US 7405982 B1
According to the present invention, a circuit and methods for enhancing the operation of SOI fabricated devices are disclosed. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pulse discharge circuit is provided. Here, a circuit is designed to provide a pulse that will discharge the accumulated electrical charge on the body of the SOI devices in the memory subarray just prior to the first access cycle. As explained above, once the accumulated charge has been dissipated, the speed penalty for successive accesses to the memory subarray is eliminated or greatly reduced. With a proper control signal, timing and sizing, this can be a very effective method to solve the problem associated with the SOI loading effect. Alternatively, instead of connecting the bodies of all SOI devices in a memory circuit to ground, the bodies of the N-channel FET pull-down devices of the local word line drivers can be selectively connected to a reference ground. This would enable the circuit to retain most of the speed advantages associated with SOI devices while overcoming the loading problem described above. With this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the major delay caused by the bipolar loading effect is minimized while the speed advantage due to providing a lower, variable Vt effect is preserved. The overall body resistance of the individual devices has a minimal effect on the device body potential.
1. A method for discharging accumulated charge from a body of an SOI device and accessing the SOI device, comprising:
generating a pulse;
using the generated pulse to provide a conductive path from the body of the SOI device to a reference point having a lower potential than the accumulated charge;
discharging the accumulated charge from the body of the SOI device to the reference point;
providing a control signal which enables access to the SOI device; and
reading an output of the SOI device,
wherein said steps of generating a pulse and discharging the accumulated charge occur prior to said step of reading an output of the SOI device.
2. In a circuit comprising a plurality of SOI devices, wherein said plurality of SOI devices comprises a memory circuit and wherein each of the plurality of SOI devices has a body, a method for enhancing the performance of the circuit, the method comprising:
providing a pulse discharge circuit, the pulse discharge circuit having a pulse generator connected to the circuit;
using the pulse generator to generate a pulse; and
discharging any accumulated potential on the body of at least one of the plurality of SOI devices to a point having a lower potential than the accumulated potential of the body in response to the pulse from the pulse generator just prior to accessing the memory circuit for reading or writing data.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/063,823, filed Apr. 22, 1998, which claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/044,251 filed on Apr. 23, 1997, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,292 issued Dec. 12, 2000.
1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to enhancing the performance of Silicon On Insulator (SOI) devices.
2. Background Art
Today, our society is heavily dependent on high-tech electronic devices for everyday activity. Integrated circuits are the components that give life to our electronic devices. Integrated circuits are found in widespread use throughout our country, in appliances, in televisions and personal computers, and even in automobiles. Additionally, manufacturing and production facilities are becoming increasingly dependant on the use of integrated circuits for operational and production efficiencies. Indeed, in many ways, our everyday life could not function as it does without integrated circuits. These integrated circuits are manufactured in huge quantities in our country and abroad. Improved integrated circuit manufacturing processes have led to drastic price reductions for these devices.
The traditional integrated circuits fabrication process is a series of steps by which a geometric pattern or set of geometric patterns is transformed into an operating integrated circuit. An integrated circuit consists of superimposed layers of conducting, insulating, and transistor-forming materials. By arranging predetermined geometric shapes in each of these layers, an integrated circuit that performs the desired function may be constructed. The overall fabrication process typically consists of the patterning of a particular sequence of successive layers using various chemicals as etchants. Many different processes exist for creating a pattern on the silicon wafer, with different processes being specifically adapted to produce the desired type of integrated circuit.
One relatively new process for fabricating integrated circuit devices is commonly known as Silicon On Insulator (SOI). SOI devices are semiconductor devices which are formed within a thin silicon layer that overlies an electrically insulating region formed over an integrated circuit substrate material. This insulating region may include, for example, a layer of SiO2 deposited over a semiconductor substrate material such as silicon or gallium arsenide. This fabrication process allows devices to be created which are electrically isolated from the substrate. SOI devices offer several advantages over conventional semiconductor devices.
For example, SOI devices typically have lower parasitic capacitances which, in turn, translate into faster switching times for the resulting circuits. In addition, the well-known but undesirable phenomenon of “latchup,” which is often exhibited by conventional Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices, is avoided when CMOS devices are manufactured using SOI fabrication processes. SOI devices are also less susceptible to the adverse effects of ionizing radiation and, therefore, tend to be more reliable in applications where ionizing radiation may shorten the life of traditional integrated circuits.
The advantageous characteristics of SOI devices result from the dielectric isolation described above. While providing many advantages, this dielectric isolation also produces some difficulties not encountered with more conventional integrated circuit devices. In conventional devices, electrical interactions occur between the device substrate and the device active region, e.g. the current-carrying portion of the device, such as the current channel of a Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET). Occasionally, accumulated charge in the device active region can alter the device threshold voltage VT (i.e., the voltage at which the current channel of an enhancement-mode MOSFET begins to conduct current). However, in conventional devices, this accumulated charge is readily removed through the substrate by applying an appropriate voltage to the substrate which attracts the accumulated charge away from the active layer, into the substrate, and out through a conductive lead. For example, a negative voltage applied to the substrate attracts holes from the active layer into the substrate, while a positive voltage attracts electrons. Alternatively, it is possible to change the threshold voltage of a conventional integrated circuit device, if desired, by applying a voltage to the active region through the electrically connected substrate. This is known as the “body effect.”
In contrast, in a typical SOI device, the insulating region prevents both the conduction of charge from the active region into the substrate, and the application of a voltage to the active region through the substrate. Thus, the lack of flexibility in the operation of an integrated circuit device due to the SOI insulating region is often inconvenient. For example, during operation of a typical SOI MOSFET, electrical charge can accumulate in the body of the device, (the region of the MOSFET between the source and the drain), until the concomitant electrical potential increases sufficiently to produce a shift in the threshold voltage (VT) of the device. This shift can adversely affect the operation of the circuit and introduce errors into the information being processed by the device. The charge accumulates on the body of the SOI transistors in a circuit whenever the circuit is not being supplied with voltage.
For example, in a typical circuit using bulk CMOS devices, the body of an n-FET device will be connected to ground and the body of a p-FET device will be connected to the supply voltage (VDD). Therefore, even when no voltage is applied to the n-FET or the p-FET, the body potential is controlled by the connection to either ground or VDD and the operational VT will be in keeping with standard design parameters for each device. In contrast, the body of an SOI device is not connected to either ground or VDD and, therefore, the body of the device can “float” to any voltage level. In addition, thermal fluctuations can also cause electrical charges to accumulate in the body of the transistors. Over a period of time, this charge can accumulate and can cause VT to be lower than the specified design parameters and the transistor will switch on before it should. If VT has been altered significantly, the operation of the circuit can be effected. For example, in synchronization circuits with critical timing requirements, the transistor may not switch on at the appropriate time and the circuit may not operate at all.
One specific example of the problems associated with SOI integrated devices is illustrated in
The individual segments in a memory array are accessed by activating segment driver 450. When memory circuit 400 is not being accessed, all of the global word lines are deselected and are at a low voltage level and, due to the operation of the transistors connected to GWL255 shown in circuit 430, node 431 is connected to VDD. All of the remaining word lines circuits (GWL0-GWL254) operate in the same way. When segment driver 450 is not selected, transistor 432, and the corresponding transistors in the other local word driver circuits, are not driven and are therefore turned off. Circuit 435 represents the load of the remaining word line drivers. Due to the accumulated charge stored on each of the transistors represented by this load, select line 460 appears to circuit 400 as if it were a large capacitor with a stored charge.
When segment driver 450 is activated, one of the active global word lines will provide access to a local word line for reading or writing to a specific memory location. This process is accomplished as follows. The memory chip is activated by supplying a signal to the CLOCK input of segment driver 450. The control (CTL) or segment signal is used to select one of the memory subarrays or segments for reading or writing. After a small propagation delay, the control circuit (not shown) creates a decoding signal DECODE that activates the appropriate subarray by driving select line 460 to low. When all three of the input signals to segment driver 450 are active, node 431 in the local word line driver circuit 430 is discharged through select line 460 and pull-down transistor 451 in segment driver 450.
At this point, although only one of the 256 global word lines is selected, segment driver 450 must discharge all of the accumulated charge in the body of each transistor corresponding to transistor 432 in local word line driver 430 for each of the 256 local word line drivers. This is known as “fan-out” loading. As described earlier, the bodies of the SOI transistors have a tendency to accumulate electrical charge. When a given memory segment is not being accessed for a period of time (i.e. 0.1 ms for a typical n-FET device), an electrical charge can accumulate in the body of each one of the SOI transistors. Then, when the memory segment is first accessed, the charge on each of the transistors corresponding to transistor 432 must be discharged. The “first access” is considered to be when the segment is first used to read or write data after a period of inactivity. If subsequent accesses are to the same memory segment, no charge sufficient to cause delays will have been accumulated. If, however, a different memory segment is subsequently accessed, the previously accessed memory segment may, once again, need to be discharged prior to subsequent accesses. Memory access is delayed until the electrical charge is dissipated.
The fan-out loading effect is known for a tendency to slow down memory access times associated with SOI devices, especially during the first cycle of operation, when the accumulated charge on the body of the transistors is the greatest. Also, the greater the physical distance between segment driver 450 and the selected local word line driver, the harder it is to drive. Due to the propagation delay inherent in the physical circuit wiring, body charges in more distant devices take longer to discharge through the long, relatively resistive wire. However, after the first access cycle, the SOI loading effect is diminished significantly. This is because, once the accumulated body charges in all of the N-channel FET pull-down devices have been discharged, a relatively long period of time is needed to build up the charge on the body of the transistors again. Therefore, as long as the memory access requests are to the same subarray or segment, there will be no additional access delay associated with discharge propagation delays. By logical extension, the worst access times for an SOI memory device is generally the first access cycle for a device that is located the farthest distance from segment driver 450.
The loading effect described above can be completely eliminated by connecting the body of an SOI device to a reference ground. Referring now to
Therefore, there exists a need to provide a way to take advantage of the benefits of SOI device characteristics without suffering the possible negative implications of SOI fabricated devices. In addition, the methods employed should not unnecessarily diminish or destroy the positive advantages provided by implementing circuits and devices using SOI technology.
According to the present invention, a circuit and methods for enhancing the operation of SOI fabricated devices are disclosed. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pulse discharge circuit is provided. Here, a circuit is designed to do a pulse discharge that will eliminate the accumulated electrical charge on the SOI devices in the memory subarray just prior to the first access cycle. As explained above, once the accumulated charge has been dissipated, the speed penalty for successive accesses to the memory subarray is eliminated or greatly reduced. With a proper control signal, timing and sizing, this can be a very effective method to solve the problem associated with the SOI loading effect.
Alternatively, instead of connecting the bodies of all SOI devices in a memory circuit to ground, the bodies of the speed-critical devices are selectively connected to a reference ground. This would enable the circuit to retain most of the speed advantages associated with SOI devices while overcoming the loading problem described above. With this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the major delay caused by the bipolar loading effect is minimized while the speed advantage due to providing a low Vt effect is preserved. The overall body resistance of the individual devices has a minimal effect on the device body potential.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:
The present invention relates to the use and operation of integrated circuit transistors, particularly SOI transistors. For those individuals who are not familiar with CMOS and SOI fabricated devices, the Overview section below presents some basic concepts that will help to understand the invention. Those who are skilled in the art may wish to skip this section and begin with the Detailed Description Section instead.
Referring now to
The designation of a particular device as a p-channel device or an n-channel device depends on the type of fabrication process used to create the device. Substrate 110 is any semiconductor material known to those skilled in the art. The various wells and contacts are created by using different types of constituents when the wafer is being fabricated. In normal operation, n-well contact 125 is connected to VDD and p-well contact 155 is connected to ground.
Referring now to
Substrate 210 is any semiconductor material, or metal, or glass, known to those skilled in the art. Source and drain diffusions 135 and 145 will typically abut buried oxide layer 220. Surface isolation 160 and buried oxide layer 220 serve to electrically isolate source and drain diffusions 135 and 145, preventing electrical charge from being transferred to and from the devices through substrate 210.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
When segment driver 450 is activated, the active global word line will provide access to a local word line for reading or writing to a specific memory location. This process is accomplished as follows. The memory chip is activated by supplying a signal to the CLOCK input of segment driver 450. The control (CTL) or segment signal is used to select one of the memory subarrays or segments for reading or writing. In circuit 500, CTL is also supplied as an input signal to pulse discharge circuit 310. After a small propagation delay, the control circuit (not shown) creates a decoding signal DECODE that activates the appropriate subarray by connecting select line 460 to ground. When all three of the input signals to segment driver 450 are active, select line 460 is used to discharge the accumulated charge on the SOI transistors. This time, instead of discharging through segment driver 450 as shown in
Another preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes selective connection of the body of SOI devices to reference ground which, as discussed above in reference to
In summary, using a pulse body node discharge circuit can improve the access/switching time of SOI memory devices significantly. If the discharge pulse is only applied when first accessing a new subarray or segment, the extra power consumed will be negligible. In addition, the extra circuitry required to generate the pulse is negligible and can be added to a typical circuit layout without adversely impacting the overall chip size. If, on the other hand, the discharge pulse is applied to every memory access cycle, the access speed of the SOI memory device can be optimized. This implementation will cause some additional power consumption but remains desirable for those applications where high-speed memory access is necessary.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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