Wang J., Trombley H., Watts J., Randall M., Wachnik R.
IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, US
Keywords: modeling, Monte Carlo, MOSFET, statistical simulation, Variation
As the MOSFET continues to shrink, device-to-device variations become increasingly important. Therefore, it is critical to develop accurate, Monte-Carlo (MC) models that capture various device variations to allow statistical circuit simulations. To model the global (or ‘chip-mean’) variations in a MOSFET, a Gaussian distribution needs to be enabled for each selected model parameter and its sigma-value (tolerance) is adjusted so that the output of the MC model matches the upper/lower bounds of a number of critical device metrics. To speed up the model parameter tolerance extraction, a Backward Variation Propagation (BVP) method was introduced in the literature. However, with potential inconsistencies in device variation metrics and/or model parameter sensitivities, BVP may not always return a valid solution. Therefore, manual optimization is normally needed when creating a MC library using BVP. In this paper, we introduce a Sequential Variation Determination (SVD) technique that extends BVP to guarantee a best solution of the MC model for a given set of device variation specs. With SVD, we developed a fully automated method for creating MC MOSFET model libraries. Our results clearly show that this approach significantly shortens the development time of a MC library and improves the model accuracy at the same time.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2012: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational (Volume 2)
Published: June 18, 2012
Pages: 826 - 828
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Compact Modeling
ISBN: 978-1-4665-6275-2