12/16/2014

TCADNews,June2011

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Page1

Newsletterforsemiconductorprocessanddeviceengineers

LatestEdition
WelcometotheIEDM2011editionoftheTCAD
News.IEDMisalwaysagoodforumtoreflect
onrecentdevelopmentsinthesemiconductor
industry,andthisyearthereisindeedmuchto
beexcitedabout.Weveseenthe22nmnode
initiatingproductionalongwiththeintroduction
of3Dtrigatedevices,whichpromisesfurther
CMOSscalingandrepresentsanotherinflection

December2011

TCADnews
ModelingStatisticalVariabilitywiththe
ImpedanceFieldMethod

pointinthesemiconductorindustry.Wevealso
seentremendousprogressinthedevelopment
ofnovelmemoriesandmoreefficientand

Introduction

FormodelingstatisticalvariabilitySentaurus

capablepowerdevices,fabricatedinsilicon,

Astransistorscalingcontinues,self

Devicesupportsthreedifferentvariantsof

SiC,andGaN.TCADhasnodoubtplayedan

averagingofdevicepropertiesforindividual

theIFM:ThenoiselikeIFM,thestatistical

increasingroleinthedevelopmentofthese

devicesbecomeslesseffectiveandthus

IFMandthedeterministicIFM.

thestatisticalvariabilityofdeviceproperties

TogetabetterfeelforIFMwewillnow

becomemoreprominent.Theconventional

discusstheseIFMvariantsfortheexampleof

numericalapproachtoinvestigating

randomdopingfluctuations.Note,however,

statisticalvariabilityistorunalargenumber

thattheIFMcanalsobeappliedtogeometric

featuresizesdowntothesub20nmrange,

ofsimulationsonrandomizedrealizationsof

fluctuations.

devicevariabilityhasbecomeanimportant

areferencedevice.Asevereshortcomingof

requirementfordeviceengineerstoanalyze

thissocalledatomisticmethodisthehuge

technologiesasR&Dbecomesmorecomplex
andexperimentsonwafersmorecostly.
InthiseditionofTCADNewswepresenttwo
topicswhicharehighlyrelevanttoadvanced
logicandmemorytechnologies.With

andcontrolinordertoachieveoptimal
operation.Thefirstarticlediscussesarecently
developedImpedanceFieldMethodology(IFM)

numericalexpense,causedbythenecessity
torunmany3DTCADsimulations.

foranalyzingtheimpactofrandomvariability

Theimpedancefieldmethod(IFM)in

ondeviceperformance.Thismethodology

SentaurusDeviceprovidesafast,convenient

ismuchmoreefficientintermsofsimulation
speedwithoutcompromisingaccuracy.An
addedbenefitofIFMisthatitcanbeextended

Onceweobtainthe3DTCADsolutionfor

Ns

thereferencedevicewiththedopingprofiles
ref(r
),wecomputethedeviationofthe
currentatacontact cinlinearresponseto
theperturbations:

andaccuratealternativeforstatistical
variabilityanalysis.

tothevariabilityanalysisofsmallcircuits
suchasSRAMcells,generatingstaticnoise
marginstatisticstoassessdeviceyield.While
FinFETisbecomingtheprimaryoptionforthe
14nmnode,thesecondarticlecoversthe3D
simulationofFinFETdevices,includingthe

WhatistheImpedance
FieldMethod?
ThebasicideabehindtheIFMistotreatthe
randomnessasaperturbationofareference

where Ns

(r
)isoneparticularrandomdoping

realizationforthedopingspecies s.
(r
),whichisalso

analysisofdopingandstressproximityeffects.

device.Ratherthansolvingthefull,nonlinear

TheGreenfunction Gs

Botharticlesshouldprovideaglimpseofhow

Poissonanddriftdiffusionequationsfora

calledtheimpedancefield,doesnot

TCADcanhelpinevaluatingthecomplex

largenumberofrandomdevicerealizations,

dependontherandomdopingrealization.It

weobtainthe3DTCADsolutiononly

iscomputedfromthefull3DTCADsolution

deviceengineeringoptionswhileyouare

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listeningtotheinterestingpapersatIEDM.
Withtheapproachingholidayseason,Iwould
alsoliketotakethisopportunitytowishyou
happyholidaysandaprosperousNewYear.

onceforthereferencedevice.Thenwe

ofthereferencedeviceandthereforethe

computethecurrentfluctuationsatthe

Greenfunctionmustbecomputedonly

deviceterminalscausedbytheserandom

once,nomatterhowmanyrandomdoping

perturbations.Thiscomputationisbased

realizationsareconsidered.

onlinearresponsetheoryusingaGreen
Withwarmregards,

functiontechnique[1],[2].

TerryMa
VicePresidentofEngineering,TCAD

InThisEdition
ContactTCAD

Simulationof6TFinFETSRAM

Forfurtherinformationandinquiries:

withSentaurusTCAD.................6

tcad_team@synopsys.com

Page2

NoiselikeImpedance
FieldMethod
TheIFMhaslongbeenknownfromnoise
analysis[1]andthenoiselikeIFMvariant

Thestandarddeviationforthegatevoltage

thusconsideringthelineardraincurrent

fluctuationisobtainedbydividingthedrain

responseismoreappropriate.Inthe

currentstandarddeviationbythesmallsignal

subthresholdregime,ontheotherhand,

transconductance y d,g .

randomfluctuationeffectsareverywell

discussedheremodelstherandom

ThenoiselikeIFMisfast,easytouse

fluctuationsinamannerverysimilartonoise

andefficientwhenitissufficienttoknow

analysis[2].Forrandomdopingfluctuation

therandomfluctuationinducedstandard

(RDF),thestatisticalaverageofthedoping
v(r
)=0andthus,
fluctuationvanishesNs

deviationofterminalcurrentandvoltages.

describedbythresholdvoltagefluctuations,
whichareintuitivelylikedtothelinear
gatevoltageresponse.Thisadditional
informationisincorporatedintotheIV
computationalgorithmbyformulationof
asetofboundaryconditionsspecificfor

averageoftheterminalcurrentfluctuation

StatisticalImpedance
FieldMethod

vanishesIc = 0.

WithinthestatisticalIFMweuseEquation

Thereforeinformationaboutthestatistical

(1)directly,andtoperformastatistical

effectsoftheRDFontheterminalcurrents

samplingusingalargenumberofrandom
v (r
).Toobtainstatistical
dopingrealizations Ns

StepTask

samples,weassumethatdopingisspatially

inourlinearapproximation,thestatistical

iscontainedonlyinhigherorderstatistical
moments.Thesecondmomentisgivenby:

thedevicesandbiasingschemesathand.
Table1summarizesthestepsinvolvedinthe
statisticalIFM.

Startfromreferencedevicewith
(r
)
dopingprofileN
ref

uncorrelated,andthatthenumberof
dopantsinagivenvolumefollowsaPoisson

Generaterandomizeddoping
v=0,1,2,...,~10005000
v (r
)
datafieldsamples:N

Computelinearcurrentresponse
oftheTCADsolutiontotherandom
dopingperturbationIv,cfrom
Equation(1)

ComputeIVcharacteristicsfromIv ,c

Computestatisticsofallrelevant
quantitiesfromIVcharacteristics.

distribution,withanaveragegivenbythe
averagenumberofdopantsinthevolume.
Withthisassumption,basedontheaverage
dopingconcentrations,foreachvertexin
Assumingthattherandomdoping

thedevice,wepickrandomnumbersfor

fluctuationsarespatiallyuncorrelatedthe

acceptoranddonoratomsintheVorono

secondordermomentoftherandomdoping

volumeforthevertex,andconvertthese

fluctuationisgivenby:

numbersbacktoconcentrationsbydividing
bytheVoronovolume.Thisapproachis
equivalenttotheapproachintroduced
inRef.[3].WethenuseEquation(1)to
Icateachcontact c,forasufficiently
computethesmallsignalcurrentresponses

Table1:Summaryofstepsinthe
statisticalIFM.

Thisapproachisthereforealsoapplicable
whenthestandarddeviationsofcontact

Notethatcontributionsfordifferentdoping
species s,suchasacceptoranddonors,add
up,ratherthancompensateforoneanother.
Alsonotethattherearenoadjustable
parametersinthesecondordermomentof
therandomdopingfluctuation.Therefore
usingthismodeldoesnotrequireany

largenumberofrandomsamples.FromIc

currentsareinsufficienttocharacterizethe

wethencomputethefullIVcurvesofthe

statisticalbehaviorofinterest.Forexample,

randomizeddevices.IFMapproximates

wecanusethestatisticalIFMtoplot

thegenerallynonlinearsystembyalinear,

individualvoltagetransfercharacteristics

smallsignalequivalentone.Wefindthatthe

(VTC)ofanSRAMcellinverterandusethem

accuracyofthisinherentapproximationcan

toextractthestaticnoisemargin(SNM).

beconsiderablyimprovedbyleveragingall
otherwiseavailableinformationaboutthe

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calibration.Thesecondmomentisdirectly
relatedtothestandarddeviationofthe
terminalcurrentorvoltage.Forexamplefor
asingletransistorthestandarddeviationof
thedrain dcurrentandthegate gvoltageis
givenby:

system.Forexample,theIFMgivestheuser

DeterministicImpedance
FieldMethod

acertaindegreeoffreedominselecting

FordeterministicIFM,wespecifythe

whichlinearizedquantitiestoconsider.

variationsdirectly.Forexample,for

Forexample,foraMOStransistorone

deterministicdopingvariationswereplacein

Ns

canconsidereithertherandomfluctuation

Equation(1)therandomdopingrealization
v(r
)byauserdefinedactualmodified

inducedlineargatevoltageresponseor
thelineardraincurrentresponseofthe

dopingprofile.SentaurusDevicecomputes

system,orevenacombinationofboth.For

theeffectofthevariationsontheobservation

atransistorinsaturationthegatevoltage

terminalvoltagesandcurrents.Comparedto

onlyweaklycontrolsthedraincurrentand

randomfluctuations,deterministicvariations

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page3

givetheusermorecontroloverthevariation

NetDoping (cm3)
30

1.0x10+20

andareeasiertounderstand,becauseno

4.8x10+16

29

2.3x10+13

statisticalinterpretationisrequiredandno

28

2.3x10+13

secondordermomentsappear.Thismethod

4.8x10+16

.(mV27

1.0x10+20

ev

isparticularlyusefulforscreeningand

.D
td

26
25

corneranalysis.

eS
ltag
Vo

Comparisonofnoise
likeIFMtoanatomistic
approachforsingle
transistors

te

24
23

Ga 22
(Vg,s at)
21

(Vg,lin)

20

0 .2

0.4

0 .6

0 .8

GateVoltage(V)

Tobetterillustratetheadvantagesofthe
IFMletuscomparethismethodtoanother
widelyusedapproachfortheinvestigationof
variabilityinsingletransistors:thesocalled
atomisticapproach(seeforexample[4],[5]).

Figure1:Randomizeddopingprofileforone
of2003DNMOSdevicesusedwiththe
atomizedmethod.Forbetterviewingonly
siliconregionsareshown.

Figure3:Standarddeviationofthegate
voltagefluctuations(V )forthe3DNMOS
deviceascomputedwiththenoiselikeIFM.
g

Thismethodrelieson3DTCADsimulations
ofalargenumber(200upto100,000[6])of

1 40

(Id,s at)

independentrandomized3Drealizations

(Id,lin)

1 20

ofthedevicestructure.Thecomputational
resourcesneededfortheatomistic
approacharedirectlyproportionaltothe
numberofrandomizeddevicestructuresin

1 00

(A)
nt

80

A)
(
v.

De

Std.

rre
u

nt

60

urre

thestatisticalsample.Suchanapproach

DrainC
40

isthereforenaturallylimitedtosmaller
deviceswithsimplifiedgeometries[4][7].
Foratomisticmethodsonealsohasto

DrainC
1

20

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

0 .2

0 .4

GateVoltage(V)

carefullyselecttransportmodelswhichare

0.6

0 .8

GateVoltage(V)

compatiblewiththeatomisticapproach
andrecalibratethetransportparameters
torecoverthecalibratedreferenceTCAD
results[4],[7].

Figure2:I V forV =50mV(green)and

1V(red)obtainedfrom2003DTCAD
d

simulationsofindividuallyrandomized

deviceascomputedwiththenoiselikeIFM.

realizationoftheNMOSdevice.Thesolid
blacklineshowstheaverageI V andthe
d

TheIFMmethodontheotherhandis

Figure4:Standarddeviationofthedrain
currentfluctuations(I )forthe3DNMOS

dashedlinetheaverageI V 2(V ).
d

applicableeventolargedevicestructures
andcanalsoreadilyhandlerealistic
geometries.Thecomputationalresource

noiselikeIFM.Figure1showsoneofthe

requirementsdependonlyweaklyonthe

200randomized3DNMOSstructuresused

Fromthesecurvesweextract
(Vth )=(Vg)|V =V andtheonstatecurrent
thresholdvoltagestandarddeviationas
g

th

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numberofrandomizeddevicesincluded

forthecomparison.

inthestatisticalsample.FurtherIFMis
fullycompatiblewithstandardTCAD.

standarddeviationobtainedbythetwo

thenthestandarddeviationsforquantities

transportmodelsaswellasallcalibrated

differentapproachesisequivalent(See

suchasthethresholdvoltageVthandtheon

transportmodelparameterscanbeused

alsoRef.[8]).Table3givesthesingle

statecurrentIon arecomputed.

directlyforIFM.

Table2showsthattheaccuracyofthe

forVd =50mVandVd =1V.Fromthesecurves

Consequently,allwellestablishedTCAD

)=(Id )|V =1 V .

o n

standarddeviationas(I

Figure2showstheresulting200Id Vgcurves

computerruntimeusing4CPUs.The
WithinthenoiselikeIFMmethod,asingle3D

ToillustratethespeedadvantageofIFM

computationoftheimpedancefieldduring

TCADsimulationissufficienttocomputethe

comparedtotheatomisticapproach,

standarddeviationsofthegatevoltage(V
d)asfunctionofthe
andthedraincurrent(I

whichisalsofullysupportedbySentaurus
Device,wecomparethesimulationsresults

gatebiasasshowninFigure3andFigure4.

betweentheatomisticmethodandthe

thegatebiassweepdoublestheruntime
for3DTCADsimulationofasingledevice
structure.However,thiscomputationhas
tobedoneonlyonce.Fortheatomistic

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page4

methodhoweverafull3DTCADsimulation

ThestatisticalIFM,however,uniquely

isrequiredforeachofthe200randomized

combinestheflexibilityoftheatomistic

devicestructures.Thisresultsinanoverall

approach,whilefullyretainingthespeed

100xspeedadvantageofIFMoverthe

advantageoftheIFM.

atomisticapproach.Thespeedadvantage

Figure7showstheleftandrightVTC

increasesevenmoreifalargersampleof

curvesfor1000randomizationsofthe

randomizeddevicestructuresisconsidered.

referenceSRAMcellobtainedbycomputing
theindividualVTCcurvesfromthelinear

(Vth )(lin)
(Vth )(sat)
(Io n )

Atomistic

currentresponseattheoutputterminalof

Noiselike

therespectiveleftandrightinverters

IFM
23.8mV

23.5mV

27.5mV

27.2mV

6.63x10 A

6.33x10 A

Figure5:Devicestructureofthe6TSRAM
cell.Forbetterviewingthedisplayofthe

oftheSRAMcell.Foreachofthese1000
butterflycurvestheleftandrightstatic

dielectricsareshownastransparent.

noisemargins(SNM)areextractedbyfitting

thelargestpossiblesquareintotheleft
Table2:Comparisonofstandarddeviations
computedwiththeatomisticmethodand
thenoiselikeIFM.

andrightwingsofthebutterfly.Theleft

WL

andrightSNMaredefinedasthelength
BL

DD

BR

PR

Method

#ofRuns

Total

Atomistic

200

400h

IFM

4h

ofthesidesoftherespectivesquare.The
effectiveSNMisdefinedasthesmallerofthe

PL

twovalues.

OR
AccR
AccL

OL
1
NR

NL

PL

PR
0.8

Table3:Runtimecomparisonbetweenthe
atomisticmethodandthenoiselikeIFM.
AllsimulationswereperformedonLinuxPC
using4threads.

GND

0.6

Figure6:Circuitdiagramequivalentto
the3DTCADdevicestructureshown
inFigure5.Thediagramalsoshowsthe
nodelabelsandcircuitelementnames
forreference.Forthemeasurementofthe

Staticnoisemargins
variabilityofSRAMCells

voltagetransfercharacteristics(VTC)ofthe
left(violethighlights)ortheright(tan

ItispossibletousethestatisticalIFMfor

highlights)invertertheprobesPLandPR

singletransistorsandgenerateIVcurves

areaddedtotheSRAMcircuit.Theprobes
areactivatedordeactivatedasneeded.

similartotheonesshowninFigure2.
However,usingthestatisticalIFMforthe
computationofquantitieslikethestandard
deviationsofthethresholdvoltageor

)(V)
V(OR
0.4

0.2

0.2

0.4

0 .6

0 .8

V(OL)(V)

Figure7:SRAMbutterflycurves:Leftand
rightvoltagetransfercharacteristics
(VTC)obtainedfromsimulating1000

Figure5showsa6TCMOSSRAMcell
whichiscreatedby3DTCADusing
SentaurusProcess[9],andFigure6shows

randomizationsofthe6TSRAMcellshown
inFigure5usingthestatisticalIFM.The
correspondingfittedsquaresrepresent

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theonstatecurrentofasingletransistor

theequivalentcircuitoftheSRAMcell.The

doesnotresultinanyadvantagesoverthe

theleftandrightstaticnoisemargin.
ThedataisshownfortheReadoperation.

3DTCADmodelwhichrepresentsthe6

noiselikeIFM.Further,liketheatomistic

transistorsasasinglesimulationdomain

approachforthestatisticalIFMtheuserhas

contains1milliongridpoints.Thelargerun

tomanageandanalyzethelargeamountof

timeforobtainingasinglevoltagetransfer

IVdatathatbothmethodsproduce.

characteristicofabout25hmakesthe

However,thestatisticalIFMisfullyapplicable

useofatomisticapproachesprohibitive.

inapplicationareaswhicharenotsuitablefor

ThenoiselikeIFMisnotapplicableeither

thenoiselikeIFM.Ahighlyrelevantexample

becausethereisnodirectcorrelation

isthevariabilityofthestaticnoisemargin

betweenthestandarddeviationsofcurrent

(SNM)ofanSRAMcell.

orvoltagefluctuationsattherespectiveleft
andrightoutputnodesOLandORandthe
standarddeviationoftheSNM.

Figure8showsthequantilequantile(QQ)
plotsfortheleftandrightSNMaswell
astheeffectiveSNMasextractedfromthe
datashowninFigure7.IntheQQplotthe
quantilesofobservedSNMdistributionsare
comparedtothequantilesofaGaussian
distributionwiththesameaverageand
standarddeviation.ThestraightQQplotfor
leftandrightSNMdistributionsshownin
Figure8areconsistentwiththeassumption

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page5

SNM(L)

SNM

ThepeakRAMconsumptionwasabout

References

50GB.TheDCbiassweepconsumedabout

[1]F.Bonani,G.Ghione,M.R.PintoandR.

50%ofthetotalruntime.Thecomputation

SNM(R)
1

oftheGreenfunctionsforeachbiaspoint

)
n(

consumedabout46%ofthetotalruntime.

riatio

Thecomputationthelinearresponsesfor

Va
1

allofthe1000individualrandomizations
accountedfortheremaining4%ofthe

totalruntime.Thisanalysisshowsthatthe
3
0 .1 2

0 .14

0.16

0.18

0 .2

SNM(V)

statisticalIFMisparticularefficientforlarge
numberofrandomizationsastheincremental
runtimeforanadditionalrandomizationis

Figure8:Quantilequantileplotsoftheleft
(black),right(red)SNMaswellasthe
effective(blue)SNMasextractedfromthe
datashowninFigure7.

verysmall.Also,althoughthestatistical
IFMapproachappliedtoa3D6TSRAM
cellrequiresconsiderablecomputational
resources,theseresourcerequirements

K.Smith,AnEfficientApproachtoNoise
AnalysisThroughMultidimensionalPhysics
BasedModels,IEEETrans.ElectronDevices,
vol.ED45,no.1,pp.261269,Jan.1998.
[2]A.Wettstein,O.Penzin,E.Lyumkisand
W.Fichtner,RandomDopantFluctuation
ModellingwiththeImpedanceFieldMethod,
inProc.SISPAD,Sep.2003,pp.9194.
[3]D.J.Frank,Y.Taur,M.Ieong,andH.S.P.
Wong,MonteCarloModelingofThreshold
VariationsduetoDopantFluctuations,in
VLSISymp.Tech.Dig.,1999,pp.171172.
[4]H.S.WongandY.Taur,ThreeDimensional
AtomisticSimulationofDiscreteRandom
DopantDistributionEffectsinSubO.1pm
MOSFETs,inIEDMTech.Dig.,1993,
pp.705708.
[5]Y.Li,S.M.Yu,J.R.Hwang,andF.L.Yang,
DiscreteDopantFluctuationsin20nm/

caneasilybemetbyastandardmodern

15nmGatePlanarCMOS,IEEETrans.

thatbothquantitiesfollowthesame,

computerwithsufficientRAM.Notealso

ElectronDevices,vol.55,no.6,pp.1449
1455,Jun.2008.

Gaussiandistribution.

thattheentirestatisticalIFManalysisfora

ThedistributionofeffectiveSNMis,however,

randomizationsamplesizeof1000(ormore)

clearlynotconsistentwiththeassumptionof
aGaussiandistribution.TheQQplotsofthe
effectiveSNMinsteadshowcurvature.These
findingsareconsistentwithexperimental
results[10].

ResourceRequirements

takesroughlythesametimethanitwould
taketocomputejusttwoDCsweepsforan
atomisticapproach.

vol.ED58,no.8,pp.22572265,Aug.2011.

andA.Asenov,Simulationstudyofindividual
andcombinedsourcesofintrinsicparameter

TheimpedancefieldmethodinSentaurus

fluctuationsinconventionalnanoMOSFETs,

Deviceprovidesafast,convenientand

IEEETrans.ElectronDevices,vol.53,no.12,
pp.30633070,Dec.2006.

accuratemethodforstatisticalvariability
analysis.SentaurusDevicesupportsthree

RAMused

~50GB

variationsofthemethodtooptimallyfitthe

RunTimeperVTC

~50h

specificrequirementsofthetaskathand.

DCbiassweeptime

~50%ofruntime

Forapplicationsforwhichitissufficient

~4%ofruntime

Variability:LessonsFrom105Sample
Simulations,IEEETrans.ElectronDevices,

Summary

~1,000,000

v,c

StatisticalEnhancementoftheEvaluation
ofCombinedRDDandLERInducedVT

[7]G.Roy,A.R.Brown,F.AdamuLema,S.Roy,

#ofNodes

I
computationtime
ImpedanceFieldcomp.~46%ofruntime

[6]D.Reid,C.Millar,S.Roy,andA.Asenov,

toconsiderthestandarddeviationofthe

[8]G.Roy,A.Ghetti,A.Benvenuti,A.Erlebach,
A.Asenov,ComparativeSimulationStudyof
theDifferentSourcesofStatisticalVariability
inContemporaryFloatingGateNonVolatile
Memory,IEEETrans.ElectronDevices.Inprint.
[9]S.D.Simeonov,I.Avci,P.Balasingam,M.D.
Johnson,A.Kucherov,E.Lyumkis,U.von

terminalcurrentorvoltageresponsethe

Matt,K.ElSayed,A.R.Saha,Z.Tan,S.Tian,
L.Villablanca,andB.Polsky,Investigation

noiselikeIFMprovidestheeasiesttouse,as

ofProximityEffectsina6TSRAMCellUsing

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TCADNews,June2011
Table4:ComputationalResource
requirementsforthe6TCMOSSRAMCell
simulationsusingthestatisticalIFM.

ThreeDimensionalTCADSimulations,IEEE
Trans.ElectronDevices,vol.ED58,no.4,
pp.11891196,Apr.2011.

itdoesinvolveexplicitstatisticalsampling.
ThedeterministicIFMgivestheuserperfect
controlforscreeningandcorneranalysis.

[10]T.Hiramoto,M.Suzuki,X.Song,K.Shimizu,
T.Saraya,A.Nishida,T.Tsunomura,S.

Formorecomplexdeviceresponsesthe

Kamohara,K.Takeuchi,andT.Mogami,
DirectMeasurementofCorrelationBetween

statisticalIFMcombinestheflexibilityofthe
ToensureaccurateTCADsimulationresults
the3D6TSRAMcellsisrepresented

SRAMNoiseMarginandIndividualCell
TransistorVariabilitybyUsingDeviceMatrix

atomisticapproach,whilefullyretainingthe
speedadvantageoftheIFM.

Array,IEEETrans.ElectronDevices,vol.
ED58,no.8,pp.22492256,Aug.2011.

byaTCADmodelcontainingabout1
milliongridnodes.The3DTCADdevice
simulationwhichcomputesthestatistical
IFMresponsefor1000randomization
duringoneVTCsweeptooklessthan50h
(includinginitialization).Weused4CPUs
onastandardlargeRAMLinuxcomputer.

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page6

Simulationof6TFinFETSRAMwithSentaurusTCAD
Introduction

structuresfromgeometryprimitives.The

lengthprocessespublishedbyleading

Logictechnologieshavebeensuccessfully

processsimulators,SentaurusProcessand

manufacturers[4,5].Thesizeofthesimulated

developeddowntothe32/28nmprocess

SentaurusTopography,haveconsistent

cellis260nmX487nm.Thelayout

nodebyrelyingonnovelprocessesto

modelsfor1D/2D/3Doperation.The

informationisbasedonscanningelectron

boostperformanceandmitigateshort

devicesimulator,SentaurusDevice,has

microscope(SEM)imagesandfeatures2

channeleffects.Theintroductionofstress

thelongesthistoryin3Dsimulation,with

driverPFinFETsand4NFinFETs(2used

engineeringatthe90nmnodeand,more

afullsetof3Dmodelsandwidespread

asdriversand2accessones).Inorderto

recently,highkdielectricswithmetalgates,

utilizationsincetheinceptionofSentaurus.

boosttheperformanceoftheNFinFET

arenotableexamples.However,atthe

Inparallelwiththe3Ddevelopmentof

drivers,eachofthetransistorsconsistsof

22nmnodeandbeyond,scalingbecomes

meshgeneration,structuregenerationand

twofinsconnectedinparallel(oreffectively

increasinglydifficultwithoutfundamental

thecoresimulators,parallelsolvershave

2transistorsworkingtogether).Thisis

changestothedevicearchitecture,with

beendevelopedandsubstantiallyimproved

accomplishedbymergingthesource/drain

researchanddevelopmentfocusingon

overthelastseveralyearsinordertomake

pockets[5].Connectingthefinsinparallel

threedimensional(3D)transistorsand

3Dsimulationpractical.ReleaseF2011.09

correspondstoincreasingthedevicewidthin

thinbodysilicononinsulator(SOI).This

furtherextends3Dsimulationcapabilities

planarCMOStechnology.Thephysicalgate

yearsannouncementbyIntelofa22nm

withnumerousimprovementsinspeed,

lengthofthehighperformancetransistors

processnodefeaturingtrigatetransistors

robustness,aswellasnewfeatures[3].

forthistechnologyis25nm.Thetransistors

[1]marksasignificantmilestoneontheroad

featureepitaxialpocketswithprocess

toreplacingthetraditionalplanarMOSFET.

Simulationresults

facetingtypicaloftheseprocesses.Stressis

Intrigatetransistors,thegatewrapsaround

Theintroductionof3DFinFETstructures

appliedtothePFinFETsandNFinFETsvia

thechannelonthreesides,forminga3D

intomanufacturingrequiresreliable3D

SiGepocketsandSi:Csource/drainareas,

structureknowngenericallyasaFinFET.

TCADsimulationcapabilitiesinorder

respectively.ThefinpitchfortheNFinFET

FinFETsareexpectedtoplayalargerrole

tostudy,optimizeandimprovethese

issmallerthantheoneforthePFinFETin

infuturetechnologies,motivatingtheir

structures.Inthisandthesubsequent

ordertomergethesource/drainareasduring

simulationwithTCAD.

sectionofthearticlepresentsafull3D

epitaxialgrowth.Sinceinformationabout

simulationofa6transistorFinFETSRAM

thedopingprocessandconditionsforthis

cell.Anoverallviewofthestructureis

structureisnotavailableintheliterature,we

presentedinFigure1.

choseimplantationandannealingconditions

Buildingonextensiveresearchand
developmentspanningseveralyearsand
releases,SentaurusTCADnowincludes
acomprehensivesetof3Dtoolsto

thatcorrespondtoatypicaldevice
performanceforthisnode.Simulationsof

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addresstherisinginterestintheindustryto

suchcomplexstructuresrequirealarge

designandoptimizeFinFETs[2].Themost

amountofcomputingresources.Ona

challengingtaskin3DTCADismeshingand

stateofartmulticoremachine,theFinFET

geometrygeneration.Meshgenerationis

processsimulationtakesabout56hours,

handledbySentaurusMesh,whichfeatures

whiledevicesimulationrequires60hours

advancedalgorithmstogeneratehighquality

tosimulatetheIdVgscharacteristicsfor

meshessuitableforhighlyaccurateprocess,

lowandhighbiases,andtheHOLD,and

device,andbackendreliabilitysimulations.

READbutterflycurves.

MGOALS3Disageometrygenerationlibrary
thatisusedinthesimulationofprocess
orientedgeometricsteps.Analternative

Fig1:Dopingdistributionin6TFinFET
SRAMcell.

Thegeometrywasgeneratedwith
MGOALS3Dandincludes40different
operations.Someoftheimportant

waytogenerate3Dstructuresiswith
SentaurusStructureEditor,asolidmodeler

Theprocessflowandgeometrydetails

thathasthecapabilitiestocreatecomplex

arebasedonrecentgatefirst25nmgate

geometriesarepresentedinFigure2.

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page7

deterministicvariations.Inordertoshowthe

Stressesarealsowellknowntoshowsome

dopingproximityeffectsduetoimplantation

layoutdependence.Comparisonofthestress

wepresenttheimplantationprofilesafter

distributionintheSRAMcellandstandalone

PFinFEThaloinFigure3.

FinFETdevicesareillustratedinFigure4.

Figure2:Geometryoperationsin6TSRAM
structure:a)finpattern,b)structurefor
source/drainextensionimplantation,c)

Figure4:Stressdistributionin6TFinFET

structurewithpocketsandinsource/drain,

SRAMcellascomparedtostandalone
simulations.

andd)finalgeometry.

Therearefourgeometrysnapshots
representedinthisfigure.Thefirstshowsthe
patterningofthefinarea,whichisessentially

Figure3:Phosphorusdistributionin
standalonePFinFET(upperleftcorner)
and6TFinFETSRAMcellafterhalo
implantation.

thefirst3Dmaskinthesimulation.
ProtectiveOxideandNitridehardmaskis
usedforthisstep.Thesecondsnapshotis
theSRAMstructuregeometryjustbefore
source/drainextensionimplantationit
includesthePolysilicongate,extension
Nitridespacer,sacrificialoxideforthe
implantation,andtheresisttoprotectthe
NFinFETduringtheimplantationsfor
PFinFETs.Thethirdstructureshowsthe
pockets.Andthefinalgeometryincludes
thesilicidesinthepockets.Thepocket
shapesinthissimulationarecreatedby

Inthissimulation,thelatticemismatch
betweenthesiliconandthepocketsarethe
mainsourceofstresses.Onecannotice
thedifferencesinstressesbetweenthe

Closeexaminationrevealstwodiscernible
differencesinthedopingprofiles:channel
dopingislowerintheSRAMcelldueto
resistshadowing,andthereiscontamination
ontheNFinFETsidewalls,closesttothe
PFinFETdomains.Thelasteffectisdueto
theimplantationthroughtheresistcovering
thesidewalls.Thesedopingproximityeffects
aremuchmorepronouncedintheFinFET
SRAMthantheplanarCMOSSRAMdueto
thecloserspacingbetweendifferentpolarity
transistors,aswellasthethreedimensional

standalonetransistorsandtheonesinthe
SRAMcell.Thechannelstressesinthe
SRAMcellareactuallylargerthantheones
inthediscretedevices.AndifthePFinFET
differencesarerelativelysmall,thestresses
arevisiblyhigherintheSRAMNFinFETs
comparedtothediscretedevices.The
increasedstressesinPFinFETareattributed
tothelargerpocketinthemiddleofthe
SRAMasbeingalargersource.InPFinFET,
inadditiontothelargerstresspockets,
thetransistorssource/drainpocketsare

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polyhedroninsertion.Theotheroperations
utilizeSentaurusProcessetchingand
depositioncapabilities.

natureofthistechnology.Weanticipate
largeeffortsfortheoptimizationofsuch
technologies,includingtheoptimizationof

connected,restrictingthedegreesof
freedomforstressrelaxation.Theseresults
aresomewhatcounterintuitiveandopposite
totheonesobservedinplanarCMOS

Next,wediscussandinterpretthesimulation

dopingprofilesfortransistorperformance

results.Inapreviousstudy,proximityeffects

andthedopinguniformityinthe3Dchannel.

inplanarCMOSSRAMcellweresimulated

Possiblytherewillbealternativesolutions

leadingtotheobservationthatbothstress

tominimizedopingproximityeffectssuch

obtainingtrustworthyresults.

anddopingprofilescanbealtereddueto

asundopedchanneloralternativedoping

Theproximityeffectsdiscussedabove

thecloseproximityofthetransistorsinthe

techniquesplasmadoping(PLAD).Butthere

haveaneffectonthedeviceperformance.

SRAMcell[6].Weapplythesameapproach

aresomedrawbackstotheseapproachesas

InFigure5wepresenttheelectrical

tothis6TFinFETSRAMcell:compare

well.Inanycase3DTCADisveryvaluable

characteristicsforthedevicesdiscussedin

thetransistorsperformancesimulated

toolforthedevelopmentandoptimizationof

thisarticle.

standalonewiththeonesinSRAMcell.

FinFETdoping.

SRAMtechnology,whichunderscoresthe
importanceoffullSRAMsimulationfor

Differencesinthedeviceperformance
areattributedtoproximityeffects,or

TCADNewsDecember2011

Page8

References
[1]http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_
newsroom/blog/2011/05/04/intelreinvents
transistorsusingnew3dstructure.
[2]SentaurusTCADversionF2011.09manuals.
[3]TCADNewsletter2011.09
[4]C.Y.Changetal.,A25nmGateLength
FinFETTransistorModulefor32nmNode,in
IEDMTechnicalDigest,Baltimore,MD,USA,
pp.293296,December2009
[5]H.Kawasakietal.,ChallengesandSolutions
ofFinFETIntegrationinanSRAMCellanda
LogicCircuitfor22nmnodeandbeyond,in
IEDMTechnicalDigest,Baltimore,MD,USA,
pp.289292,December2009
[6]S.D.Simeonov,I.Avci,P.Balasingam,M.D.

Figure5:IdVgcurvesatlowdrainbias0.05

Johnson,A.Kucherov,E.Lyumkis,U.von

VforN,P,A(access)FinFETtransistors.
Theresultsfordiscretedevicesareshown

Matt,K.ElSayed,A.R.Saha,Z.Tan,S.Tian,
L.Villablanca,andB.Polsky,Investigation

withdashedcurvesandtheonesforthe

ofProximityEffectsina6TSRAMCellUsing
ThreeDimensionalTCADSimulations,IEEE

SRAMtransistorswithsolidones.

Trans.ElectronDevices,vol.ED58,no.4,
pp.11891196,Apr.2011.

N,andPdevicesshowdifferentbehavior
duetothepreviouslydiscussedproximity
effects.Thereissignificantincreasein
leakage,decreasedthresholdvoltageforthe
PFinFET.Thisisprimarilyduetothereduced
dopinginthechannel.TheNFinFETsshow
highercurrentlevels,especiallyathighbias
(higherIo n currents).Thisisprimarilydueto
thestressproximityeffects.

Figure6:6TFinFETSRAMcellbutterfly
curvesandstaticnoisemargin(SNM)
fordifferentstates:HOLD(top)and
READ(bottom).

AfigureofmeritfortheSRAMcellisthe
staticnoisemargin(SNM).Examplesthat
illustrate6TFinFETSRAMcelloperationare

Conclusions
WehavedemonstratedtheSentaurusTCAD

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showninFigure6.

capabilitiesforsimulatingnextgeneration

Thecellshowsreasonablyhighstaticnoise
margin.TCADwasextensivelyusedto
optimizethedopingandstressofthecellin
ordertoobtainreasonableresults.

logicdevicesusingasanexamplea
6TFinFETSRAMcell.Someinteresting
3Dproximityeffectswerehighlighted.This
furtherillustratesthevalueofTCADforthe
developmentofMoreMooredevicesand
theiroptimization.

Synopsys,Inc.700EastMiddlefieldRoadMountainView,CA94043www.synopsys.com
2011Synopsys,Inc.Allrightsreserved.SynopsysisatrademarkofSynopsys,Inc.intheUnitedStatesandothercountries.AlistofSynopsystrademarksis
availableathttp://www.synopsys.com/copyright.html.Allothernamesmentionedhereinaretrademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.
11/11.TT.CS1058/CPR/550.

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