xv
Preface
Silicon integrated circuits (ICs) have ushered in an unprecedented revolution
in many areas of today’s society, including communications, medicine, military, security, and entertainment. This dramatic impact of ICs on society is
due to the continuous miniaturization of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)
field-effect-transistor (FET) devices toward their ultimate dimensions of
approximately 5 nm, thereby providing low-cost, high-density, fast, and
low-power ICs. Our ability to fabricate billions of individual components on
a silicon chip of a few centimeters squared has enabled the information age.
However, with increase in the device densities in ICs, the complexities of
IC design have increased significantly. Designing such complex IC chips is
virtually impossible without computer-aided design (CAD) tools that help
predict circuit behavior prior to manufacturing. However, the accuracy of
CAD for ICs depends on the accuracy of the models, referred to as “compact
models,” of the active and passive elements used in the circuit. These compact models for circuit CAD have been the basic requirement for the analysis
and design of ICs and are playing an ever-increasing role as the mainstream
MOSFETs approach their fundamental scaling limit. Therefore, for efficient
IC design using nanoscale devices, a detailed understanding of compact
models for circuit CAD is crucial.
A large number of research articles as well as books are available on modeling nanoscale devices. Most of the published works on compact models for
IC design CAD are extended user manuals of any industry standard compact
MOS model and some are a collection of articles from contributed authors.
Thus, the available books do not provide adequate background knowledge
of compact models for beginners in industry as well as classroom teachers.
In addition, the available titles on compact models do not deal with the major
issue of process variability, which severely impacts device and circuit performance in advanced technologies and requires statistical compact models.
Again, though the CMOS technology continues to be the pervasive technology of ICs, bipolar-junction transistors (BJTs) are an important element of IC
chips. However, most of the compact modeling books do not discuss BJTs or
BJT modeling for circuit CAD. Thus, a new treatise on compact modeling is
crucial to address current modeling issues and understand new models for
emerging devices.
With over 25 years in the field of semiconductor processes, device, and
circuit CAD in industry and over 10 years in the teaching of compact modeling courses in academia, I felt the need for a comprehensive book that presents MOSFET, BJT, and statistical models and methodologies for IC design
CAD. This book fulfills that need. Starting from basic semiconductor physics,
this book presents advanced industry standard models for BJTs, MOSFETs,
Preface
Silicon integrated circuits (ICs) have ushered in an unprecedented revolution
in many areas of today’s society, including communications, medicine, military, security, and entertainment. This dramatic impact of ICs on society is
due to the continuous miniaturization of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)
field-effect-transistor (FET) devices toward their ultimate dimensions of
approximately 5 nm, thereby providing low-cost, high-density, fast, and
low-power ICs. Our ability to fabricate billions of individual components on
a silicon chip of a few centimeters squared has enabled the information age.
However, with increase in the device densities in ICs, the complexities of
IC design have increased significantly. Designing such complex IC chips is
virtually impossible without computer-aided design (CAD) tools that help
predict circuit behavior prior to manufacturing. However, the accuracy of
CAD for ICs depends on the accuracy of the models, referred to as “compact
models,” of the active and passive elements used in the circuit. These compact models for circuit CAD have been the basic requirement for the analysis
and design of ICs and are playing an ever-increasing role as the mainstream
MOSFETs approach their fundamental scaling limit. Therefore, for efficient
IC design using nanoscale devices, a detailed understanding of compact
models for circuit CAD is crucial.
A large number of research articles as well as books are available on modeling nanoscale devices. Most of the published works on compact models for
IC design CAD are extended user manuals of any industry standard compact
MOS model and some are a collection of articles from contributed authors.
Thus, the available books do not provide adequate background knowledge
of compact models for beginners in industry as well as classroom teachers.
In addition, the available titles on compact models do not deal with the major
issue of process variability, which severely impacts device and circuit performance in advanced technologies and requires statistical compact models.
Again, though the CMOS technology continues to be the pervasive technology of ICs, bipolar-junction transistors (BJTs) are an important element of IC
chips. However, most of the compact modeling books do not discuss BJTs or
BJT modeling for circuit CAD. Thus, a new treatise on compact modeling is
crucial to address current modeling issues and understand new models for
emerging devices.
With over 25 years in the field of semiconductor processes, device, and
circuit CAD in industry and over 10 years in the teaching of compact modeling courses in academia, I felt the need for a comprehensive book that presents MOSFET, BJT, and statistical models and methodologies for IC design
CAD. This book fulfills that need. Starting from basic semiconductor physics,
this book presents advanced industry standard models for BJTs, MOSFETs,