Lecture

EKV Charge-based Model: Transistor Design

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In course

EE-520: Low-power analog IC design

This course presents the design of low-power analog CMOS integrated circuits. The techniques are based on the concept of inversion coefficient that can be used as the main design parameter for the optimization of figures-of-merit applied to circuits includ ...

Description

This lecture covers the EKV charge-based model for low-voltage and low-power circuit design, focusing on the long-channel static model, weak inversion, and saturation characteristics. It delves into drain current, transconductances, transfer characteristics, output characteristics, subthreshold slope, noise models, and small geometry effects.

Instructor

Christian Enz

Christian C. Enz (M84, S'12) received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the EPFL in 1984 and 1989 respectively. From 1984 to 1989 he was research assistant at the EPFL, working in the field of micro-power analog IC design. In 1989 he was one of the founders of Smart Silicon Systems S.A. (S3), where he developed several low-noise and low-power ICs, mainly for high energy physics applications. From 1992 to 1997, he was an Assistant Professor at EPFL, working in the field of low-power analog CMOS and BiCMOS IC design and device modeling. From 1997 to 1999, he was Principal Senior Engineer at Conexant (formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems), Newport Beach, CA, where he was responsible for the modeling and characterization of MOS transistors for the design of RF CMOS circuits. In 1999, he joined the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) where he launched and lead the RF and Analog IC Design group. In 2000, he was promoted Vice President, heading the Microelectronics Department, which became the Integrated and Wireless Systems Division in 2009. He joined the EPFL as full professor in 2013, where he is currently the director of the Institute of Microengineering (IMT) and head of the Integrated Circuits Laboratory (ICLAB).He is lecturing and supervising undergraduate and graduate students in the field of Analog and RF IC Design at EPFL. His technical interests and expertise are in the field of very low-power analog and RF IC design, semiconductor device modeling, and inexact and error tolerant circuits and systems.He has published more than 200 scientific papers and has contributed to numerous conference presentations and advanced engineering courses. Together with E. Vittoz and F. Krummenacher he is one of the developer of the EKV MOS transistor model and the author of the book "Charge-Based MOS Transistor Modeling - The EKV Model for Low-Power and RF IC Design" (Wiley, 2006). He has been member of several technical program committees, including the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) and European Solid-State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC). He has served as a vice-chair for the 2000 International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED), exhibit chair for the 2000 International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) and chair of the technical program committee for the 2006 European Solid-State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC). Since 2012 he has been elected as member of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) Administrative Commmittee (AdCom). He is also Chair of the IEEE SSCS Chapter of Switzerland.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Condensed matter physics: Solid-state physics

Related concepts (32)

Transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material, usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal.

MOSFET

The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which determines the conductivity of the device. This ability to change conductivity with the amount of applied voltage can be used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. A metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MISFET) is a term almost synonymous with MOSFET.

Bipolar junction transistor

A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor (FET), uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar transistor allows a small current injected at one of its terminals to control a much larger current flowing between the terminals, making the device capable of amplification or switching. BJTs use two p–n junctions between two semiconductor types, n-type and p-type, which are regions in a single crystal of material.

History of the transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device with at least three terminals for connection to an electric circuit. In the common case, the third terminal controls the flow of current between the other two terminals. This can be used for amplification, as in the case of a radio receiver, or for rapid switching, as in the case of digital circuits. The transistor replaced the vacuum-tube triode, also called a (thermionic) valve, which was much larger in size and used significantly more power to operate.

Shot noise

Shot noise or Poisson noise is a type of noise which can be modeled by a Poisson process. In electronics shot noise originates from the discrete nature of electric charge. Shot noise also occurs in photon counting in optical devices, where shot noise is associated with the particle nature of light. In a statistical experiment such as tossing a fair coin and counting the occurrences of heads and tails, the numbers of heads and tails after many throws will differ by only a tiny percentage, while after only a few throws outcomes with a significant excess of heads over tails or vice versa are common; if an experiment with a few throws is repeated over and over, the outcomes will fluctuate a lot.

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Covers the EKV MOS Transistor Model, focusing on the charge-based model and its applications.

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Explores noise effects in MOS transistors at RF, addressing thermal noise models and velocity saturation impacts.

Noise in Electronic Devices

Explores thermal noise in MOS Transistors, input noise of bipolar transistors, and noise in amplifier stages, mirrors, differential pairs, and opamps.

MOS Transistor Operation: Triode vs Saturation

Explains MOS transistor operation in triode and saturation regions, focusing on transconductance and layout.

Thermal and Shot Noise: Analysis in Diodes and Transistors