Integration difficulties and limitations in sub-0.25 μm CMOS and CMOS-based technologies

Market demands, which require increased functionality at lower costs are driving the development of high performance CMOS technologies with very high integration density. These demands are pushing the continuous scaling down of technologies and are resulting in a progressive acceleration of the rate of introduction of new technology generations. Current research and development activities in CMOS technology are focused on scaling the 0.25 μm CMOS technology generation down to 0.18 μm or even 0.13 μm dimensions. While some of the process modules can be scaled down in a conventional way, in some cases severe limitations are reached and it is necessary to introduce major modifications to the process flow. In this paper we will present an overview of the main considerations to be kept in mind when scaling down to a 0.18 pm CMOS technology generation