EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Electrical Characteristics of MOS Devices

VG
+
• The MOS Capacitor
“metal”
– Voltage components x ox oxide

– Accumulation, Depletion, Inversion Modes semiconductor

– Effect of channel bias and substrate bias

– Effect of gate oxide charges
– Threshold-voltage adjustment by implantation
– Capacitance vs. voltage characteristics
• MOS Field-Effect Transistor
– I-V characteristics
– Parameter extraction

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 1

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

1) Reading Assignment
Streetman: Section of Streetman Chap 8 on MOS

2) Visit the Device Visualization Website

http://jas.eng.buffalo.edu/
and run the visualization experiments of

1) Charge carriers and Fermi level,

2) pn junctions
3) MOS capacitors
4) MOSFETs

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 2

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Work Function of Materials

METAL SEMICONDUCTOR
Eo Vacuum
energy level
Eo
Work function
= q
q EC
Ef
Ef
EV
qM is determined qS is determined
by the metal material by the semiconductor material,
the dopant type,
and doping concentration
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 3
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Work Function (qM) of MOS Gate Materials

Eo = vacuum energy level Ef = Fermi level

EC = bottom of conduction band EV = top of conduction
band
q = 4.15eV (electron affinity)

Eo Eo Eo

qM q = 4.15eV q = 4.15eV

qM Ef EC EC
0.56eV 0.56eV
Ef qM
Ei Ei
Examples:
Al = 4.1 eV 0.56eV 0.56eV
Ef
TiSi2 = 4.6 eV EV EV
n+ poly-Si p+ poly-Si
(Ef = EC) (Ef = EV)
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 4
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Work Function of doped Si substrate

kT  N B 
* Depends on substrate concentration NB F  ln 
q  ni 
Eo Eo
qs q = 4.15eV q = 4.15eV
EC EC
0.56eV qs 0.56eV
Ef
|qF|
Ei Ei
|qF|
0.56eV Ef
0.56eV
EV EV
n-type Si p-type Si

s (volts) = 4.15 +0.56 - |F| s (volts) = 4.15 +0.56 + |F|

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 5
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

The MOS Capacitor

VG
+
+
_ VFB
“metal” +
xox oxide _ Vox (depends on VG)
+
_ Vsi (depends on VG)

semiconductor

VG  VFB  Vox  VSi  ox

C ox  [in Farads /cm2]
xox
Oxide capacitance/unit area
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 6
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Flat Band Voltage

• VFB is the “built-in” voltage of the MOS:

VFB   M   S
• Gate work function M:
Al: 4.1 V; n+ poly-Si: 4.15 V; p+ poly-Si: 5.27 V
• Semiconductor work function S :

s (volts) = 4.15 +0.56 - |F| for n-Si

 s (volts) = 4.15 +0.56 + |F| for p-Si

• Vox = voltage drop across oxide (depends on VG)

• VSi = voltage drop in the silicon (depends on VG)

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 7

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

MOS Operation Modes

A) Accumulation: VG < VFB for p-type substrate

M O Si (p-Si)
holes
Charge Distribution
Thickness of accumulation layer ~0

VSi  0, so Vox = VG - VFB

QSi’ = charge/unit area in Si
=Cox (VG - VFB )
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 8
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

MOS Operation Modes

• B) Flatband Condition : VG = VFB

No charge in Si (and hence no charge in metal gate)

• VSi = Vox = 0
M O S (p-Si)

Charge Distribution

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 9

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

MOS Operation Modes (cont.)

C) Depletion: VG > VFB

Charge Distribution

M O S (p-Si)
Depletion
2Si VSi
Layer xd  xd

thickness
qN B
qNB

2
qN Bx d qN Bx d
VG  VFB   Depletion layer
Cox 2s
Note: NBxd is the total (For given VG, can solve for xd)
charge in Si /unit area Vox VSi
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 10
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Depletion Mode :Charge and Electric Field Distributions

by Superposition Principle of Electrostatics
 (x)  (x)  (x)
Q' Q' Q'
M etal Oxide Semiconductor M etal Oxide Semiconductor M etal Semiconductor
Oxide
x=xo + x x=xo + x
d x x d x

 - Q' 
x=0 x=xo x=0 x=xo x=0 x=xo

E(x) E (x) E(x)

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Metal Oxide Semiconductor Metal Oxide Semiconductor

=
x=xo + x
x
x=x + x
x
+ x
o d x=x + x
d o d

x=0 x=xo x=0 x=x x=0 x=x

o o

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 11

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

MOS Operation Modes (cont.)

D) Threshold of Inversion: VG = VT This is a definition

for onset of
nsurface = NB (for p-type substrate)
strong inversion
=> VSi = 2|F| M O S (p-Si)

xdmax

qNB
Q’n

2 s ( 2  F )qN B
VG  VT  VFB   2 F
C ox
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 12
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

MOS Operation Modes (cont.)

E) Strong Inversion: VG > VT

xdmax is approximately unchanged
when VG> VT
4 Si  F
xd max 
qN B M O S (p-Si)

xdmax

qNa
qN B xd max  Qn
Vox 
C ox Q’n
Qn  C ox (VG  VT ) electrons

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 13

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 14

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 15

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

p-Si

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 16

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Voltage drop = area under E-field curve

Vox = Qa/Cox
Accumulation VSi ~ 0

Vox =qNaxd/Cox

Depletion VSi = qNaxd2/(2s)

Vox = [qNaxdmax+Qn]/Cox

VSi = qNaxdmax2/(2s)
Inversion = 2|F|

* For simplicity, dielectric constants assumed to be same for oxide and Si in E-field sketches
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 17
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Suggested Exercise

Most derivations for MOS shown in lecture notes

are done with p-type substrate (NMOS)
as example.

Repeat the derivations yourself for n-type substrate

(PMOS) to test your understanding of MOS.

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 18

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

p-Si substrate (NMOS)

Accumulation strong inversion
(holes) depletion (electrons) VG
(more
positive)
VFB VT

n-Si substrate (PMOS)

Strong inversion Accumulation

(holes) depletion (electrons)
VG
(more
negative)
VT VFB

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 19

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 20

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 21

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 22

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 23

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 24

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

C-V Characteristic
C/Cox C/Cox
a e e a
1 1
b b
p-type n-type
substrate c substrate
c

d d
VG VG
VT VT

a) accumulation: Cox
b) flatband: ~Cox (actually a bit less)
c) depletion: Cox in series with the Cdepl
d) threshold: Cox in series with the minimum Cdepl
e) inversion: Cox (with some time delay!)
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 25
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Small signal charge response Q due to VG

Q
Q
All frequencies
Accumulation
C = Cox

Q
Q All frequencies
Depletion
1/C = 1/Cox + xd/s

Q Q Q

Q
Inversion

Low frequency High frequency

C = Cox 1/C = 1/Cox + xdmax/s
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 26
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Effect of Substrate Bias VB and Channel Bias VC

VG
VC
M
O
inversion
electrons n+
n+

depletion
region p-Si

VB

VG  VB   VFB  Vox  VSi

net bias across MOS

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 27
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

At the onset of strong inversion, where VG is defined

as the threshold voltage
M O Si
Ei
qp
Efs
q(VC-VB)
qp Efn 2
1 qN a X
VSi 
d max

2 s
VSi  2  p  VC  VB 
2
VG  VB   VFB  qN a X d max 1 qN a X d max

C OX 2 s
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 28
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

At threshold: VG – VB = VFB+Vox+VSi
But VSi = 2|p| + (VC - VB ) =>
xdmax is different from no-bias case

2 SiVSi
xd max 
qN B

2sqNB(2|F| + VC-VB)
VT -VB = VFB + + 2|F| + VC - VB
Cox

Vox VSi
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 29
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Flat Band Voltage with Oxide charges

VFB is the Gate voltage required to create no charge in the Si

1 x ox ( x)
xox
Qf
VFB   M   S   
Cox Cox 0 xox
dx

ox (x)
Qf

S
ox (x) due to alkaline
M O
contaminants or trapped
x=0 x = xox charge
Qf due to broken bonds
at
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 30
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

VT Tailoring with Ion Implantation

Qi
VT 
COX

Qi = q  implant dose in Si Shallow implanted

dopant profile at Si-SiO2

Nsub interface (approximated as

a delta function)

• Acceptor implant gives positive shift (+ VT)

• Donor implant gives negative shift - VT
Algebraic sign of VT shift is independent of n or p substrate !

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 31

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

The delta-function approximation of implanted profile

* Valid if thickness of implanted dopants << xdmax

implanted acceptors SiO2 p-Si

SiO2 xdmax
Na
Qd
p-Si

Qn
Doping Profile After Implantation
Qd (due to implanted acceptors)

Charge Distribution for V G > VT

The VT shift can be viewed as the extra gate voltage nee

deplete the implanted dopants ~ Qi/Cox
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 32
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Summary : Parameters Affecting VT

1 M
6  OX & Q f
2 xox

Qn VC
n+ n+
Na 5
3

4 VB

7 Dopant implant near Si/SiO2 interface

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 33

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

M increases

|VCB| increases

B threshold implant
Xox increases

Xox increases
As or P threshold implant

|VCB| increases
+ Qf or Qox M decreases

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 34

EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Summary of MOS Threshold Voltage (NMOS, p-substrate)

• Threshold voltage of MOS capacitor:

2sqNB(2|F|) Qi
VT = VFB + + 2|F| -
Cox Cox

• Threshold voltage of MOS transistor:

2sqNB(2|F| + |VC-VB|) Qi
VT = VFB + + 2|F| + VC -
Cox Cox
Note 1: At the onset of strong inversion, inversion charge is negligible
and is often ignored in the VT expression
Note 2: VT of a MOSFET is taken as the VT value at source ( i.e., VC =VS)
Note 3 : Qi = (q  implant dose ) is the charge due to the ionized donors
or acceptors implanted at the Si surface. Qi is negative for acceptors
and is positive for donors
Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 35
EE143 F2010 Lecture 22

Summary of MOS Threshold Voltage (PMOS, n-substrate)

• Threshold voltage of MOS capacitor:

2sqNB(2|F|) Qi
VT = VFB - - 2|F| -
Cox Cox

• Threshold voltage of MOS transistor:

2sqNB(2|F| + |VC-VB|) Qi
VT = VFB - - 2|F| + VC -
Cox Cox

* Yes, + sign for VC term but VC (<0) is a negative bias for PMOS because the
inversion holes have to be negatively biased with respect to the n-substrate
to create a reverse biased pn junction.

Professor N Cheung, U.C. Berkeley 36