Texas Instruments Corporation

Tathagata Chatterjee

Henry Litzmann Edwards

Joe R Trogolo

YuGuo Wang

Steven Loveless

Sameer P Pendharkar

Xiaoju Wu

Robert Christopher Bowen

Lance Stanford Robertson

Kaiyuan Chen

Binghua Hu

Jerry Doorenbos

Weidong Tian

Rajni J Aggarwal

Jonathan Philip Davis

Martin B Mollat

Shariq Arshad

Li Wang

Robert M Higgins

Richard B Irwin

Alex Paikin

Colin Johnson

Mohamed Kamel Mahmoud

Chris Bowen

Steve Merchant

Amitava Chatterjee

Taylor R Efland

James Robert Todd

Shyh-Horng Yang

Andrew Derek Strachan

Hisashi Shichijo

Lily Springer

Jeffrey P Smith

Gabriel J Gomez

Robert C Bowen, Jr

Robert Stanley Grondalski

Joseph P Ramon

Patricia Vincent

A nanoscale thermoelectric device, which may be operated as a refrigerator or as a thermoelectric generator includes N-type and p-type active areas connected to a central terminal and end electrodes made of interconnect metal. Reducing lateral dimensions of the active areas reduces vertical thermal conduction, thus improving the efficiency of the thermoelectric device. The thermoelectric device may be integrated into the fabrication process sequence of an IC without adding process cost or complexity. Operated as a refrigerator, the central terminal may be configured to cool a selected component in the IC, such as a transistor. Operated as a thermoelectric generator with a heat source applied to the central terminal, the end terminals may provide power to a circuit in the IC.

Nanoscale thermoelectric refrigerator

The present disclosure introduces, among other things, an electronic device, e.g. an integrated circuit (IC). The IC includes a semiconductor substrate comprising a first doped layer of a first conductivity type. A second doped layer of the first conductivity type is located within the first doped layer. The second doped layer has first and second layer portions with a greater dopant concentration than the first doped layer, with the first layer portion being spaced apart from the second layer portion laterally with respect to a surface of the substrate. The IC further includes a lightly doped portion of the first doped layer, the lightly doped portion being located between the first and second layer portions. A dielectric isolation structure is located between the first and second layer portions, and directly contacts the lightly doped portion.

High reliability polysilicon components

A system comprises a noise generator circuit and a noise envelope detector circuit. The noise generator circuit comprises a first amplifier including a single transistor pair that is operable to generate 1/f noise, an output amplifier coupled to the first amplifier and configured to generate a 1/f noise signal as a function of the 1/f noise. The noise envelope detector circuit comprises a low pass filter operable to pass low frequency signals of the 1/f noise signal as a filtered 1/f noise signal, and a second amplifier or a comparator coupled to the low pass filter and operable to output a direct current (DC) voltage signal according to an envelope of the filtered 1/f noise signal, where the DC voltage signal is a function of an envelope of the filtered 1/f noise signal.

Direct current measurement of 1/f transistor noise

In various examples, a method and apparatus are provided to achieve dynamic biasing to mitigate electrical stress. Described examples include a device includes a first resistor portion having a first terminal and a second terminal, and a second resistor portion having a third terminal and a fourth terminal. The device also includes a well in a substrate proximate to the first resistor portion and the second resistor portion and an insulating layer between the well and the first resistor portion and the second resistor portion. The device also includes a transistor having a control terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first resistor portion and the third terminal of the second resistor portion, the transistor having a first current-handling terminal coupled to a first voltage and a second current-handling terminal coupled to a current source and to the well.

Dynamic biasing to mitigate electrical stress in integrated resistors

In at least some embodiments, a system comprises a socket gate terminal configured to receive a first voltage to activate and inactivate a device under test (DUT) coupled to the socket gate terminal. The system also comprises a socket source terminal configured to provide a reference voltage to the DUT. The system further comprises a socket drain terminal configured to provide a second voltage to the DUT to stress the DUT when the DUT is inactive. The socket drain terminal is further configured to receive a third voltage to cause a current to flow through a pathway in the DUT between the socket drain terminal and the socket source terminal when the DUT is active. The socket drain terminal is further configured to provide a fourth voltage indicative of a resistance of the pathway in the DUT when the DUT is active and is heated to a temperature above an ambient temperature associated with the system.

Systems and methods for dynamic Rdson measurement

An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) comprising successive approximation circuitry, a capacitive analog-to-digital converter (CDAC), and capacitor mismatch measurement circuitry. The successive approximation circuitry is configured to control conversion of an analog signal to a digital value. The CDAC is coupled to the successive approximation circuitry. The CDAC includes a plurality of capacitors. The capacitor mismatch measurement circuitry is coupled to the CDAC. The capacitor mismatch measurement circuitry includes a first oscillator circuit, a second oscillator circuit, and counter circuitry. The first oscillator circuit is configured to oscillate at a frequency determined by a capacitance of one of the capacitors. The second oscillator circuit is configured to generate a predetermined time interval. The counter circuitry is configured to count a number of cycles of oscillation of the first oscillator in the predetermined time interval.

Capacitive mismatch measurement

An integrated circuit includes an NMOS transistor, a PMOS transistor and a vertical bipolar transistor. The vertical bipolar transistor has an intrinsic base with a band barrier at least 25 meV high at a surface boundary of the intrinsic base, except at an emitter-base junction with an emitter, and except at a base-collector junction with a collector. The intrinsic base may be laterally surrounded by an extrinsic base with a higher dopant density than the intrinsic base, wherein a higher dopant density provides the band barrier at lateral surfaces of the intrinsic base. A gate may be disposed on a gate dielectric layer over a top surface boundary of the intrinsic base adjacent to the emitter. The gate is configured to accumulate the intrinsic base immediately under the gate dielectric layer, providing the band barrier at the top surface boundary of the intrinsic base.

Method of improving bipolar device signal to noise performance by reducing the effect of oxide interface trapping centers

One embodiment of the invention relates to a semiconductor device formed over a semiconductor body. In this device, source and drain regions are formed in the body about lateral edges of a gate electrode and are separated from one another by a gate length. A channel region, which is configured to allow charged carriers to selectively flow between the source and drain regions during operation of the device, has differing widths under the gate electrode. These widths are generally perpendicular to the gate length. Other devices, methods, and systems are also disclosed.

MOS transistor with varying channel width

A CMOS IC containing a quantum well electro-optical device (QWEOD) is disclosed. The QWEOD is formed in an NMOS transistor structure with a p-type drain region. The NLDD region abutting the p-type drain region forms a quantum well. The QWEOD may be fabricated with 65 nm technology node processes to have lateral dimensions less than 15 nm, enabling possible energy level separations above 50 meV. The quantum well electro-optical device may be operated in a negative conductance mode, in a photon emission mode or in a photo detection mode.

Quantum electro-optical device using CMOS transistor with reverse polarity drain implant

A gated resonant tunneling diode (GRTD) that operates without cryogenic cooling is provided. This GRTD employs conventional CMOS process technology, preferably at the 65 nm node and smaller, which is different from other conventional quantum transistors that require other, completely different process technologies and operating conditions. To accomplish this, the GRTD uses a body of a first conduction type with a first electrode region and a second electrode region (each of a second conduction type) formed in the body. A channel is located between the first and second electrode regions in the body. A barrier region of the first conduction type is formed in the channel (with the doping level of the barrier region being greater than the doping level of the body), and a quantum well region of the second conduction type formed in the channel. Additionally, the barrier region is located between each of the first and second electrode regions and the quantum well region. An insulating layer is formed on the body with the insulating layer extending over the quantum well region and at least a portion of the barrier region, and a control electrode region is formed on the insulating layer.

Gated resonant tunneling diode

A semiconductor wafer includes a plurality of integrated circuit (IC) die areas for accommodating IC die that include at least a first subcircuit having at least one matched component portion that includes at least two matched devices. The first subcircuit is arranged in a layout on the IC die. A plurality of scribe line areas having a scribe line width dimension are interposed between the plurality of IC die areas. At least one subcircuit-based test module (TM) is positioned within the scribe line areas, wherein the subcircuit-based TMs implement a schematic for the first subcircuit with a TM layout that copies the layout on the IC die for at least the two matched devices in the matched component portion and alters the layout on the IC die for a portion of the first subcircuit other than the matched devices in matched component portion to fit the TM layout of the first subcircuit within the scribe line width dimension.

Semiconductor wafer having scribe line test modules including matching portions from subcircuits on active die

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Allen, TX, United States of America

Tathagata Chatterjee