong to a cross coupling amplifying unit.
It should be noted that the semiconductor structure 10 provided by the embodiments of the disclosure can be used to form the sensing amplifier. The first transistor and the second transistor are PMOS, that is, the first transistor and the second transistor may be a PSA in the cross coupling amplifying unit.
In addition, the first transistor and the second transistor may also be an NSA in the cross coupling amplifying unit or are applied to other similar circuit structures. The embodiments of the disclosure only take the PSA as an example for subsequent description, but this does not constitute a relevant limitation.
As shown in
Accordingly, referring to
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
In this way, by controlling the distances between the outer edges of the gates and the outer edges of the active areas, the overlapping regions between the gates and the active areas in the first transistor and the second transistor can be further controlled, which improves the symmetry of the PSA, thereby reducing the noise caused by the PSA mismatch, and finally the performance of the memory can be improved.
In some embodiments, as shown in
The first contact region 15 is located in the first active area.
The second contact region 16 is located in the first active area 11, and the first contact region 15, the first gate 12 and the second contact region 16 are arranged along the second direction in sequence.
The third contact region 17 is located in the second active area 13.
The fourth contact region 18 is located in the second active area 13, and the third contact region 17, the second gate 14 and the fourth contact region 18 are arranged along the second direction in sequence.
It should be noted that the contact regions are used to form contact plugs in the later stages to apply voltages to the transistors or lead out currents of the transistors.
In some embodiments, shapes of the first contact region 15 and the third contact region 17 are the same, and shapes of the second contact region 16 and the fourth contact region 18 are the same. Furthermore, in the second direction, a distance between the first contact region 15 and the first gate 12 is a fifth value, and a distance between the third contact region 17 and the second gate 14 is a sixth value, and the fifth value is the same as the sixth value. A distance between the second contact region 16 and the first gate 12 is a seventh value, and a distance between the fourth contact region 18 and the second gate 14 is an eighth value, and the seventh value is the same as the eighth value.
It should also be noted that, as shown in
Therefore, in order to further improve the performance of the semiconductor structure 10, the second contact region may be moved up and the fourth contact region may be moved down. Based on such an idea, on the basis of
It should also be noted that, as shown in
It should be noted that the specific values of the first value to the twelfth value can be determined according to the actual application scenarios when the aforementioned limitations are met. In this way, the relative position of source and drain in the first transistor and second transistor are the same, thereby further alleviating the mismatch between the first transistor and the second transistor, and making the electrical parameters of the first transistor and the second transistor closer. That is to say, under the premise of not changing the original routing mode, the semiconductor structure provided by the embodiments of the disclosure can make the contact regions in the PSA symmetrical, which not only saves unnecessary expenditure, but also effectively alleviates the mismatch of the PSA.
Furthermore, the ninth value, the tenth value, the eleventh value and the twelfth value can be disposed to be the same, so as to better ensure the symmetry of the current channels of the first transistor and the second transistor.
It should be understood that there are a large number of memory cells in the memory that need to be controlled by different bit lines and word lines. Accordingly, there are a plurality of cross coupling amplifying units in the memory, which can amplify signals for the different bit lines.
In some embodiments, as shown in
The third gate 21 is located on the first active area 11, and the third gate 21 is disposed at a side of the second contact region 16 away from the first gate 12. The first active area 11 and the third gate 21 are configured to form a third transistor.
The fourth gate 22 is located on the second active area 13, and the fourth gate 22 is disposed at a side of the fourth contact region 18 away from the second gate 14. The second active area 13 and the fourth gate 22 are configured to form a fourth transistor.
It should be noted that the third transistor and the fourth transistor belong to another cross coupling amplifying unit, that is, the third transistor and the fourth transistor are a PSA in another cross coupling amplifying unit. Here, the two cross coupling amplifying units can share the active areas, thus saving process costs.
Similarly, there are contact regions in the third transistor and the fourth transistors. In some embodiments, as shown in
The fifth contact region 23 is located in the first active area 11, and the fifth contact region 23 is disposed at a side of the third gate 21 away from the second contact region 16.
The sixth contact region 24 is located in the second active area 13, and the sixth contact region 24 is disposed at a side of the fourth gate 22 away from the fourth contact region 18.
In addition, the third transistor and the first transistor share the second contact region 16, and the fourth transistor and the second transistor share the fourth contact region 18.
It should also be noted that, shapes of the fifth contact region 23 and the first contact region 15 are the same, and shapes of the sixth contact region 24 and the third contact region 17 are the same. In the first direction, central points of the first contact region 15 and the fifth contact region 23 are located at the same position, and central points of the third contact region 17 and the sixth contact region 24 are located at the same position. The first gate 12 and the third gate 21 are centrosymmetric with respect to the second contact region 16, and the second gate 14 and the fourth gate 22 are centrosymmetric with respect to the fifth contact region 18.
In some embodiments, as shown in
It should be understood that the contact region of each gate actually includes two parts, and the seventh contact region of the first gate 12 includes the two parts circled by the dotted line in
In some embodiments, the first active area 11, the second active area 13, the first gate 12 to the fourth gate 22, the first contact region 15 to the sixth contact region 24 together constitute a repeat unit, and a plurality of repeat units are arranged along the second direction. A distance between the first gate 12 and the third gate 21 in the same repeat unit is a thirteenth value, and a distance between the first gate 12 in a repeat unit and the third gate 21 in the adjacent repeat unit is a fourteenth value. A distance between the second gate 14 and the fourth gate 22 in the same repeat unit is a fifteenth value, and a distance between the second gate 14 in a repeat unit and the fourth gate 22 in the adjacent repeat unit is a sixteenth value.
In embodiments of the disclosure, the shapes of the first gate 12, the second gate 14, the third gate 21, and the fourth gate 22 can be trimmed by optical proximity processing to ensure that the thirteenth value, the fourteenth value, the fifteenth value, and the sixteenth value are the same.
Exemplarily, the thirteenth value, the fourteenth value, the fifteenth value and the sixteenth value are 60 nanometers.
In a specific example, as shown in
As shown in
In summary, on the basis of separating the active areas of the two PSAs, the symmetry of the two PSAs can be further ensured by adjusting the positions of the contact regions and trimming the shapes of the gates. Referring to
On the basis of
In summary, according to the embodiments of the disclosure, the mismatch problem of the PSA is alleviated by optimizing the structure of the PSA, which improves the amplification performance of the sensing amplifying structure in the memory. First, according to the embodiments of the disclosure, the two active areas in the PSA are separated, so as to control the overlapping regions between the gates (PG) and the active areas (ACTIVE) in different transistors to be in the same state, specifically as shown in
Embodiments of the disclosure provide a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a first active area; a first gate located on the first active area, in which the first active area and the first gate are configured to form the first transistor; the second active area, in which the second active area and the first active area are arranged along the first direction, and the second active area and the first active area are independent from each other; a second gate located on the second active area, in which the second active area and the second gate are configured to form the second transistor, in which sizes of the first transistor and the second transistor are the same, and the deviation between the electrical parameter of the first transistor and the electrical parameter of the second transistor is below the preset threshold, and the first transistor and the second transistor belong to a cross coupling amplifying unit. In this way, since the first active area and the second active area are independent from each other, the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the first transistor are very close to the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the second transistor, and thus the symmetry of the first transistor and the second transistor is improved, the deviation between the electrical parameters of first transistor and the second transistor is smaller, the signal amplification capability of the cross coupling amplifying unit can be improved and the performance of the sensing amplifier in the memory is finally improved.
In another embodiment of the disclosure, referring to
For the memory 30, since it includes the semiconductor structure 10, and the first active area and the second active area in the semiconductor structure 10 are independent from each other, the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the first transistor are very close to the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the second transistor, and thus the symmetry of the first transistor and the second transistor is improved, the deviation between the electrical parameters of first transistor and the second transistor is smaller, the signal amplification capability of the cross coupling amplifying unit can be improved and the performance of the sensing amplifier in the memory is finally improved.
The above are only the preferred embodiments of this disclosure, and are not intended to limit the protection scope of this disclosure. It should be noted that in this disclosure, the term “include”, “comprise” or any other variation thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a procedure, method, article or device that includes a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such procedure, method, article or device. Without further restrictions, the element defined by the statement “including one . . . ” does not exclude the existence of another identical element in the procedure, method, article or device that includes the element. The serial numbers of the above disclosed embodiments are for description only, and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments. The methods disclosed in several method embodiments provided in this disclosure may be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain a new method embodiment. The features disclosed in several product embodiments provided in this disclosure may be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain a new product embodiment. The features disclosed in several method or device embodiments provided by the disclosure may be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain a new method embodiment or device embodiment. The above are only some embodiments of the disclosure, but the protection scope of the disclosure is not limited to those. Changes or replacements can be easily thought of by any person skilled in the art and such changes or replacements should be covered by the protection scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the disclosure should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.
According to embodiments of the disclosure, since the first active area and the second active area are independent from each other, the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the first transistor are very close to the area and shape of the overlapping between the gate and active area of the second transistor, and thus the symmetry of the first transistor and the second transistor is improved, the deviation between the electrical parameters of first transistor and the second transistor is smaller, the signal amplification capability of the cross coupling amplifying unit can be improved and the performance of the sensing amplifier in the memory is finally improved.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202210744736.4 | Jun 2022 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/104699, filed on Jul. 8, 2022, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210744736.4, filed on Jun. 27, 2022. The disclosures of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/104699 and Chinese Patent Application No. 202210744736.4 are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2022/104699 | Jul 2022 | US |
Child | 17949280 | US |