In this paper, we present Auto-BET-AMS, an automated device, circuit and system-level simulation platform suitable for benchmarking emerging technologies at the end of the CMOS roadmap. This platform is suitable for technologists and circuit designers alike. One of the features of Auto-BET-AMS is that no advanced knowledge of device and circuit design is needed to perform a fair evaluation of emerging technologies. To enable this, the platform comes with a versatile multi-variable optimizer that can be used to quickly optimize devices and circuits for a set of specifications. Using Auto-BET-AMS it is possible to accurately design digital and analog circuits and assess them in conventional and emerging technologies. The platform can handle definitions of chargebased devices in either the compact model form or a look-up table form. The latter is needed for devices which do not have mature compact models developed for them. Several representative digital and analog circuits like buffer chain, SRAM cell, two-stage Miller Op-Amp, three-stage lowvoltage Op-Amp, temperature compensated current reference and Miller OTA are optimized by considering PVT variations using Auto-BET-AMS. Additionally, the impact of parametric variations on these circuits is studied.
IntroductionAt the end of the CMOS roadmap, a large number of interesting device concepts like UTB-SOI MOSFET [1], Schottky-Barrier MOSFET [2], Tunnel FET [3], FinFET [4] etc, have emerged as possible alternatives for the mainstream bulk MOSFET technology. Among these devices, UTB-SOI MOSFET and FinFET devices are promising. A fair comparison between various technologies at the device, circuit and system-level is essential in order to assess the true potential of these technologies. For this, not only parasitics at the device level but also the impact of interconnects and parametric variability should be included. Technology development is a highly iterative process which involves tweaking a combination of the device characteristics, circuits and architecture design. With multiple competing technology choices at the lower technology nodes, it is essential to have a fast, accurate and efficient platform to benchmark emerging technologies.Technology CAD (TCAD) is used extensively for device optimization. Essentially a TCAD tool predicts the performance of devices by solving the Poisson and continuity equations using a set of boundary conditions. TCAD is also capable of predicting the behavior and performance of circuits. Circuit simulations using TCAD are time consuming as it has to solve simultaneous device equations for all the devices in the circuit. On the other hand, circuit simulation using compact models is time-efficient and has been used extensively for circuit design and optimization. In dedicated