Review: Analog design methodologies for reliability in nanoscale CMOS circuits

Abstract

In modern CMOS technology, local electrical stress has substantially increased as device geometries scaled down more aggressively compared to supply voltages. As a result, time-dependent degradation mechanisms (aging phenomena) became an important performance problem, which leads to a considerable lifetime reduction in manufactured integrated circuits. Combination of these aging phenomena with process variations has made reliability a major design objective. In analog circuits, different approaches have been proposed to mitigate the performance challenges related to device reliability. This paper discusses aging in CMOS technology and reviews reliability-aware analog circuit design methodologies for nanoscale circuits.