Title :
Operational Amplifier Based Test Structure for Quantifying Transistor Threshold Voltage Variation
Author :
Ji, Brian L. ; Pearson, Dale J. ; Lauer, Isaac ; Stellari, Franco ; Frank, David J. ; Chang, Leland ; Ketchen, Mark B.
Author_Institution :
IBM T. J. Watson Res. Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Abstract :
A new test structure has been developed, which is comprised of MOSFET arrays and an on-chip operational amplifier feedback loop for measuring threshold voltage variation. The test structure also includes an on-chip clock generator and address decoders to scan through the arrays. It can be used in an inline test environment to provide rapid assessment of Vt variation for technology development and chip manufacturing. Hardware results in a 65-nm technology are presented. The significance of the bias dependence of Vt variation is discussed for SRAM product designs.
Keywords :
MOSFET; SRAM chips; decoding; operational amplifiers; signal generators; MOSFET arrays; address decoders; on-chip clock generator; on-chip operational amplifier feedback loop; threshold voltage; Clocks; Decoding; Feedback loop; MOSFET circuits; Manufacturing; Operational amplifiers; Semiconductor device measurement; Testing; Threshold voltage; Voltage measurement; MOSFET threshold voltage variation; SRAM cell stability; operational amplifiers; semiconductor test structure;
Journal_Title :
Semiconductor Manufacturing, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TSM.2008.2010729