A tool towards integration of IC process, device, and circuit simulation

An interactive simulation system, comprised of an integrated set of tools, suitable for accurate characterization of arbitrary submicrometer devices is presented. The system, which is an extension of the University of California, Berkeley, tool SIMPL-IPX, uses a transparent link with 2D device simulation and provides an application-specific interface to 3D. While the system can be used to generate typical device characteristics (I-V curves and delay analysis) useful for sensitivity analysis and analytic model development, a greater benefit of the system is its ability to analyze parasitic devices that may lead to reliability problems. These parasitic devices are extremely difficult to characterize and tend to be overlooked. The system is used to investigate the influence of these parasitics by analyzing the effect of layout on the latch-up characteristics of a standard logic cell.<
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