Programmable CCCII: reliability analysis and design methodology

Abstract

In this study, an effective and efficient approach for reliability analysis is developed to bridge the gap between device-level reliability and that at the product level. Continual reduction of device dimensions, gate-oxide and increase in channel doping results in an increased electric field which is introducing most of the reliability concerns. Four most important reliability issues impacting circuit design are hot carrier injection, bias temperature instability, time-dependent dielectric breakdown and self-heating. As the second-generation current controlled conveyor (CCCII) circuit are used to implement oscillator, filter clock and so on, which are working continuously even in sleep mode. So it is important to take care of all the reliability aspects while designing CCCII. There is a challenge in complex design to identify which devices (MOS, resistor and capacitor) are susceptible to degradation and then redesign and mitigate this effect for a robust and reliable design. The objective of this work is to detect reliability issues and design a programmable current conveyor which can work safely for a long duration. The circuit has been designed and simulated using 28 nm CMOS technology model parameters on Cadence Virtuoso/AMS environment (ELDO simulator) using ± 1.8 V supply voltage and results have been verified with post-layout netlist.