The EKV2.6 MOSFET compact model has had a considerable impact on the academic and industrial community of analog integrated circuit design, since its inception in 1996. The model is available as a free open-source software (FOSS) tool coded in Verilog-A. The present paper provides a short review of foundations of the model and shows its capabilities via characterization and modeling based on a test chip in 180 nm CMOS fabricated via Europractice.

A self-regulating on-chip voltage-reduction circuit that adjusts the internal supply voltage to the lowest value compatible with chip speed requirements is described. Besides enhancing reliability, this technique allows power savings. The technique is based on regulation of the supply voltage of an equivalent critical path, a small circuit with delay V/sub dd/ properties proportional to those of the actual critical path. The output of this equivalent critical path is compared with the output of a second identical equivalent critical path which is connected to the full supply voltage and serves as a reference. In a first-order approximation the ratio of the delay of a critical path to the period of a ring oscillator is a constant that depends only on the number of gates, the dimensions of the transistors, and the load capacitances. This means that a ring oscillator can be used as an equivalent critical path for all digital circuits. Moreover, when the supply voltage of a ring oscillator (VCO) is changed the frequency changes. The voltage regulator principle can be implemented with a phase-locked loop (PLL). By adjusting the VCO supply voltage, the PLL causes the VCO to oscillate at N*f/sub in/. If the dimensions of the VCO transistors and the division ratio N are such that the critical path functions correctly at the regulated voltage, it will always function correctly, as changing parameters temperature or frequency f/sub in/ affect the VCO in the same way as the circuitry.<>

A CMOS monolithic temperature sensor is described, based on compatible lateral bipolar transistors for the sensor part and the reference, and on CMOS circuits for A/D conversion, control and calibration. The accuracy of the analog part is close to the performances obtained in bipolar technology, for example ± 0. 1 °C in a 60 °C temperature range, and it is maintained on conversion. CMOS flexibility allows adaption of the digital output signal to any temperature scale and storage of the calibration bits in an EEPROM on the chip. The circuit works in a 2.5 to 5 V range and draws 50 μA current. A 1.5 V version with reduced accuracy is also feasible.

CMOS voltage references, which make use of compatible lateral bipolar transistors, will be described. The circuits are insensitive to low current gain of these devices and to amplifier offset. The output reference voltage is reproducible within 2mV, over the commercial temperature range, when all of the circuits of the same batch are trimmed at a single temperature.

By combining dynamic CMOS circuits with a few resistive components, very simple sequential logic circuits with static behavior are obtained (e.g., frequency dividers, flip-flops, decoders). Using silicon gate technology and reverse-biased polysilicon diodes for the resistive elements, the area is nearly half that required for corresponding standard CMOS circuits.

By combining dynamic C-MOS circuits with a few passive components, very simple logic circuits with static behavior are obtained (e. g. counters, flip-flops, decoders). In silicon gate technology, the area is nearly half that required for corresponding standard C-MOS circuits.

Frequency dividers made with complementary dynamic m.o.s. (CODYMOS) circuits require only a small number of transistors and interconnections, a single input signal and operate with a minimum number of successive transitions. This leads to a drastic reduction in stray capacitance and current consumption, and to an increase in speed. A simplified analysis of these quantities is given for binary and ...

Allowing both p and n channel groups of transistors to be blocked between transitions of c.m.o.s. gates leads to complementary dynamic m.o.s. circuits which, in many cases, are significantly less complex than their static counterparts. The value of the concept and a method of synthesis are demonstrated with a practical example. Systematic application to frequency dividers yields very simple new st...