Title :
Leakage effects in metal-connected floating-gate circuits
Author :
StJohn, I. ; Fox, Robert M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL, USA
fDate :
7/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Floating-gate circuits are useful in many analog applications, although controlling the charge stored on floating gates complicates such circuits. It has been observed that when floating poly gates are connected to metal layers, initial charge is eliminated during fabrication. This Brief presents an alternative to a previously published explanation for this effect. Experiments show that leakage through deposited inter-metal dielectrics is large enough at moderately elevated temperatures to significantly affect circuit operation. Simple modeling suggests that at temperatures typical of back-end integrated circuit processing, leakage would be large enough to rapidly discharge such floating gates.
Keywords :
analogue integrated circuits; integrated circuit reliability; analog circuits; floating-gate circuits; integrated circuit reliability; intermetal dielectrics; Analog computers; Analog integrated circuits; Capacitors; Circuit testing; Dielectrics; FETs; Integrated circuit modeling; MOSFET circuits; Temperature; Voltage; Analog circuits; analog storage; floating-gate circuits; integrated circuit (IC) reliability;
Journal_Title :
Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TCSII.2006.875317