University of Texas Arlington

A SPICE Macro Model

for an Integrated Circuit
Resistor
Project Assignment

Semiconductor Device Theory

EE 5340 Fall 2010
Sharath Patil
1000673216
Sharath.patil@mavs.uta.edu
Nov 22, 2010
1000673216

A SPICE Macro Model for an Integrated

Circuit Resistor
Sharath Patil , Student, Dept. of EE, UT Arlington


Abstract—A SPICE macro model has been developed for an integrated circuit (IC) resistor; an n-diffusion resistor on a p-substrate
has been considered in this project. The model considers the effect of parasitic diode formed by the substrate and the diffused resistor
and change in resistance of corner square cells. The junction at linear squares can be approximated to be cylindrical and that for corner
squares as spherical. The breakdown voltages have been calculated accordingly for linear and corner squares. The breakdown
characteristics have been illustrated using SPICE simulations.

I. INTRODUCTION

IC Resistor is used when a reasonably-defined resistance value is required in the design of a circuit on an IC. The layout and
lateral view of an n-diffused resistor (n-well) on a p-substrate are illustrated in Fig. 1 [1]. The contacts represent the two
terminals of the IC resistor. The purpose of this project is to develop a SPICE model of such an IC resistor that can be used in
simulations with considerable accuracy. The model has to include the effect of parasitic diode formed at the junction of p and n
regions. If a long, high-value resistor is designed, it is usually laid out in a serpentine pattern as shown in Fig. 2, to save area [2].
In such a case, the resistance and junction characteristics at the corners are different from those of the linear region; the corner
effects should also be included in the model. Finally, a 5 kΩ resistor has to be designed and the developed macro model has to be
used to simulate this resistor along with some of the effects of the parasitic diode.

Fig. 1. Structure of n-well resistors [1]

1000673216

Corner Square

Linear Square

Fig. 2. A serpentine pattern for a long, high-value resistor

The resistance of an n-diffusion resistor can be calculated using the following expression [2]:

1
 xj  L
R    q n n( x) dx   (1)
0  W
 

where μn is the mobility of the electrons in n-region, n(x) is the density of electrons per unit area (approximately equal to density
of donor atoms per unit area Nd’(x)) at a distance x from the surface, xj is the effective thickness i.e. distance from the surface to
the edge of depletion region [3], L and W are the length and width of the resistor respectively.

II. MACRO AND MODEL EQUATIONS FOR AN IC RESISTOR

This section explains the macro and model equations that have been developed to include some of the secondary effects of the
resistor.
A. Expression for the resistance of a unit square
The resistor in Fig. 1 can be assumed to be made up of a certain number of squares Nsq = L/W, each having a sheet resistance of
Rsq Ω/square. This is illustrated on the first branch of the resistor layout in Fig. 2. Hence, the resistance expression (1) can be
modified as
L
R  Rsq   Rsq  N sq (2)
W

where Rsq is the sheet-resistance and Nsq is the number of squares.

By considering the average electron mobility and concentration in the resistor, the evaluation of the integral in (1) can be avoided
and the sheet resistance can be approximated by [2]

Rsq 
q  Nd
n 1



(3)
xj xj

where n is the average electron mobility, N d is the average donor concentration,  is the average resistivity and xj is the
effective thickness of the n-diffused resistor [2]. The effective thickness xj is given by

x j  xd  xn (4)

where xd is the junction depth and xn is the depletion region width in the n-region. Please note that xn is bias-dependent as
illustrated in Fig. 3 [1], and hence the sheet-resistance of the diffused resistor is dependent on the voltage applied to the terminals
of the resistor.
1000673216

Fig. 3. Voltage dependence of the resistance of n-well resistors [1]

B. Parasitic diode effects

The n-diffused resistor forms a pn-junction diode with the p-substrate. Hence, the secondary effects like breakdown voltage,
substrate leakage current, junction capacitance, change in depletion width, etc have to be considered. As the resistor is modeled
by a distributed model, it is assumed to be consisting of a number of squares Nsq and each square exhibits all the secondary effects
mentioned.
The leakage current to substrate can be estimated by calculating the saturation current density of the diode, given by [2]

 Dp D cothWE Ln 
J s  J sp  J sn  qni2   n  (5)
 N d WB N a Ln 

where the usual notations of [2] have been used. The minority carrier current density in the n-region has been calculated by
assuming that the diffusion length of holes in the n-region is much greater than the width of the n-region i.e. Lp>>WB (this is valid
in our case where WB = 0.5um).
The saturation current Is can be calculated by multiplying Js by the area of each square. The reduction in sheet resistance due to
this leakage current is negligible because the diode is reverse biased and hence very less current flows to the substrate (unless
there is a breakdown).
As the diode is reverse biased, it exhibits breakdown when the terminal voltage is increased. Assuming a one-sided diode and
using depletion approximation, the electric field Ecrit at which breakdown occurs is given by [4]

Ecrit 
120 V qN  Eg / 1.13 / 4
N 
(6)
 0 Si 
/ 1E16
3/ 8


where N is the concentration of the lightly doped side. To calculate the breakdown voltage of a linear square, a cylindrical
junction has to be considered because of the junction curvature [2]. The junction breakdown voltage for a cylindrical junction is
more than that of a spherical junction and lesser than that of plane junction. For a linear square, the breakdown voltage has been
calculated similar to the calculations for a spherical junction in [5], given by

 rp2   r   r 2   r 
BV  Ecrit r j   2  ln  p    n  ln  n  (7)
 rp  r j   r j   r j  rn   r j 
 2  2 2

where Ecrit is the critical electric field given by (6), rp is the radius of p-depletion region, rj is the junction depth and rn is the
radius of n-depletion region.
1000673216

C. Corner effects
The corner square has a different resistance compared to a linear resistance because the equipotential lines would no longer be
perpendicular to the side-walls. To illustrate this, a distributed model of a square resistor was built using 3x3 star elements as
explained in [6] and a PSPICE simulation was run as shown in Fig. 4. The corner square was simulated by connecting different
number of linear squares. The results are summarized in Table I and a plot of corner resistance versus 1/N where N is the number
of linear elements connected, is shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4. 3x3 star element simulation in PSPICE

Table I Ratio of corner sqaure resitance to linear square resistance for different values of 1/NL
*
1/NL RC/RL
1.00E+06 0.56522
2.00E+00 0.60217
1.00E+00 0.60956
6.67E-01 0.60966
5.00E-01 0.60968
4.00E-01 0.60968
*Ratio of corner square resistance to linear square resistance

Fig. 5. Plot of RC/RL versus reciprocal of the number of linear squares (1/NL)

From Fig. 5, it can be deduced that the corner square resistance approaches 61% of the linear square resistance as the number
of linear squares connected to the corner square increases. The junction of a corner square can be assumed to be 1/8 of a sphere
as explained in [6]. The breakdown voltage of a spherical junction has been calculated in [5] as
1000673216

BV 
 
Ecrit 2r j r j     rn r j  rn 
(8)
2 rn
where Ecrit is the critical electric field given by (6), rp is the radius of p-depletion region, rj is the junction depth and rn is the
radius of n-depletion region [5].

III. CALCULATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR 5000 OHM RESISTOR

The requirements of the project are summarized in Table II. It is required to find out the process parameters and length for the
design of a 5kΩ n-diffusion resistor.
Table II Summary of the required n-diffusion resistor
Resistor value Substrate type Substrate resistivity Junction depth xd Resistor width W Resistor type
5 kΩ P-substrate 10 Ω-cm 0.5 μm 3 μm N-diffusion
A. Design of the resistor
The sheet resistance was calculated using (3). The average donor concentration was chosen such that the change in resistor
value is within 2% when the bias voltage is increased from 0 V to 5 V (2% was arbitrarily chosen). The donor concentration can
be chosen to be arbitrarily high so that the change in resistance is less but, if the dopant concentration is very high, the sheet
resistance reduces and the length L of the resistance increases. For the 2% criterion chosen, a value of Nd = 2.5e17 cm-3 was
chosen. The change in effective thickness and sheet resistance with the change in bias voltage is summarized in Table III.

Table III Summary of change in sheet resistance properties with change in bias voltage Va
xj = xd - xn Rsq_eff Rsq_eff curve fit
Va (V) xn (cm) xp (cm) W (cm)
(cm)* (ohm) (ohm)+
0 4.75E-07 7.91E-05 7.96E-05 4.95E-05 944.75 945.92
1 7.31E-07 1.22E-04 1.23E-04 4.93E-05 949.66 949.18
2 9.18E-07 1.53E-04 1.54E-04 4.91E-05 953.29 952.43
3 1.07E-06 1.79E-04 1.80E-04 4.89E-05 956.31 955.69
4 1.21E-06 2.01E-04 2.03E-04 4.88E-05 958.96 958.95
5 1.33E-06 2.22E-04 2.23E-04 4.87E-05 961.36 962.20
% change 180.2 1.7 -1.8 -1.7
Average 9.6E-07 4.9E-05 955.92 955.69
*
xj is the effective thickness, + Curve fit formula: 945.92+3.2563Va

Using average sheet resistance value = 956 Ω obtained in Table III, the number of squares required Nsq = 5.2 for a 5k Ω
resistor. If the resistor consists only of linear squares, length of the resistor L = W*Nsq = 15.7 μm.

Table IV Resistor and parasitic diode parameters

Parameter Value
Acceptor concentration (substrate) Na 1.5e15 cm-3
Donor concentration (resistor) Nd 2.5e17 cm-3
Sheet resistance Rsq 956 Ω
Length of the resistor L 15.7 μm
Number of squares linear Nsq 5.2
Diode current density Js 4.29e-11 Acm-2
Built-in potential Vbi 0.73 V
Critical electric field Ecrit 3.4e5 Vcm-1
Linear square breakdown voltage BV 26.89 V
Corner square breakdown voltage BV 11.5 V
Ratio of corner to linear resistor
0.61
(RC/RL)
1000673216

The resistor parameters and the parasitic diode parameters are calculated as explained in section II and are summarized in
Table IV. In summary, each square can be modeled using the SPICE macro consisting of a resistor and a diode as shown in Fig.
6, with the properties summarized in Table IV. The area of each square is given by W*W = 9 μm2. .

Fig. 6. SPICE macro of a sqaure resistor

B. Breakdown simulation
1) Resistor with linear squares only
The value of 5 kΩ can be obtained by using Nsq = 5.2. The voltage at which breakdown occurs Va = BV – Vbi. For a linear
square this voltage is equal to 26.16 V. The square connected close to the voltage will breakdown.
This was verified by running a PSPICE simulation using the macro developed. The breakdown characteristics are plotted in
Fig. 7. The breakdown occurs at Va = 26.8 V and the diode at the first linear square breaks down first. The simulated value of
resistor = 4.97 kΩ is also plotted in Fig. 7.

R = 4971 ohm

Fig. 7. Breakdown characteristic of linear square

2) Resistor with linear squares and corner squares

For this case, the layout shown in Fig. 8 is assumed. It contains two corner squares and 3 linear squares. The first corner square
RC1 breaks down first followed by the first linear square RL1.
The simulation shows that RC1 breaks down at Va = 16 V and RL1 breaks down at Va = 29.8 V as shown in Fig. 9. The simulated
value of resistor = 4.99 kΩ is also plotted in Fig. 9.

RC1 RL2 RC2

L1=1.5 RL1 RL3 L3=1.5

Fig. 8. Layout of 5000 ohm resistor with both corner and linear squares
1000673216

R = 4990 ohm

Fig. 9. Breakdown characteristic of corner and linear square

IV. CONCLUSION
A SPICE macro model has been developed for an IC resistor formed by n-diffusion on a p-substrate. The resistor exhibits
breakdown characteristics because of the parasitic diode effects which has also been modeled and simulated. A resistor with a
value of close to 5000 ohm has been designed as per the requirement of the project. The principles explained in this project can
be easily extended to design and develop a SPICE macro model for a p-diffusion resistor on an n-substrate.

REFERENCES
[1] F. Yuan, “MOS Device Layout Techniques”, http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~fyuan/layout.pdf
[2] R. S. Muller and T. I. Kamins, Device Electronics for Integrated Circuits, Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
[3] P. R. Gray, et al, Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits, New Delhi: Wiley India, 2009
[4] R. L. Carter, “EE5340 – Semiconductor Device Theory: Lecture 13”, http://www.uta.edu/ronc/5340/lectures/L13_5340_Fa10.ppt
[5] R. L. Carter, “Semiconductor Device Capacitance-Voltage Characteristics”, http://www.uta.edu/ronc/5340/project/40ProjectSolution03.pdf
[6] R. L. Carter, “EE5340 – Semiconductor Device Theory: Lecture 8”, http://www.uta.edu/ronc/5340/lectures/L08_5340_Fa10.ppt
1000673216

APPENDIX
*NETLIST FOR BREAKDOWN SIMULATION
*IC RES SIM

*LINEAR ELEMENTS ONLY

*X1 IN 2 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X2 2 3 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X3 3 4 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X4 4 5 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X5 5 OUT 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.2

*RO OUT 0 1E-6

*V1 IN 0 DC 2

*CORNER PLUS LINEAR ELEMENTS

X6 IN1 21 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.5
X7 21 31 0 COR_SQ
X8 31 41 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
X9 41 51 0 COR_SQ
X10 51 OUT1 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.5

RO1 OUT1 0 1E-6

V2 IN1 0 DC 2

*.DC V1 0.0 28 0.1

.DC V2 0.0 260 0.1
.PROBE

.SUBCKT LIN_SQ 1 2 3 PARAMS: L=1

D1 3 1 D_LIN
R1 1 2 {956*L}
.MODEL D_LIN D (IS={L*3*1.282E-18} VJ=0.73 BV=26.89 CJO={L*0.507E-15})
.ENDS

.SUBCKT COR_SQ 1 2 3
D1 3 1 D_COR
R1 1 2 {956*0.61}
*RC=583.16 OHM
.MODEL D_COR D (IS=3.85E-18 VJ=0.73 BV=11.5 CJO=1.52E-15)
.ENDS

.END

**** 11/22/10 09:56:47 *********** Evaluation PSpice (Nov 1999) **************

*IC res sim

**** CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

******************************************************************************
*Linear elements only
*X1 IN 2 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X2 2 3 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X3 3 4 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X4 4 5 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
*X5 5 OUT 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.2

*RO OUT 0 1E-6

1000673216

*V1 IN 0 DC 2

*Corner plus linear elements

X6 IN1 21 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.5
X7 21 31 0 COR_SQ
X8 31 41 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1
X9 41 51 0 COR_SQ
X10 51 OUT1 0 LIN_SQ PARAMS: L=1.5

RO1 OUT1 0 1E-6

Rx IN1 0 1e9
V2 IN1 0 DC 2

*.DC V1 0.0 28 0.1

.DC V2 0.0 26 0.1
.PROBE

.subckt lin_sq 1 2 3 params: L=1

D1 3 1 D_LIN
R1 1 2 {956*L}
.model D_LIN D (IS={L*3*1.282E-18} VJ=0.73 BV=26.89 CJO={L*0.507E-15})
.ends

.subckt cor_sq 1 2 3
D1 3 1 D_COR
R1 1 2 {956*0.61}
*Rc=583.16 ohm
.model D_COR D (IS=3.85E-18 VJ=0.73 BV=11.5 CJO=1.52E-15)
.ends

.END

**** 11/22/10 09:56:47 *********** Evaluation PSpice (Nov 1999) **************

*IC res sim

**** Diode MODEL PARAMETERS

******************************************************************************

X6.D_LIN X7.D_COR X8.D_LIN X9.D_COR

IS 5.769000E-18 3.850000E-18 3.846000E-18 3.850000E-18
BV 26.89 11.5 26.89 11.5
CJO 760.500000E-18 1.520000E-15 507.000000E-18 1.520000E-15
VJ .73 .73 .73 .73

X10.D_LIN
IS 5.769000E-18
BV 26.89
CJO 760.500000E-18
VJ .73

JOB CONCLUDED

TOTAL JOB TIME .02