86 Chapter 2 MOS Transistor Theory

Conversely, circuit performance can be improved by cooling. Most systems use natu-
ral convection or fans in conjunction with heat sinks, but water cooling, thin-film refriger-
ators, or even liquid nitrogen can increase performance if the expense is justified. There are
many advantages of operating at low temperature [Keyes70, Sun87]. Subthreshold leakage
is exponentially dependent on temperature, so lower threshold voltages can be used.
Velocity saturation occurs at higher fields, providing more current. As mobility is also
higher, these fields are reached at a lower power supply, saving power. Depletion regions
become wider, resulting in less junction capacitance.
Two popular lab tools for determining temperature dependence in circuits are a can of
freeze spray and a heat gun. The former can be used to momentarily “freeze” a chip to see
whether performance alters and the other, of course, can be used to heat up a chip. Often,
these tests are done to quickly determine whether a chip is prone to temperature effects. Be
careful—sometimes the sudden temperature change can fracture chips or their packages.

2.4.6 Geometry Dependence

The layout designer draws transistors with width and length Wdrawn and Ldrawn. The
actual gate dimensions may differ by some factors XW and XL. For example, the manufac-
turer may create masks with narrower polysilicon or may overetch the polysilicon to pro-
vide shorter channels (negative XL) without changing the overall design rules or metal
pitch. Moreover, the source and drain tend to diffuse laterally under the gate by LD, pro-
ducing a shorter effective channel length that the carriers must traverse between source
and drain. Similarly, WD accounts for other effects that shrink the transistor width. Put-
ting these factors together, we can compute effective transistor lengths and widths that
should be used in place of L and W in the current and capacitance equations given else-
where in the book. The factors of two come from lateral diffusion on both sides of the
channel.

Leff = Ldrawn + X L  2 LD
(2.53)
Weff = Wdrawn + XW  2W D

Therefore, a transistor drawn twice as long may have an effective length that is more than
twice as great. Similarly, two transistors differing in drawn widths by a factor of two may
differ in saturation current by more than a factor of two. Threshold voltages also vary with
transistor dimensions because of the short and narrow channel effects.
Combining threshold changes, effective channel lengths, channel length modulation,
and velocity saturation effects, Idsat does not scale exactly as 1/L. In general, when currents
must be precisely matched (e.g., in sense amplifiers or A/D converters), it is best to use the
same width and length for each device. Current ratios can be produced by tying several
identical transistors in parallel.
In processes below 0.25 Rm, the effective length of the transistor also depends signifi-
cantly on the orientation of the transistor. Moreover, the amount of nearby polysilicon also
affects etch rates during manufacturing and thus channel length. Transistors that must
match well should have the same orientation. Dummy polysilicon wires can be placed
nearby to improve etch uniformity.

2.4.7 Summary
Although the physics of nanometer-scale devices is complicated, the impact of nonideal
I-V behavior is fairly easy to understand from the designer’s viewpoint.