• In processes with feature sizes above 180 nm, leakage was
insignificant except in very low power applications
• In 90 & 65 nm processes, threshold voltage has reduced to
the point that subthreshold leakage reaches levels of 1 - 10 nA per transistor, which is significant when multiplied by millions or billions of transistors on a chip
• In 45 nm processes, oxide thickness reduces to the point
that gate leakage becomes comparable to subthreshold leakage unless high-k gate dielectrics are employed
• Overall, leakage has become an important design
consideration in nanometer processes K.SUJATHA , Associate Professor, BMSCE (4) Leakage : (a)Subthreshold leakage • Ideal transistor I-V model assumes current only flows from source to drain when Vgs > Vt • In real transistors, current does not abruptly cut off below threshold, but rather drops off exponentially, as shown
K.SUJATHA , Associate Professor, BMSCE
(4) Leakage : (a)Subthreshold leakage • When gate voltage is high, transistor is strongly ON • When gate falls below Vt , exponential decline in current appears as a straight line on logarithmic scale- this regime of Vgs < Vt is called weak inversion
• Subthreshold leakage current increases significantly with Vds because of
drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) • There is a lower limit on Ids set by drain junction leakage that is exacerbated by the negative gate voltage
K.SUJATHA , Associate Professor, BMSCE
(4) Leakage : (a)Subthreshold leakage • Subthreshold leakage current is described by EQ (2.42) • Ids0 is the current at threshold & is dependent on process & device geometry • It is typically extracted from simulation but can also be calculated from EQ (2.43); the e1.8 term was found empirically • n is a process-dependent term affected by the depletion region characteristics & is typically in the range of 1.3–1.7 for CMOS processes • Final term indicates that leakage is 0 if Vds = 0, but increases to its full value when Vds is a few multiples of the thermal voltage vT (e.g., when Vds > 50 mV) • More significantly, drain-induced barrier lowering effectively reduces the threshold voltage, as indicated by the ɳVds term • This can increase leakage by an order of magnitude for Vds = VDD as compared to small Vds. The body effect also modulates Vt when Vsb ≈ 0
-----(2.42)
-----(2.43) K.SUJATHA , Associate Professor, BMSCE (4) Leakage : (a)Subthreshold leakage • Subthreshold conduction is used to advantage in very- low-power analog circuits • It is also particularly important for dynamic circuits & DRAMs, which depend on the storage of charge on a capacitor • Conduction through an OFF transistor discharges the capacitor unless it is periodically refreshed or a trickle of current is available to counter the leakage • Leakage also contributes to power dissipation in idle circuits • Leakage increases exponentially as Vt decreases or as temperature rises , so it is becoming a major problem for chips using low supply & threshold voltages & for chips operating at high temperature K.SUJATHA , Associate Professor, BMSCE
