ELEC 310 Microelectronic Devices & Circuits

Lecture 1 Introduction to Microelectronics

Thanks to Professor Jesus del Alamo (MIT) and Professor Ali Niknejad (U.C. Berkeley)

Thanks to
KOC University Irsadi Aksun U.C. Berkeley Prof. Ali Niknejad Prof. Roger Howe Ferenc Kovac MIT Prof. Jesus del Alamo

Overview
Introductory subject to microelectronic devices and circuits Microelectronics is cornerstone of: Computer revolution Communications revolution

Microelectronics: cornerstone of computing revolution

1.E+08

Calculations per second/$1000

from R. Kurzweil in "The Age of Spiritual Machines ", 1999

IC logic

1.E+06 1.E+04 1.E+02 1.E+00 1.E-02 1.E-04 1.E-06 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
discrete transistor logic vacuum tube logic electromechanical logic mechanical logic

Year

In last 30 years, computer performance per dollar has improved more than a million fold!

Microelectronics: cornerstone of communications revolution

In last 20 years, communication bandwidth through a single optical fiber has increased by ten-thousand fold.

Si digital microelectronics today

Take the cover off a microprocessor. What do you see? A thick web of interconnects, many levels deep. High density of very small transistors.

Intels Pentium IV

Interconnects

Today, as many as 8 levels of interconnect using Cu.

Transistor size scaling

size of human blood cell
10

data for Intel processors

Technology generation ( m)

size of a virus
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

0.1

Rabies virus at same scale

Year

2-orders of magnitude reduction in transistor size in 30 years.

Evolution of transistor density

1.E+08

1.E+07

Number of transistors

Moores Law: doubling of transistor density every 1.5 years 4-orders of magnitude improvement in 30 years.
1.4x/year

1.E+06

1.E+05

2x/1.5year

1.E+04

1.E+03 1970 1975 1980

Intel processors
1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Benefits of increasing transistor integration

Exponential improvements in:
system performance

cost-per-function, power-per-function, and system reliability.

Experimental SOI microprocessor from IBM

Clock speed
1.E+09

1.E+08

Frequency (Hz)

4-orders of magnitude improvement in 30 years.

1.E+07

1.E+06

Intel processors
1.E+05 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Transistor cost
1.E-01

Transistor cost ($)

1.E-02

3-order of magnitude reduction in 30 years.

1.E-03

1.E-04

Intel processors
1.E-05 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Cost per function

1.E-02

1.E-03

$/MHz

1.E-04

4-order of magnitude reduction in 30 years.

1.E-05

1.E-06

Intel processors
1.E-07 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Keys to success of digital microelectronics:

I. Silicon

Cheap and abundant Amazing mechanical, chemical and electronic properties Probably, the material best known to humankind

Keys to success of digital microelectronics:

II. MOSFET
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor MOSFET = switch

Good gain, isolation, and speed

Modern MOSFET structure

Keys to success of digital microelectronics: III. MOSFET scaling

1000

Gate delay (ps)

100

MOSFET performance improves as size is decreased:

Shorter switching time Lower power consumption

10

1 0.1 1 10

Gate length ( m)

Keys to success of digital microelectronics:

IV. CMOS
CMOS: Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor

Complementary switch activates with V<0. Logic without DC power consumption.

Keys to success of digital microelectronics:

V. Microfabrication technology
Tight integration of dissimilar devices with good isolation Fabrication of extremely small structures, precisely and reproducibly High-volume manufacturing of complex systems with high yield.

1 Gbit DRAM from IBM

Keys to success of digital microelectronics:

VI. Circuit engineering

Simple device models that:
are based on physics allow analog and digital circuit design permit assessment of impact of device variations on circuit performance

Circuit design techniques that:

are tolerant to logic level fluctuations, noise and crosstalk are insensitive to manufacturing variations require little power consumption

Content of course
Deals with microelectronic devices
Semiconductor physics and PN junction diode Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)

and microelectronic circuits

Analog circuits (BJT and MOS): amplifiers Digital circuits (CMOS): ELEC 311

ELEC 310: Course Overview

l l l l l l l l

Integrated Passives (R, C, L) MOSFET Physics/Model PN Junction / BJT Physics/Model Single Stage Amplifiers Linear Systems and Frequency Domain Freq Resp of Single Stage Amps Multistage Amps Freq Resp of Multistage Amps
Line

ELEC 310 in a Cell Phone

Transistors are Bricks

l

Transistors are the building blocks (bricks) of the modern electronic world:
MOS Cap Digital Gate Variable Capacitor PN Junction

Analog Amp

Focus of course:

Understand device physics Build analog circuits: focus on amplifiers Learn electronic prototyping and measurement Learn simulation tools such as SPICE

SPICE

* Example netlist Q1 1 2 0 npnmod R1 1 3 1k Vdd 3 0 3v .tran 1u 100u

SPICE
response

stimulus
l l l l

netlist

SPICE = Simulation Program with IC Emphasis Invented at Berkeley (released in 1972) .DC: Find the DC operating point of a circuit .TRAN: Solve the transient response of a circuit (solve a system of generally non-linear ordinary differential equations via adaptive timestep solver) .AC: Find steady-state response of circuit to a sinusoidal excitation