Introduction to CMOS VLSI Design

Slides adapted from: N. Weste, D. Harris, CMOS VLSI Design, Addison-Wesley, 3/e, 2004

Introduction
Integrated Circuits: many transistors on one chip Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI): very many transistors on one chip Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS): fast, cheap, low power

Outline
A Brief History MOS transistors CMOS Logic CMOS Fabrication and Layout Chip Design Challenges
System Design Logic Design Physical Design Design Verification Fabrication, Packaging and Testing
3

A Brief History
T-R-A-N-S-I-S-T-O-R = TRANsfer resiSTOR 1947: John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Schokley at Bell laboratories built the first working point contact transistor (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956) 1958: Jack Kylby built the first integrated circuit flip flop at Texas Instruments (Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000) 1925: Julius Lilienfield patents the original idea of field effect transistors 1935: Oskar Heil patents the first MOSFET 1963: Frank Wanlass at Fairchild describes the first CMOS logic gate (nMOS and pMOS) 1970: Processes using nMOS became dominant 1980: Power consumption become a major issue. CMOS process are widely adopted.
4

A Brief History
Integrated Circuits enabled todays way of life 1018 transistors manufactured in 2003 100 million for every human on the planet

Moores Law
In 1963 Gordon Moore predicted that as a result of continuous miniaturization transistor count would double every 18 months 53% compound annual growth rate over 45 years No other technology has grown so fast so long Transistors become smaller, faster, consume less power, and are cheaper to manufacture

Clock Frequencies of Intel Processors

Transistor count is not the only factor that has grown exponentially, e.g. clock frequencies have doubled roughly every 34 months

Chip Integration Level

SSI = small-scale integration ( up to 10 gates) MSI = medium-scale integration ( up to 1000 gates) LSI = large-scale integration (up to 10000 gates) VLSI = very large-scale integration (over 10000 gates)
8

Technology Scaling
1971: Intel 4004 transistors with minimum dimension of 10um 2003: Pentium 4 transistors with minimum dimension of 130 nm Scaling cannot go on forever because transistors cannot be smaller than atoms
9

The Productivity Gap

Designers rely increasingly on design automation software tools: to seek productivity gains to cope with increased complexity

Source: SEMATECH

10

Silicon Lattice
Silicon is a semiconductor Transistors are built on a silicon substrate Silicon is a Group IV material Forms crystal lattice with bonds to four neighbors

11

Dopants
Pure silicon has no free carriers and conducts poorly Adding dopants increases the conductivity Group V: extra electron (n-type) Group III: missing electron, called hole (p-type)

Si Si Si

Si

Si Si Si

Si Si Si

Si B

+ -

Si Si Si

As Si

Si

12

Transistor Types
Bipolar transistors npn or pnp silicon structure Small current into very thin base layer controls large currents between emitter and collector Base currents limit integration density Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors nMOS and pMOS MOSFETS Voltage applied to insulated gate controls current between source and drain Low power allows very high integration
13

MOS Transistors
Four terminals: gate, source, drain, body (= bulk = substrate)

14

nMOS Operation
Body is commonly tied to ground (0 V) When the gate is at a low voltage: P-type body is at low voltage Source-body and drain-body diodes are OFF No current flows, transistor is OFF
Source Gate Drain Polysilicon SiO2 0 S D

n+ p

n+ bulk Si

15

nMOS Operation Cont.

When the gate is at a high voltage: Positive charge on gate of MOS capacitor Negative charge attracted to body channel under gate gets inverted to n-type Now current can flow through n-type silicon from source through channel to drain, transistor is ON
Source Gate Drain Polysilicon SiO2 1 S D

n+ p

n+ bulk Si

16

pMOS Transistor
Similar, but doping and voltages reversed Body tied to high voltage (VDD) Gate low: transistor ON Gate high: transistor OFF Bubble indicates inverted behavior
Source Polysilicon SiO2 Gate Drain

p+ n

p+ bulk Si
17

Power Supply Voltage

GND = 0 V In 1980s, VDD = 5V VDD has decreased in modern processes
High VDD would damage modern tiny transistors Lower VDD saves power

VDD = 3.3, 2.5, 1.8, 1.5, 1.2, 1.0,

18

MOS Transistors as switches

We can model MOS transistors as controlled switches Voltage at gate controls path from source to drain

19

CMOS Technology
CMOS technology uses both nMOS and pMOS transistors. The transistors are arranged in a structure formed by two complementary networks
Pull-up network is complement of pull-down Parallel -> series, series -> parallel

20

CMOS Logic Inverter

A 0 1 ON OFF =1 =0 OFF ON Y 1 0

1= 0=

21

CMOS Logic NAND

22

CMOS Logic NOR

23

CMOS Logic Gates (a.k.a. Static CMOS)

Pull-up network is complement of pull-down Parallel series, series parallel

24

Compound Gates
Example: Y = (A+B+C) D
ABCD ---0 0001 1--1 -1-1 --11 Y 1 1 0 0 0
25

Compound Gates

26

How good is the output signal ? Signal Strength

Strength of signal How close it approximates ideal voltage source VDD and GND rails are strongest 1 and 0 sources nMOS and pMOS are not ideal switches nMOS pass strong 0, but degraded or weak 1 pMOS pass strong 1, but degraded or weak 0 Thus:
nMOS are best for pull-down network pMOS are best for pull-up network
27

Pass Transistors
Transistors can be used as switches

28

Transmission Gates
Pass transistors produce degraded outputs Transmission gates pass both 0 and 1 well

29

Static CMOS gates are fully restored

In static CMOS, the nMOS transistors only need to pass 0s and the pMOS only pass 1s, so the output is always strongly driven and the levels are never degraded This is called a fully restored logic gate

30

Static CMOS is inherently inverting

CMOS single stage gates must be inverting To build non inverting functions we need multiple stages

31

Tristates
Tristate buffer produces Z when not enabled EN 0 0 1 1 A 0 1 0 1 Y Z Z 0 1

32

Nonrestoring Tristates

Transmission gate acts as tristate buffer Only two transistors But nonrestoring A is passed on to Y as it is (thus, Y is not always a strong 0s or 1s)
33

Tristate Inverter
Tristate inverter produces restored output For a non inverting tristate add an inverter in front

34

Multiplexers
2:1 multiplexer chooses between two inputs
S 0 0 1 1 D1 X X 0 1 D0 0 1 X X Y 0 1 0 1
S D0 D1 0 1 Y

35

Gate-Level Mux Design

Y = S D0 + S D1 How many transistors are needed? = 20 = = Too Many !!
Y

D1 S D0

D1 S D0

4 2 4

2 4 2 2

Y
36

Transmission Gate Mux

Nonrestoring mux uses two transmission gates
Only 4 transistors

37

Inverting Mux
Inverting multiplexer Use compound gate or pair of tristate inverters Essentially the same thing For noninverting multiplexer add an inverter

38

D Latch
When CLK = 1, latch is transparent D flows through to Q like a buffer When CLK = 0, the latch is opaque Q holds its old value independent of D a.k.a. transparent latch or level-sensitive latch
CLK D Latch Q
CLK D Q
39

D Latch Design
Multiplexer chooses D or hold Q
CLK D 1 0 CLK Q Q D CLK

CLK

Q Q

CLK
40

D Latch Operation
Q D CLK = 1 Q D CLK = 0 Q Q

CLK D Q
41

D Flip-flop
When CLK rises, D is copied to Q At all other times, Q holds its value a.k.a. positive edge-triggered flip-flop, masterslave flip-flop
CLK

CLK
D

Flop

Q
Q
42

D Flip-flop Design
Built from master and slave D latches
CLK CLK CLK Latch D QM Latch Q CLK CLK D CLK CLK QM CLK CLK CLK Q

43

D Flip-flop Operation
D QM Q

CLK = 0

QM

CLK = 1

CLK D Q

44

Summary
If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles per gallon, and explode once a year Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld Magazine

45