Explanation and Quantitative Model for the Matching Behavior

of Poly-Silicon Resistors

Roland Thewes'), Ralf Brederlow'*2),Claus Dah13),Ute K:ollmer'), Carsten G. Linnenbank'),

Birgit Holzapfl", Jan Becker'), Jens Kissing'), Sylvia1 Kesse13),and Werner Weber')
Siemens AG, CO orate Technology, ZT ME 2, Otto-Hahn-Ring6, D 81730 Munich, Germany,
)' Technical University Munich, 80290 Munich, Germany,
3, Siemens AG, HL PI M, D 81730 Munich, Germany
Tel.: +49 89 636 41964, Fax: 49 89 636 41442, e-mail: roland.thewes@mchp.siemens.de

ABSTRACT of all poly-Si variants, this parameter is plotted as a

We investigate the matching behavior of poly-silicon
resistors. Experimental results from an analog CMOS process
with three poly-silicon options are discussed and compared
with a quantitative model which is developed using fit
parameter-free analytical calculations and Monte-Carlo
simulations. It is found that mismatch is directly proportional
to the grain size. A relation is derived that allows to optimize
devices for low mismatch circuit applications.
INTRODUCTION
Poly-Si layers are frequently used as resistors in analog
CMOS circuits. Besides linearity, temperature coefficient,
noise, parasitic capacitance, the matching behavior is an
essential analog parameter in this context. In this paper, a
quantitative matching model based on physical parameters is
presented.
EXPERIMENTAL
The circuit diagram of the test structures used and the
measurement set-up are shown in Fig. 1. As schematically
depicted, the DUTs are arranged in pairs and surrounded by
dummies. For characterization, a single DUT is selected by
decoders, a current I;, is forced through the DUT and the
resulting voltage drop Vchlrris measured. Since a voltmeter
with an extremely high input resistance is used, the current
and the voltage drops in the measurement paths are
negligible. Thus, the properties of the select transistors do not
influence the characterization result. For each geometry, at
least 3200 pairs are measured.
The devices used in this study originate from a 0.65 pm
function of device area for the three resistor types (Fig. 2b)).
The values obtained (c.f. Table 3) differ by more than a factor
of 3. This leads to differences in area consumption by a factor
of 10 assuining a given demand of the maximum allowed
mismatch.
MODEL
Poly-Si layers consist of mono-crystalline grains which
are separated from each other by their grain boundaries. At
the doping: levels and temperatures typical for analog
applications, the poly-Si square resistance is dominated by
carrier transport through the grain boundaries [ 1-41. A smaller
contribution to the total poly-Si square resistance originates
from the resistance of the inner grain (c.f. general expression
in eq. (1) in Table 2) whose square resistance Ro,, can be
expressed using eq. (2). Simplifying the approaches in [ 1-41,
we model the square resistance related to the grain boundary,
RO,b, by introducing a parameter rb' which stands for the
resistance of a single grain boundary per grain interface area
and per number of free carriers per volume. Under the
assumption of regular rectangular grains (Fig. 3 a)), RO,hcan
be written as a function of the grain size 1 (expression in
poly-Si2,hi
fabrication LPCVD
deposition;
P implantation;
RTP step 1072 "C, 900 "C, 1 h;
10 s (+ RTP step,
1072 "C, 10 s)
~

analog CMOS process with three poly-Si options. The 1100 113 17.9
characteristic parameters of these poly-Si variants are 2,4 x lo2" = solubility limit
(= 4 x 1021)
summarized in Table 1. We consider the standard deviation
of the difference of the resistances of a pair normalized to the t [nml 200
mean value o(AR)/R. In Fig. 2a), this parameter is shown for application high ohmic
the high ohmic polySi2 variant as a function of in analog resistor
(device area).'" for different characterization conditions. circuits poly-Si 1 together with
Obviously, the relation o(AR)/R = A,,,i3(Lw)-"2 holds, and
the matching behavior is found independent of the
characterization conditions. The results of the other *uolv-Si
-
variants show a complete qualitative agreement with these Table I: Process parameters and field of application for the different poly-Si
findings. For direct comparison of the matching constants variants.

28.7.1
0-7803-4774-9/98/$10.00 0 1998 IEEE IEDM 98-771
 0.8 I

‘in

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25

Area-” [p”]

-5 12- 0
0.

E 10. 0 0 /
c poly-Si1
!4
L poly-Si2,lo
w 6 . \
....

....
I I1
3 $ 4 -
-6 2 -
0 .

/
I I I “char poly-Si2,hi
X- DECODER
I 0

Fig 1: Test structure used. Geometries UW [ p d p m ] investigated are: Fig. 2: a) Standard deviation o(AR/R) of poly-Si2,hi resistors as
poly-Si2,hi: 24/0.75, 4W0.75, 2411.5, 4 8 / 1 5 12/3.0, 2413.0, IU6.0, and 24/6.0; a function of (.LW)-’” (LW = device area) characterized in
poly-Si2,lo and poly-Sil: 24/0.75, 4W0.75, 12/6.0, and 24/6.0. As depicted, different operating points (constant voltage drops and constant
the devices under test (“R”) are arranged in pairs and surrounded by current per width). b) Matching constants Apoir =
dummies (“D). O(AR/R)X(LW)”~ for the different types of poly-Si resistors
investigated.

NG = W L / ~ =

1
-- -0.325x~=0.325-~-- 1
6 WL

N,= W L l n , (6)
n~(poly-Si2,lo)-n,(poly-Si2,lo)= n~(poly-Si2,hi)-n,(poly-Si2,hi) (7) =fixax/- x 1 = 0.84xax 1 (14)

A [% pm] matching constant NG PI number of grains in a resistor of length L and width W

P HI parameter to model the mobility pe q [As] elementary charge (1.6 x IO-’’ As)
6 U1 disorder parameter R [a1 total resistance of a poly-Si layer
L [pm] length of a poly-Si resistor Ro [a1 (total) square resistance
1 [nm] meangrainsize Ro,i [QI square resistance of the inner grain (mono-crystalline Si)
n, number of free electrons per volume Rn,h [a] square resistance attributed to grain boundaries
nD number of doping atoms per volume r’b [Q cm] resistance of a single grain boundary per grain interface
area and per number of free carriers per volume
pe [cm2Ns] inner grain electron mobility
NO Dl number of doping atoms in a given resistor t [nm] thickness of a poly-Si resistor
N, rii number of free electrons in a eiven resistor W [pm] width of a poly-Si resistor

Table 2: Lists of equations and parameters used.

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772-IEDM 98
 grains
k-- -w--- t- - -w---- 4 ,grains
[% pml

I
Apoir
measured

I Ro,r [QI

Apoir
a

[% pml
I
I
178
924
0.83

5.08
I
I
20.1
92.9
0.82

5.03
I
I
3.3
14.6
0.82

Fig 3: Schematic diagrams demonstrating the impact of the grain boundary-induced
resistances and the resistance of the inner grain on the total resistance of a poly-silicon layer
of length L and width W.a) Resistor with regular rectangle grains. b) Equivalent circuit for
the resistor in a). The resistances inside the grains have values 1/2 RIJ,~, the resistances
crossing the grain boundaries Rn,b. c) Resistor with arbitrarily distributed grain boundaries. d)
Equivalent circuit for the resistor in c) only depicting the boundary related contributions. The
values of resistors crossing the boundaries are inversely proportional to the length of the
related boundary.
14.8
calculated
Table 3: Experimentally obtained matching constant Aprrrr,
experimentally determined values of the most important
model parameters, and calculated values of Ap,,il for the
different poly-Si variants. *) calculated values as
described in the text; **) assumption used: n, = solubility
limit.

brackets in eq. (3)) based on the equivalent circuit in (lowest possible values for 1 and ne),o(n,)/n, is below 0.05 %
Fig. 3 b). Since in real poly-Si layers the grains are not for a device area of I pm2 so that the standard deviation of
arranged regularly (c.f. Figs. 3 c) and d)), a disorder this parameter can also be neglected.
parameter 6 must be introduced in eq. (3) to model RO,h A similar consideration can be performed for all
correctly. The magnitude of 6 is irrelevant in the following parameters in eq. (4), whose standard deviation is related to
discussion. We use only its variation which will be discussed the number of mobile and fixed charges (i. e., for the
in detail below. mobility, which is related to nD via eqs. (8) and (9), but also
Using eqs. (1) - (3), o(R)/R can be calculated as given by for the parameter r',,, whose analytical expressions are too
eqs. (4) and (5). (Note, that for the measured parameter complex to be discussed here in detail). In both cases, the
o(AR)/R = 2'" x o(R)/R holds.) In the following, the impact of these parameters in eq. (4) is negligibly small.
contribution of each term in eq. (4) will be discussed. The dominant term in eq. (4) is the standard deviation of
Since the lithography dependent parameters o(W)/W and the grain size, o(1)A. It can be expressed via the standard
o(L)/L do not lead to the area dependence which is deviation of the total number of grains NG in a given resistor
experimentally found they can be neglected. Due to the (eqs. (11) and (12)) leading to a direct relation between
excellent control mechanisms of layer thicknesses during mismatch and grain size. SEM photographs (Fig. 4) of the
processing and due to the relatively large values of poly-Si three poly-Si variants were taken to determine the grain size 1.
thickness t, variations of this parameter are also assumed to The results are given in Tab. 3.
be negligible.
In order to estimate o(n,)/n<,we calculate the total number
Ne of free electrons in a given resistor (eq. (6)), whose
standard deviation is Ne1". For quantitative evaluation of the
resulting relation o(n,)/n, = (W L I the values of ne are
determined. In case of poly-Sil, ne solubility limit can be
assumed due to the extremely high doping level. In case of
the poly-Si2 variants with lower doping, trapping of carriers
in traps located at the grain boundary, segregation effects, and
incomplete activation of dopants lead to a decrease of the
number o f free carriers inside the grain [l-41. These
mechanisms are considered in the evaluation. As a first order
approach we assume that the loss of free carriers is equal in
poly-Si2,hi and poly-Si2,lo (eq. (7)), since both poly-Si types
are processed identically. This holds despite the fact that
different doping levels are used. Using eqs. (1)-(3) and (6),
and the known values of the total square resistances, ne can be
calculated for both poly-Si variants. The resulting values are Fig. 4: SEM microphotographs of a poly-Si,l layer (left) and a poly-Si2,hi
layer (right) for determination of the grain size 1. The areas shown are
shown in Tab. 3. (Note, that the calculations related to ne also approximately 4.1 pm x 2.7 pm (left) and 1.2 pm x 1.8 pm (right). In case
lead to determination of the parameters Ro,i, RO,b, and a, of poly-Si2,lo (not shown in the figure) very similar results are obtained as
which are also shown in Table 3.) Even for the worst case for poly-Si2,hi.

28.7.3
IEDM 98-773
 Step 1: Define dimensions x and y of an array of hexagonal grids and a
number No ( NGc< xy !) of grains.
Step 2: Select NGgrain centers in the array by a random process.
Step 3: Let grains grow from the grain centers in all six directions by
occupying the next grids in the neighborhood.
Step 4: As soon as two occupied areas meet, the respective grid points are
defined as grain boundary and the growth is stopped.
Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the whole array is covered.
Step 6: Calculate the length of all grain boundaries of neighboring grains.
Step 6: Calculate resistances between neighboring grains which are
inversely proportional to the respective grain boundary lengths
(c.f. Fig. 3 d)) and short all resistors inside of each grain.
Step 7: Calculate the total resistance of the network achiwed.
Step 8: Repeat steps 2 to 7 many times and calculate the standard deviation Fig. 6: Schematic demonstration of the algonthms described
of the resistance of the network. in Fig. 5 for three grains with grain centers C1, C2, and C3. Left: Randomly
placing of the grain centers in an array with hexagonal grids. Middle: First
Fig. 5: Description of the Monte-Carlo algorithms used to determine the step of grain growth. Right: Situation after further steps of growth. The dark
standard deviation 0(6)/8 in eq. (4). fields represent the grain boundaries.

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 poly-Si2,hi poly-Si2,lo poly-Si1
Grainsize / 1000 [nm'] (Total number of grains No)-"'

Fig. 7: Grain size distribution for poly-Si,l
layers. The bars represent classes of grains with
an area of (n X 10000 5 5000) nm2 with n = 0, 1,
2, 3, ... . This information is only used to check
the plausibility of the Monte-Carlo simulation
(c.f. text and Figs. 5, 6, and 8).
Fig. 8: Result of the simulations as described in Fig. 9: Comparison of measured data and model
Figs. 5 and 6 used to determine the standard for the three poly-Si variants investigated.
deviation o(6)h in eq. (4). At least 500
simulations per data point are performed. The
result is o(6)h= 0.325 NG-''' independent of the
ratio x/y (c.f. Fig. 5) of the simulated array.

Besides grain size variations also variations in the disorder CONCLUSION

parameter 6 yield a certain contribution to mismatch. Since
this effect cannot be considered easily in simple analytical
models, Monte-Carlo simulations were performed. As
described schematically in Figs. 5 and 6, the grain
distribution in a resistor of given dimensions was varied
randomly but the number of grains was kept constant. The
plausibility of the approach used for the creation of grains is
checked by comparing the grain size distributions from
simulation and experiment (Fig. 7). Similar shapes were
achieved (c.f. also data presented in [I-41). Defining the
resistance of the inner grain to be zero, these virtual
experiments quantitatively reveal the impact of varying
disorder on the matching behavior. Again we find, that
mismatch is directly proportional to (number of grains)-'" in a
resistor and thus directly to the grain size (Fig. 8 and
eq. (13)). The proportionality constant obtained is 0.325.
In eq. (14), the matching constant Apalr is given as a sum
of the relevant terms. The data predicted by this equation are
compared to the measured results in Fig. 9. Good agreement
is obtained. The differences between model and experiment
are believed to originate from uncertainties in the estimation
of parameters 1 and a.
A model for the matching behavior of poly-silicon
resistors was presented which explains the area dependence
correctly and yields a simple physics-based relation between
mismatch and grain size. Based on a fit parameter-free
approach quantitative values for the matching constant can be
predicted showing a good agreement with experimentally
measured data. The insight achieved can be used for process
optimization, focusing on low mismatch device design.
REFERENCES
[l] G. Baccarani, and B. Ricco, "Transport properties of polycrystalline
silicon films", J. Appl. Phys. 49,pp. 5565-70,1978
[2] M. M. Mandurah, K. C . Saraswat, and T. Kamins, "A model for
conduction in polycrystalline silicon - part I: theory", IEEE Trans. El.
Dev. 28, pp. 1163-76, 1981
[3] N. C.-C. Lu, L. Gerzberg, C.-Y. Lu, and J. D. Meindl, "A conduction
model for semiconductor-grain-boundary-semiconductor barriers in
polycrystalline films", IEEE Trans. El. Dev. 30, pp. 137-149, 1983
[4] T. Kamins, "Polycrystalline silicon for integrated circuit applications",
Kluwer Academic Publishers, USA, 1988

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