Microelectronics

02 History

Prof. Dr. Jörg Vollrath

01 Introduction

Video of lecture 03 24.03.2021

Länge: 1:02:33 min

0:0:54 Transistor, Layout, Cross Section

0:4:5 Transistor count

0:9:5 Moore's Law: Feature Size

0:13:0 Microelectronics over time

0:16:20 iFixit iPhone Analysis

0:18:5 iPhone Main Board

0:19:40 Blessing and Curse of Microelectronics

0:22:48 Design Entry

0:27:5 Software Tools

0:28:35 Integrated Circuit Challenges

0:29:55 Laboratory: Build a 4 bit positive number multiplier

0:32:43 Hierarchical description, one solution

0:36:40 Citations: Don't optimize too early.

0:39:19 Design flow

0:43:25 Technologies

0:47:15 Inverter schematic

0:49:45 Truth table

0:51:13 Source drain, schematic, color, layout box

0:54:5 Stick diagram

0:56:13 What do I do with 1 billion transistors?

0:57:32 Inverter schematic and layout

1:2:5 p-well and n-well

1:5:57 p-well and n-well contact

1:8:31 Layout well contact

1:12:45 F and lambda

1:13:29 N-MOSFET equations

1:16:16 β, width W, length L, capacitance Cox

1:22:4 0

Review and Overview

Welcome
LTSPICE
Netlist, elements, nodes, simulation mode, waveforms

Companies
References
Transistor Evolution, Moores Law
Blessing and curse of microelectronics

Transistor Evolution

Quelle: Wikimedia 1947 Bell
1 Bipolar transistor
30 μ m

50 MHz

Courtesy of Intel
2008 Intel Core i7
731 Million MOS Transistors
45 nm process
263 mm²
2.6..3.2 GHz

It can be seen that the Intel Core i7 has 731 million transistors in a process using 45nm feature size on an area of 263 mm². As an critical thinking engineer it is important to be able to check statements, claims and facts.
In this example the number of transistors for the given chip area is checked. A single transistor needs a minimum size of 16 F² as seen before. The number of transistors is chip area (A_Chip) divided by transistor area (A_MOSFET).
263 mm²/(16 * (45nm)²) = 8117 Mio Transistors.
This is a factor of 11 higher than the claimed 731 million transistors.
In highly integrated chips the total size is not limited by the area of transistors, but by the area needed for contacts and wiring.
In a microprocessor one transistor needs around 180 F². This number is important for estimation of chip area for a given circuit with a given number of transistors.

Links:
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2008/20081117comp_sm.htm
http://download.intel.com/pressroom/kits/corei7/images/Nehalem_Die_Shot_3.jpg
http://www.tomshardware.com/de/Core-i7-Nehalem,testberichte-240172-2.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors

History of integrating microelectronic circuits

1947 Bipolar Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley at Bell Laboratories
1958 Simultaneous Development of Integrated Circuit by Kilby at Texas Instruments & Noyce and Moore at Fairchild Semiconductor
1961 First commercial digital IC available from Fairchild Semiconductor
1967 First Semiconductor RAM (64bits) discussed at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)
1968 Introduction of the first commercial IC operational amplifier the µA709 by Fairchild Semiconductor
1970 1-transistor dynamic memory cell invented by Dennard at IBM
1971 Introduction of the 4004 microprocessor by intel
1972 First 8-bit Microprocessor The Intel 8008
1974 First 1kBit memory chip, 8080 microprocessor
1978 First 16-bit Microprocessor
1984 1MBit Memory chip

Electronic components

1906 vacuum tube
1958 First integrated cicuit:
More than one transistor next to each other on the same die
1970 Intel i1103 1kBit DRAM
1972 Intel 8008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RCA_%E2%80%99808%E2%80%99_Power_Vacuum_Tube.jpg
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/tihistory_subpage1.shtml
http://www.icknowledge.com/history/1970s.html

Moore's Law: Transistor count 2020

Every 2 years the number of transistors per area doubles.
Each year manufacturing productivity gains are about 30%.

Moore's Law: Feature size

Microelectronics over time

Benefits

More transistors per area
More functions per area
Less cost per function

Challenges

How to decrease feature size
How to handle complexity
How to design and test circuits

Mobile phone components

iPhone-3GS
Source: iFixit CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Mobile phone components

A18 SoC, 8GB LPDDR5 SDRAM, Kyoxia 128GB NAND Flash-Speicher

iPhone 16 Pro, Source: iFixit

It is also very interesting to see the 3D integration since one PCB sits on top of the other.

Mobile phone main board

Source: iFixit CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Samsung ARM processor S5PC100 600MHz

16 GB of Toshiba NAND flash memory
NOR Pseudo SRAM Numonyx
256MB DDR SDRAM

Analog Broadcom, Infineon

Power Management Infineon, NXP

Blessing and curse of microelectronics

Design and manufacturing

Each year a new model hits the market

More features (Flash Memory, Camera, sensors, protocoll)
Lower price

Each year manufacturing productivity gains are about 30%

Blessings:

New products are possible
Everything gets cheaper

Curse (Challenge):

Tight schedule for product development and sales
Constant improvement is needed
Electronics are getting more complex

MOSFET Transistor

Quelle Vollrath

Quelle Vollrath

Technology	R_N	R_P	C_OX	V_thn	V_DD	I_DD	g_mmax	g_dmax	f_t	Model
1 μm	15kΩL/W	45kΩL/W	1.75fF WL/F²	1V	5V	3 mA				cmosedu_models N_1um
600 nm	ΩL/W	ΩL/W	fF WL/F²		V	mA				C5_models
50 nm	34kΩ/W	68kΩ/W	62.5aF WL/F²	0.3 V	1 V	mA				cmosedu_models N_50nm

MOSFET

A MOSFET (Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) has the terminals gate (G), source(S), drain(D) and bulk(B). The gate controls current flowing between source and drain. There is a threshold voltage V_th which is needed to enable current flow. A bulk potential and bulk connection can change threshold voltage. Therefore bulk connections are needed to guarantee a stable threshold voltage.
There are enhancement mode PFETs and NFETS available making CMOS (complementary MOS) circuits possible. Enhancement mode FETS have a threshold voltage so that no current is flowing with 0V between source and gate.
NFETs have a positive threshold voltage, PFETS have a negative threshold voltage.

Transistor representation

Transistors as electrical components can be small black boxes with 3..4 wires. They are represented in a schematic as a symbol. In microelectronics a transistor is represented by a red rectangle (polysilicon) crossing a green rectangle (diffusion). Connections betweeen different colored areas are represented by black boxes between overlapping colored rectangles. Metal lines for connections are drawn as blue, violet or pink boxes.
In microelectronics circuits are built by transfering a transistor schematic to a layout (colored shapes). There are design rules limiting the size and distance of these colored boxes due to the limitations of the manufacturing process.

Minimum feature size and transistor area

The minimum total area of a transistor is based on the minimum feature size F.
The minimum feature size is the smallest pattern which can be realized in a given manufacturing process. The minimum feature size is depending on the wavelength of the used light source for the photoprocess used to transfer patterns with a mask onto the photoresist on a chip. A MOSFET uses at least 3 connections with minimum square area of F². Since there should be no shorts a distance to the next feature should also has a minimum distance of 1 F. Therefore 3 connections and one active transistor area, where a red and green line are crossing, with isolation require:
4 * 4 F² = 16 F²

Tools

LTSPICE

Circuit Simulator
http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/

Electric

EDA (Electronic Design Automation) Software
Layout, Schematic Editor, Simulator and other Tools
http://www.staticfreesoft.com/index.html

ISE Webpack
https://efabless.com/designers/

Design Entry

Schematic

Layout

Graphical State machine

VHDL

SystemC

C/C++

Result: Integrated Circuit

Courtesy of Intel
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2008/20081117comp_sm.htm
http://download.intel.com/pressroom/kits/corei7/images/Nehalem_Die_Shot_3.jpg

Integrated Circuit Challenges

Design a circuit first time right:

It has to work the first time, since chip manufacturing and mask design is costly and time consuming and measurement is very difficult.
Geometric shapes in different layers define transistors, resistors and capacitances
Circuit simulations will replace breadboard assembly and measurement
Layout with Electric will replace wiring of components

Tools:

Usage of LTSPICE and Electric

2025 Serial CPU Investigation

A simple configurable cell for serial computing should be designed.
Input:
CLK clock, CE, RST, TE, TDI, TDO
2 or more serial data inputs A0, A1,.., An
1 serial configuration pin (can an input be used for configuration
Output: 1 or more serial data outputs Y0, Y1, .., Yn
Operations

Delay: 1,2,3,4,..n/1,2,4,8,16,.. cycles
Add: A0 + A1, A0 + preset
Multiply/Shift: A0 * A1, A0 * preset
Integrate (Accumulate), Differentiate
Compare: A0,A1; A, fixed value
Multiplex A0 or A1 to A0..An
Fixed sequence output Y0..Yn

Functions

Receive and transmit serial/parallel data (SPI, I2C, UART, SERDES)
Static, repetitive output: All 0, All 1, serial 0,
Counter: Binary, Gray, thermometer (PWM)
Change length of serial stream
Multiplex
Sort A0, A1, An to Y0, Y1, ..., Yn

Next: LTSPICE and Electric

Circuit simulator: LTSPICE

Layout tool: Electric

03 MOSFET transistor

Lecture and Laboratory

2022 Compare Adder Architectures

Review of articles: IEEE Explore

Analysis and Comparison on Full Adder Block in Submicron Technology
Compare_Full_Adder.pdf
Two New Low Power High Performance Full Adders with Minimum Gates

What adder architectures are presented?
What simulations are done?
How does the layout look like?

Different groups design the layout, schematic of different adders, drivers and load
Is there an optimum layout?
Simulation and comparison with various feature sizes

Lecture and Laboratory

2021 Build a 4 bit postive number multiplier

Bottom up:

Transistor, logic cell, register, floor plan
IV curves, timing behaviour, system simulation
Single transistor drawing, gates, cells, blocks, system

Tools:

Usage of LTSPICE and Electric

Old Moore's Law (2011): Transistor count

Every 2 years the number of transistors per area doubles.
Each year manufacturing productivity gains are about 30%.

2022 03 22 Microelectronics 02 History Prof. Dr. Joerg Vollrath

Microelectronics

02 History

Prof. Dr. Jörg Vollrath

Video of lecture 03 24.03.2021

Review and Overview

Transistor Evolution

History of integrating microelectronic circuits

Electronic components

Moore's Law: Transistor count 2020

Moore's Law: Feature size

Microelectronics over time

Benefits

Challenges

Mobile phone components

Mobile phone components

Mobile phone main board

Blessing and curse of microelectronics

MOSFET Transistor

MOSFET

Transistor representation

Minimum feature size and transistor area

Tools

Design Entry

Result: Integrated Circuit

Integrated Circuit Challenges

2025 Serial CPU Investigation

Next: LTSPICE and Electric

Lecture and Laboratory

2022 Compare Adder Architectures

Lecture and Laboratory

2021 Build a 4 bit postive number multiplier

Old Moore's Law (2011): Transistor count