Influence of Clocking Strategies on the Design of Low Switching-Noise Digital and Mixed-Signal VLSI Circuits

This communication shows the influence of clocking schemes on the digital switching noise generation. It will be shown how the choice of a suited clocking scheme for the digital part reduces the switching noise, thus alleviating the problematic associated to limitations of performances in mixed-signal Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits. Simulation data of a pipelined XOR chain using both a single-phase and a two-phase clocking schemes, as well as of two nbit counters with different clocking styles lead, as conclusions, to recommend multiple clock-phase and asynchronous styles for reducing switching noise

Side Channel Information Leakage: Design and Implementation of Hardware Countermeasure

Deployment of Dynamic Differential Logics (DDL) appears to be a promising choice for providing resistance against leakage of side channel information. However, the resistance provided by these logics is too costly for widespread area-constrained applications. Implementation of a secure DDL-based countermeasure also requires a complex layout methodology for balancing the load at the differential outputs. This thesis, unlike previous logic level approaches, presents a novel exploitation of static and single-ended logic for designing the side channel countermeasure. The proposed technique is used in the implementation of a protected crypto core consisting of the AES “AddRoundKey” and “SubByte” transformation. The test chip including the protected and unprotected crypto cores is fabricated in 180nm CMOS technology. A correlation analysis on the unprotected core results in revealing the key at the output of the combinational networks and the registers. The quality of the measurements is further improved by introducing an enhanced data capturing method that inserts a minimum power consuming input as a reference vector. In comparison, no key-related information is leaked from the protected core even with an order of magnitude increase in the number of averaged traces. For the first time, fabricated chip results are used to validate a new logic level side channel countermeasure that offers lower area and reduced circuit design complexity compared to the DDL-based countermeasures. This thesis also provides insight into the side channel vulnerability of cryptosystems in sub-90nm CMOS technology nodes. In particular, data dependency of leakage power is analyzed. The number of traces to disclose the key is seen to decrease by 35% from 90nm to 45nm CMOS technology nodes. Analysis shows that the temperature dependency of the subthreshold leakage has an important role in increasing the ability to attack future nanoscale crypto cores. For the first time, the effectiveness of a circuit-based leakage reduction technique is examined for side channel security. This investigation demonstrates that high threshold voltage transistor assignment improves resistance against information leakage. The analysis initiated in this thesis is crucial for rolling out the guidelines of side channel security for the next generation of Cryptosystem.1 yea

Substrate noise analysis and techniques for mitigation in mixed-signal RF systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-158).Mixed-signal circuit design has historically been a challenge for several reasons. Parasitic interactions between analog and digital systems on a single die are one such challenge. Switching transients induced by digital circuits inject noise into the common substrate creating substrate noise. Analog circuits lack the large noise margins of digital circuits, thus making them susceptible to substrate voltage variations. This problem is exacerbated at higher frequencies as the effectiveness of standard isolation technique diminishes considerably. Historically, substrate noise was not a problem because each system was fabricated in its own package shielding it from such interactions. The work in this thesis spans all areas of substrate noise: generation, propagation, and reception. A set of guidelines in designing isolation structures was developed to assist designers in optimizing these structures for a particular application. Furthermore, the effect of substrate noise on two key components of the RF front end, the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and the low noise amplifier (LNA), was analyzed. Finally, a CAD tool (SNAT) was developed to efficiently simulate large digital designs to determine substrate noise performance.(cont.) Existing techniques have prohibitively long simulation times and are only suitable for final verification. Determination of substrate noise coupling during the design phase would be extremely beneficial to circuit designers who can incorporate the effect of the noise and re-design accordingly before fabrication. This would reduce the turn around time for circuits and prevent costly redesign. SNAT can be used at any stage of the design cycle to accurately predict (less than 12% error when compared to measurements) the substrate noise performance of any digital circuit with a large degree of computational efficiency.by Nisha Checka.Ph.D

Comparison and impact of substrate noise due to clocked and clockless circuitry

Delay insensitive asynchronous circuitry provides significant advantages with respect to substrate noise due to localized switching. The differences between the substrate noise from NULL Convention Logic (NCL) and traditional Clocked Boolean Logic (CBL) are described and analyzed based on measured results. A test chip fabricated in the TSMC 0.25 um process shows that a pseudo-random number generator implemented with NCL generates 23 dB less substrate noise compared to the equivalent synchronous design. In a larger scale digital circuit, the substrate noise improvement offered by an asynchronous 8051 processor over its synchronous counterpart was nearly 10 dB. The effect of this substrate noise on an analog circuit was explored with a delta sigma modulator (DSM) example. The SNR performance of a second order DSM was not affected by the substrate noise from the NCL 8051 processor while it experiences up to 15 dB degradation when the CBL 8051 processor is clocked near integer multiples of the DSM sampling frequency

Design of Variation-Tolerant Circuits for Nanometer CMOS Technology: Circuits and Architecture Co-Design

Aggressive scaling of CMOS technology in sub-90nm nodes has created huge challenges. Variations due to fundamental physical limits, such as random dopants fluctuation (RDF) and line edge roughness (LER) are increasing significantly with technology scaling. In addition, manufacturing tolerances in process technology are not scaling at the same pace as transistor's channel length due to process control limitations (e.g., sub-wavelength lithography). Therefore, within-die process variations worsen with successive technology generations. These variations have a strong impact on the maximum clock frequency and leakage power for any digital circuit, and can also result in functional yield losses in variation-sensitive digital circuits (such as SRAM). Moreover, in nanometer technologies, digital circuits show an increased sensitivity to process variations due to low-voltage operation requirements, which are aggravated by the strong demand for lower power consumption and cost while achieving higher performance and density. It is therefore not surprising that the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) lists variability as one of the most challenging obstacles for IC design in nanometer regime. To facilitate variation-tolerant design, we study the impact of random variations on the delay variability of a logic gate and derive simple and scalable statistical models to evaluate delay variations in the presence of within-die variations. This work provides new design insight and highlights the importance of accounting for the effect of input slew on delay variations, especially at lower supply voltages. The derived models are simple, scalable, bias dependent and only require the knowledge of easily measurable parameters. This makes them useful in early design exploration, circuit/architecture optimization as well as technology prediction (especially in low-power and low-voltage operation). The derived models are verified using Monte Carlo SPICE simulations using industrial 90nm technology. Random variations in nanometer technologies are considered one of the largest design considerations. This is especially true for SRAM, due to the large variations in bitcell characteristics. Typically, SRAM bitcells have the smallest device sizes on a chip. Therefore, they show the largest sensitivity to different sources of variations. With the drastic increase in memory densities, lower supply voltages and higher variations, statistical simulation methodologies become imperative to estimate memory yield and optimize performance and power. In this research, we present a methodology for statistical simulation of SRAM read access yield, which is tightly related to SRAM performance and power consumption. The proposed flow accounts for the impact of bitcell read current variation, sense amplifier offset distribution, timing window variation and leakage variation on functional yield. The methodology overcomes the pessimism existing in conventional worst-case design techniques that are used in SRAM design. The proposed statistical yield estimation methodology allows early yield prediction in the design cycle, which can be used to trade off performance and power requirements for SRAM. The methodology is verified using measured silicon yield data from a 1Mb memory fabricated in an industrial 45nm technology. Embedded SRAM dominates modern SoCs and there is a strong demand for SRAM with lower power consumption while achieving high performance and high density. However, in the presence of large process variations, SRAMs are expected to consume larger power to ensure correct read operation and meet yield targets. We propose a new architecture that significantly reduces array switching power for SRAM. The proposed architecture combines built-in self-test (BIST) and digitally controlled delay elements to reduce the wordline pulse width for memories while ensuring correct read operation; hence, reducing switching power. A new statistical simulation flow was developed to evaluate the power savings for the proposed architecture. Monte Carlo simulations using a 1Mb SRAM macro from an industrial 45nm technology was used to examine the power reduction achieved by the system. The proposed architecture can reduce the array switching power significantly and shows large power saving - especially as the chip level memory density increases. For a 48Mb memory density, a 27% reduction in array switching power can be achieved for a read access yield target of 95%. In addition, the proposed system can provide larger power saving as process variations increase, which makes it a very attractive solution for 45nm and below technologies. In addition to its impact on bitcell read current, the increase of local variations in nanometer technologies strongly affect SRAM cell stability. In this research, we propose a novel single supply voltage read assist technique to improve SRAM static noise margin (SNM). The proposed technique allows precharging different parts of the bitlines to VDD and GND and uses charge sharing to precisely control the bitline voltage, which improves the bitcell stability. In addition to improving SNM, the proposed technique also reduces memory access time. Moreover, it only requires one supply voltage, hence, eliminates the need of large area voltage shifters. The proposed technique has been implemented in the design of a 512kb memory fabricated in 45nm technology. Results show improvements in SNM and read operation window which confirms the effectiveness and robustness of this technique

CMOS power amplifier and transmitter front-end design in wireless communication.

Ng, Yuen Sum.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references.Abstract also in Chinese.Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.11Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.11Chapter 1.2 --- Specifications --- p.12Chapter 1.3 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.16Chapter 1.4 --- References --- p.16Chapter 2. --- BASIC THEORY OF POWER AMPLIFIER AND TRANSMITTER FRONT-END --- p.18Chapter 2.1 --- Classification of Power Amplifier --- p.18Chapter 2.1.1 --- Class A --- p.20Chapter 2.1.2 --- Class B --- p.21Chapter 2.1.3 --- Class AB --- p.22Chapter 2.1.4 --- Class C --- p.23Chapter 2.1.5 --- Class D --- p.24Chapter 2.1.6 --- Class E --- p.25Chapter 2.1.7 --- Class F --- p.28Chapter 2.2 --- Figure-of-Mhrit of Power Amplifier --- p.28Chapter 2.2.1 --- Small Signal Analysis --- p.29Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- S-parameter --- p.29Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Gain and Stability --- p.29Chapter 2.2.2 --- Large Signal Analysis --- p.32Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- 1-dB compression point --- p.33Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Third-order intermodulation point --- p.33Chapter 2.2.2.3 --- Power Gain --- p.35Chapter 2.2.2.4 --- Drain Efficiency and Power Added Efficiency --- p.35Chapter 2.2.2.5 --- AM-AM and AM-PM conversion --- p.36Chapter 2.2.3 --- Modulation Analysis --- p.36Chapter 2.2.3.1 --- Constellation Diagram and Error Vector Magnitude --- p.36Chapter 2.3 --- Reference --- p.37Chapter 3. --- CIRCUIT DESIGN OF POWER AMPLIFIER --- p.39Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.39Chapter 3.2 --- Topology of the Power Amplifier Design --- p.39Chapter 3.3 --- Design in Power Amplifier --- p.40Chapter 3.2.1 --- Power Stage --- p.40Chapter 3.2.2 --- Driver Stage and Input matching --- p.46Chapter 3.4 --- Simulation Result on Power Amplifier --- p.49Chapter 3.5 --- Layout consideration --- p.50Chapter 3.6 --- Measurement Result on Power Amplifier --- p.51Chapter 3.4.1 --- Small signal measurement --- p.52Chapter 3.4.2 --- Large signal measurement --- p.55Chapter 3.4.3 --- Modulation measurement --- p.56Chapter 3.7 --- Performance Summary --- p.58Chapter 3.8 --- Reference --- p.59Chapter 4. --- CIRCUIT DESIGN OF TRANSMITTER FRONT-END --- p.60Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.60Chapter 4.2 --- Topology of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.61Chapter 4.3 --- Design in transmitter front-end circuit --- p.64Chapter 4.2.1 --- I/Q Modulator --- p.64Chapter 4.2.2 --- Power Amplifier --- p.66Chapter 4.2.3 --- On-chip LC Balun --- p.72Chapter 4.4 --- Simulation Result of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.74Chapter 4.5 --- Layout consideration --- p.75Chapter 4.6 --- Measurement Result of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.76Chapter 4.4.1. --- Transmitter Front-End Measurement --- p.77Chapter 4.4.1.1 --- Output Reflection coefficient --- p.77Chapter 4.4.1.2 --- Large Signal Measurement --- p.78Chapter 4.4.1.3 --- Modulation Measurement --- p.81Chapter 4.4.2. --- LC Balun Measurement --- p.84Chapter 4.7 --- Performance Summary of the transmitter front-end circuit --- p.86Chapter 4.8 --- Reference --- p.89Chapter 5. --- CONCLUSION --- p.90Chapter 6. --- FUTURE WORK --- p.9

Channel-Stacked NAND Flash Memory with High-κ Charge Trapping Layer for High Scalability

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 전기·컴퓨터공학부, 2016. 2. 박병국.Exploding demands for mobile devices induce the drastic expansion of the market of NAND flash memory as high density storage devices. Three-dimensional (3D) NAND flash memory paved a new way of increasing the memory capacity by stacking cells in three-dimension. For stacked NAND flash memory, the thickness of ONO (memory dielectric layers) is a roadblock in scaling-down of the minimum feature size, because channel diameter can be scaled down to < 20 nm. However, it is challenging to reduce the thickness of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer, since the charge trapping properties degrade when the Si3N4 is made thinner. .In this thesis, the channel stacked NAND flash memory array (CSTAR) with high-κ charge trapping layer for high scalability is proposed. To adopt high-κ layer into 3D NAND, its memory characteristics were evaluated with capacitors and gate-all-around flash memory devices. Finally, 4-layer channel stacked memory with high-κ layer was successfully fabricated and characterized. Recent trend of nonvolatile memories are introduced and the overview of 3D stacked NAND flash memory technology is presented in Chapter 1 and 2. In Chapter 3, the memory characteristics of high-κ layer were evaluated with fabricated capacitors and flash memory devices. In Chapter 4, fabrication process and electrical characteristics of CSTAR with high-κ are shown. With the comparison with previous works using ONO layer, CSTAR with high-κ is evaluated. In Chapter 5, the novel operation method of CSTAR is presented. Using TCAD and measurement, a newly designed operation method is verifiedChapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Flash Memory Technology 1 1.2 Flash Memory Unit Cell and Array Structure 6 1.3 NAND Cell Operation 13 1.4 Charge Trap Flash Memory 25 Chapter 2 3-D Stacked NAND Flash Memory 28 2.2 Examination of Previous 3-D Stacked NAND Flash 28 2.2.1 Gate Stack Type 3-D NAND Flash Memory 28 2.2.2 Channel Stack Type 3-D NAND Flash Memory 36 2.2.3 Comparison between the Gate Stack Type and the Channel Stack Type 45 Chapter 3 Channel Stacked NAND Flash Memory with high- Charge Trapping Layer 48 3.1 Introduction 48 3.2 Memory Characteristics of HfO2 52 3.3 Fabrication of Nanowire Memory Devices with high-κ Dielectric Layer 56 Chapter 4 Fabrication of Channel Stacked NAND Flash Memory with High-κ 66 4.1 Introduction 66 4.2 Fabrication Method 67 4.3 Key Process Steps of CSTAR with high-κ 72 4.3.1 Single Crystalline Silicon Channel 72 4.3.2 Fin Patterning 74 4.3.3 Stacked Nanowires 76 4.4 Measurement Results 81 4.5 Comparison with Previous Works 88 Chapter 5 Novel Program Operation in CSTAR 92 5.1 Introduction. 92 5.2 Simulation Results 93 5.3 Measurement Results 103 Chapter 6 Conclusions 106 Bibliography 108 Abstract in Korean 116 List of Publications 118Docto

Jitter reduction techniques for digital audio.

by Tsang Yick Man, Steven.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-99).ABSTRACT --- p.iACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.iiLIST OF GLOSSARY --- p.iiiChapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- What is the jitter ？ --- p.3Chapter 2 --- WHY DOES JITTER OCCUR IN DIGITAL AUDIO ？ --- p.4Chapter 2.1 --- Poorly-designed Phase Locked Loop ( PLL ) --- p.4Chapter 2.1.1 --- Digital data problem --- p.7Chapter 2.2 --- Sampling jitter or clock jitter ( Δti) --- p.9Chapter 2.3 --- Waveform distortion --- p.12Chapter 2.4 --- Logic induced jitter --- p.17Chapter 2.4.1 --- Digital noise mechanisms --- p.20Chapter 2.4.2 --- Different types of D-type flop-flip chips are linked below for ease of comparison --- p.21Chapter 2.4.3 --- Ground bounce --- p.22Chapter 2.5 --- Power supply high frequency noise --- p.23Chapter 2.6 --- Interface Jitter --- p.25Chapter 2.7 --- Cross-talk --- p.28Chapter 2.8 --- Inter-Symbol-Interference (ISI) --- p.28Chapter 2.9 --- Baseline wander --- p.29Chapter 2.10 --- Noise jitter --- p.30Chapter 2.11 --- FIFO jitter reduction chips --- p.31Chapter 3 --- JITTER REDUCTION TECHNIQUES --- p.33Chapter 3.1 --- Why using two-stage phase-locked loop (PLL ) ？Chapter 3.1.1 --- The PLL circuit components --- p.35Chapter 3.1.2 --- The PLL timing specifications --- p.36Chapter 3.2 --- Analog phase-locked loop (APLL ) circuit usedin second stage --- p.38Chapter 3.3 --- All digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL ) circuit used in second stage --- p.40Chapter 3.4 --- ADPLL design --- p.42Chapter 3.4.1 --- "Different of K counter value of ADPLL are listed for comparison with M=512, N=256, Kd=2" --- p.46Chapter 3.4.2 --- Computer simulated results and experimental results of the ADPLL --- p.47Chapter 3.4.3 --- PLL design notes --- p.58Chapter 3.5 --- Different of the all digital Phase-Locked Loop (ADPLL ) and the analogue Phase-Locked Loop (APLL ) are listed for comparison --- p.65Chapter 3.6 --- Discrete transistor oscillator --- p.68Chapter 3.7 --- Discrete transistor oscillator circuit operation --- p.69Chapter 3.8 --- The advantage and disadvantage of using external discrete oscillator --- p.71Chapter 3.9 --- Background of using high-precision oscillators --- p.72Chapter 3.9.1 --- The temperature compensated crystal circuit operation --- p.73Chapter 3.9.2 --- The temperature compensated circuit design notes --- p.75Chapter 3.10 --- The discrete voltage reference circuit operation --- p.76Chapter 3.10.1 --- Comparing the different types of Op-amps that can be used as a voltage comparator --- p.79Chapter 3.10.2 --- Precaution of separate CMOS chips Vdd and Vcc --- p.80Chapter 3.11 --- Board level jitter reduction method --- p.81Chapter 3.12 --- Digital audio interface chips --- p.82Chapter 3.12.1 --- Different brand of the digital interface receiver (DIR) chips and clock modular are listed for comparison --- p.84Chapter 4. --- APPLICATION CIRCUIT BLOCK DIAGRAMS OF JITTER REDUCTION AND CLOCK RECOVERY --- p.85Chapter 5 --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.90Chapter 5.1 --- Summary of the research --- p.90Chapter 5.2 --- Suggestions for further development --- p.92Chapter 5.3 --- Instrument listing that used in this thesis --- p.93Chapter 6 --- REFERENCES --- p.94Chapter 7 --- APPENDICES --- p.100Chapter 7.1.1 --- Phase instability in frequency dividersChapter 7.1.2 --- The effect of clock tree on Tskew on ASIC chipChapter 7.1.3 --- Digital audio transmission----Why jitter is important?Chapter 7.1.4 --- Overview of digital audio interface data structuresChapter 7.1.5 --- Typical frequency Vs temperature variations curve of Quartz crystalsChapter 7.2 --- IC specification used in these research projec

A design methodology for robust, energy-efficient, application-aware memory systems

Memory design is a crucial component of VLSI system design from area, power and performance perspectives. To meet the increasingly challenging system specifications, architecture, circuit and device level innovations are required for existing memory technologies. Emerging memory solutions are widely explored to cater to strict budgets. This thesis presents design methodologies for custom memory design with the objective of power-performance benefits across specific applications. Taking example of STTRAM (spin transfer torque random access memory) as an emerging memory candidate, the design space is explored to find optimal energy design solution. A thorough thermal reliability study is performed to estimate detection reliability challenges and circuit solutions are proposed to ensure reliable operation. Adoption of the application-specific optimal energy solution is shown to yield considerable energy benefits in a read-heavy application called MBC (memory based computing). Circuit level customizations are studied for the volatile SRAM (static random access memory) memory, which will provide improved energy-delay product (EDP) for the same MBC application. Memory design has to be aware of upcoming challenges from not only the application nature but also from the packaging front. Taking 3D die-folding as an example, SRAM performance shift under die-folding is illustrated. Overall the thesis demonstrates how knowledge of the system and packaging can help in achieving power efficient and high performance memory design.Ph.D