A comparison of quantum mechanical corrections in surface potential based MOSFET compact models

Compact models of MOSFETs are important for simulation of electronic circuits. Surface potential based compact models have become popular for sub 100 nm MOSFETs. However, these models are based on semi classical analysis. Quantum mechanical effects, important in nano-MOS devices, are added to the surface potential based models separately as corrections. In this study we have investigated the accuracy of existing quantum mechanical corrections to surface potential based MOSFET compact models. Results show that the existing quantum mechanical corrections are not very accurate, particularly for the derivative of the surface potential with respect to terminal voltages. The error in the derivative of the surface potential with respect to the gate voltage is found to increase with increasing substrate doping density. This makes the existing corrections more prone to error with device scaling.