Body-bias compensation technique for subthreshold CMOS static logic gates

Abstract

This paper analyzes the performance of the conventional CMOS inverter, NAND-2 and NOR-2 static logic gates operating in the subthreshold region. The dependence of the drain currents on the process parameters can give rise to drive currents of NMOS and PMOS transistors that differ by an order of magnitude or even more. To compensate for this difference in currents, we propose three bias circuits in single-well processes that adjust the body voltage. Computer simulations using the AMS 0.8 /spl mu/m technology and the BSIM3v3 model were carried out to assess the compensation technique. A test chip was fabricated in both AMIS 1.5 /spl mu/m and TSMC0.35 /spl mu/m to further validate the proposal.