Envirostabilized References for Applications in SoC Compatible Processes

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

PROPOSAL NO: 0429766 INSTITUTION: Iowa State University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Geiger, Randall TITLE: Envirostabilized References for Applications in SoC Compatible Processes Abstract: Voltage References are critical components in many integrated circuits. Unfortunately, the best existing voltage references do not have the thermal stability needed for a wide range of commercial and military applications and the limitations of existing voltage references will be of even more concern in a host of emerging electronic systems. This initiative focuses on an entirely new approach to designing voltage references that uses a new environmental stabilization technique that can be applied in standard processes used in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Central to this work is the investigation of the concept of using a local on-chip heater to measure relative thermal characteristics of an uncalibrated voltage reference and of using information obtained from these measurements to significantly improve the performance of the reference. Although the concept of using an on-chip heater would be of major concern in most integrated circuits because of the increased power dissipation requirements, it is of essentially no concern in the proposed approach since the total power dissipation when the local heater is on is very small and because the total time the heater will be on throughout the life of the integrated circuit will typically be much less than 1 sec. The concept of using a local on-chip heater for thermal stabilization of key properties of integrated circuits should have applications well beyond voltage references and offer potential for providing a much broader impact in the semiconductor field.