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TN 423: VLSI CIRCUITS

Lecture 4b

FABRICATION OF CMOS ICs

1
Outline
1. NMOS Transistor Fabrication
2. CMOS Transistor fabrication
3. CMOS Gate Design

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 2


NMOS Transistor Fabrication…
Ω NMOS Transistor structure

Source Gate Drain


Polysilicon
SiO2

n+ n+
Body
p bulk Si

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 3


NMOS Transistor Fabrication…
Ω Gate – oxide – body stack looks like a capacitor
✓ Gate and body are conductors
✓ SiO2 (oxide) is a very good insulator
Ω Called metal – oxide – semiconductor (MOS)
capacitor
Source Gate Drain
Polysilicon
SiO2

n+ n+
Body
p bulk Si

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 4


nMOS Operation
Ω Body is usually tied to ground (0 V)
Ω When the gate is at a low voltage:
✓ P-type body is at low voltage
✓ Source-body diode is OFF
✓ drain-body diode is OFF
✓ No current flows, transistor is OFF
Source Gate Drain
Polysilicon
SiO2

0
n+ n+
S D
p bulk Si

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 5


NMOS Transistor Fabrication…
Ω When the gate is at a high voltage:
✓ Positive charge on gate of MOS capacitor
✓ Negative charge attracted to body
✓ Inverts a channel under gate 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
n+ n+
S D
p bulk Si

6
Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits
CMOS Fabrication Process…
Ω CMOS is also sometimes referred to as.
complementary-symmetry metal–oxide–
semiconductor
Ω The words "complementary-symmetry"
refers to the fact that the typical design
style with CMOS uses complementary
and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-
type metal oxide semiconductor field
effect transistors(MOSFETs) for logic
functions
Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 7
CMOS Fabrication Process…
Ω CMOS technology employs both nMOS
and pMOS transistors to form the logic
elements
Ω The logic elements only draw significant
current during the transitions from one
state to another but draw very little current
between transistors allowing power
consumption to be minimized

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 8


CMOS Fabrication Process
Ω CMOS can be fabricated using different
processes:
1. n-well process
2. p-well process
3. twin-tub process
Ω CMOS can be obtained by integrating both the
NMOS and PMOS transistors on the same chip
substrate
Ω special regions called as wells or tubs are
required in which semiconductor type and
substrate type are opposite to each other
Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 9
CMOS Fabrication Process…
Ω The fabrication of CMOS is described
using the P-substrate, in which:
✓ the NMOS transistor is fabricated on a P-
type substrate
and
✓ the PMOS transistor is fabricated in N-well.
Ω The fabrication process involves the
following steps:

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 10


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step1: Substrate
ΩPrimarily, start the process with a P-
substrate.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 11


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step2: Oxidation
ΩThe oxidation process is done by using
high-purity oxygen and hydrogen, which are
exposed in an oxidation furnace
approximately at 10000C.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 12


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step3: Photoresist
ΩA light-sensitive polymer that softens
whenever exposed to light is called as
Photoresist layer. It is formed.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 13


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step4: Masking
ΩThe photoresist is exposed to UV rays
through the N-well mask

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 14


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step5: Photoresist removal
ΩA part of the photoresist layer is removed
by treating the wafer with the basic or acidic
solution.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 15


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step6: Removal of SiO2 using acid
etching
ΩThe SiO2 oxidation layer is removed
through the open area made by the removal
of photoresist using hydrofluoric acid.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 16


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step7: Removal of photoresist
ΩThe entire photoresist layer is stripped off,
as shown in the below figure.

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CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step8: Formation of the N-well
ΩBy using ion implantation or diffusion
process N-well is formed.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 18


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step9: Removal of SiO2
ΩUsing the hydrofluoric acid, the remaining
SiO2 is removed.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 19


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step10: Deposition of poly silicon
ΩChemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process
is used to deposit a very thin layer of gate
oxide.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 20


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step11: Removing the layer barring a
small area for the Gates
ΩExcept the two small regions required for
forming the Gates of NMOS and PMOS, the
remaining layer is stripped off

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 21


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step12: Oxidation process
ΩNext, an oxidation layer is formed on this
layer with two small regions for the formation
of the gate terminals of NMOS and PMOS.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 22


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step13: Masking and N-diffusion
ΩBy using the masking process small gaps are made for
the purpose of N-diffusion.

ΩThe n-type (n+) dopants are diffused or ion implanted,


and the three n+ are formed for the formation of the
terminals of NMOS.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 23


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step14: Oxide stripping
ΩThe remaining oxidation layer is stripped
off.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 24


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step15: P-diffusion
ΩSimilar to the above N-diffusion process,
the P-diffusion regions are diffused to form
the terminals of the PMOS.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 25


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step16: Thick field oxide
ΩA thick-field oxide is formed in all regions
except the terminals of the PMOS and
NMOS.

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CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step17: Metallization
ΩAluminum is sputtered on the whole wafer.

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CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step18: Removal of excess metal
ΩThe excess metal is removed from the
wafer layer.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 28


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step19: Terminals
ΩThe terminals of the PMOS and NMOS are
made from respective gaps.

Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 29


CMOS Fabrication Process…
Step20:
ΩAssigning the names of the terminals of
the NMOS and PMOS

ΩFour terminals: gate, source, drain, body


Ngeze, LV VLSI Circuits 30
Transistors as Switches
Ω We can view MOS transistors as
electrically controlled switches
Ω Voltage at gate controls path from source
to drain g=0 g=1

d d d
nMOS g OFF
ON
s s s

d d d

pMOS g OFF
ON
s s s

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VLSI Circuits
Power Supply Voltage
Ω GND = 0 V
Ω VDD = 5V (in the 1980s)
Ω VDD has decreased in modern processes
✓ High VDD would damage modern tiny
transistors
✓ Lower VDD saves power
Ω VDD = 3.3, 2.5, 1.8, 1.5, 1.2, 1.0, …

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VLSI Circuits
CMOS Gate Design
Ω In general, a static CMOS gate has
✓ a pMOS pull-up network (PUP) to connect the output
to 1(VDD), and
✓ an nMOS pull-down network (PUN) to connect the
output to 0 (GND) and as shown in Figure
pMOS
pull-up why are they called pull-up and
network pull-down??
inputs
output

nMOS
pull-down
network

Ω The networks are arranged such that one is ON


and the other OFF for any 33input pattern.
TN 423 VLSI
UDOM
CMOS Gate Design…
Ω The inverter and NAND gates are
examples of static CMOS logic gates,
Ω Also called complementary CMOS gates.

TN 423 VLSI UDOM 34


CMOS Inverter

A Y VDD
00 11
11 00 OFF
ON
0
1
A Y
ON
OFF

A Y
GND
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VLSI Circuits
CMOS NAND Gate

A B Y
0 0 11 ON
OFF
OFF
ON OFF
ON
0 1 11
1
Y
1 0 11 0 ON
A OFF
1 1 00 0
1
1
0 OFF
ON
B ON
OFF

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VLSI Circuits
CMOS NOR Gate

A B Y
0 0 1 A
0 1 0
1 0 0 B
1 1 0 Y

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VLSI Circuits
CMOS Gate Design
Ω In general, when we join a pull-up network
to a pull-down network to form a logic
gate, they both will attempt to exert a logic
level at the output.
Ω The two possible levels are:
✓ The 1 level
✓ The 0 level
Ω The networks are arranged such that one
is ON and the other OFF for any input
pattern.
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UDOM
CMOS Gate Design…
Ω When both PUN and PDN are OFF: high
impedance or floating Z output state, the
results
Ω When both PUP network and PUN
network are simultaneously turned ON
✓ The crowbarred (or contention) X level.

TN 423 VLSI UDOM 39


CMOS Gate Design…
Ω Two or more transistors in series are ON
only if all of the series transistors are ON.
Ω Two or more transistors in parallel are ON
if any of the parallel transistors are ON.
Ω This is illustrated in the figure for nMOS
and pMOS transistor pairs.
Ω By using combinations of these
constructions, CMOS combinational gates
can be constructed.
TN 423 VLSI UDOM 40
CMOS Gate Design…

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CMOS Gate Design…

TN 423 VLSI UDOM 42


CMOS Gate Design…
Ω Read CMOS VLSI Design
A Circuits and Systems Perspective by
Neil H E Weste and David Money Harris
From Page 9-25

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