Analog Integrated Circuits in Nano-scale Emerging Technologies

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The classical planar CMOS transistor is reaching its scaling limits and “end-of-roadmap”. This has been concluded as a result of the following shortcomings of nano-scale planar MOSFETs: undesirable process variations, short channel effects, high drain induced barrier lowering, substantial leakage currents, lower intrinsic gain, lower output impedance, lower dynamic range, poorer device matching and threshold voltage fluctuations. These non-idealities eventually degrade the performance of CMOS devices and pose a serious threat to nano-scale integrated circuits performance. Therefore, robust RF, analog and mixed-signal circuits using nano-scale bulk CMOS devices beyond the 32-nm node may no longer be practical. Alternative devices that have been investigated are the FinFETs. These devices are suitable candidates to replace planar MOSFETs in technology below 32-nm node. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) recognizes the importance of these devices and calls them “Advanced non-classical CMOS devices”. While the advantages of the FinFETs started to reap its fruit for digital circuits, adopting FinFETs for analog circuits leave the analog designer with new challenges and problems to tackle. Therefore, new specialized circuits design techniques and new architectures need to be developed. This provides the motivation for this research project. We will explore the use of FinFETs to develop high performance, low-voltage and low-power analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits design techniques for future nano-scale systems implementation. Achieving the proposed objectives would advance the analog circuit designer knowledge. The principal beneficiaries of this work will be researchers and designers working on System-on-Chip solutions for telecommunication, biomedical and sensor applications. Where the need for low-cost, wearable/implantable monitoring devices using indirect measurement techniques becomes extremely useful in both monitoring and possibly keeping health costs down. Moreover, this research work has the potential to provide valuable intellectual property that can be used to develop useful applications for the scientific and industrial markets. Finally, the proposed research project represents a remarkable capacity to innovate; hence, it will be the subject for several prestigious journals, international conferences publications and possibly patents.