Introduction to CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide
Semiconductor

CSET 4650
Field Programmable Logic Devices

Dan
Dan Solarek
Solarek
CMOS Technology
Complementary MOS, or CMOS, needs both
PMOS and NMOS FET devices for their logic
gates to be realized
The concept of CMOS was introduced in 1963 by
Frank Wanlass and Chi-Tang Sah of Fairchild
did not become common until the 1980’s as NMOS
microprocessors were dissipating as much as 50W and
alternative design techniques were needed
CMOS still dominates digital IC design today

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MOSFET Transistors
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
(MOSFETs) are the transistors most widely used in integrated
circuits today
The name is due to:
the structure of the device - a sandwich of a metal conductor, an oxide
insulator, and a semiconductor substrate
the way it works - an electric field controls the flow of current through
the device
Although early MOSFET transistors used metal for the first
layer, current ones use a polysilicon material
a conductive material with somewhat more resistance than a normal
conductor and is easier to fabricate

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N-Channel MOSFET Transistors
With no voltage between the
gate terminal and the
substrate, there are two
junctions between the two N
regions and the P region.
This acts like two oppositely
connected diodes, and no
current can flow between
source and drain.

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N-Channel MOSFET Transistors
Application of a positive voltage
between the gate terminal and the
substrate creates an electric field
that drives holes out of the region
under the gate, creating a channel
of N-type material that connects
the source and drain terminals
Current is due to electron
movement in the N-channel

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P-Channel MOSFIT Transistors

The P and N regions are

reversed from the N-Channel
device.
Application of a voltage on the
gate terminal that is negative
relative to the substrate creates a
P channel beneath the gate and
charge flow is due to hole
movement.

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MOSFET Circuit Symbols
The following symbols are used to represent
MOSFET transistors in circuit diagrams:

normally on normally off

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MOSFET Circuit Symbols
The following simplified symbols are used to
represent MOSFET transistors in most CMOS circuit
diagrams:
negative voltage

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MOSFET Circuit Symbols
The gate of a MOS transistor controls the flow of the current between
the drain and the source.
The MOS transistor can be viewed as a simple ON/OFF switch.

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MOSFET Circuit Symbols
Series behavior of MOS transistors
nMOS: 1 = ON
pMOS: 0 = ON

Series:
both must be ON
nMOS

pMOS

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 MOSFET Circuit Symbols
Parallel behavior of MOS transistors
nMOS: 1 = ON
pMOS: 0 = ON

Parallel:
either can be nMOS
ON

pMOS
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Complementary MOSFETS (CMOS)
N-Channel and P-Channel transistors can be fabricated on the
same substrate as shown below

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 CMOS Logic Families

CMOS Series Prefix Example

Original CMOS 40 4009

Pin compatible with TTL 74C 74H04
High-speed and pin compatible with TTL 74HC 74HC04
High-speed and electrically compatible with TTL 74HCT 74HCT04
Very High-speed and pin compatible with TTL 74VHC 74VHC04
Very High-speed and electrically compatible with TTL 74VHCT 74VHCT04
Advanced High-speed and pin compatible with TTL 74AHC 74AHC04
Advanced High-speed and electrically compatible with TTL 74AHCT 74AHCT04
Fast and electrically compatible with TTL 74FCT 74 FCT 04
Fast and electrically compatible with TTL with TTL V OH 74FCT-T 74 FCT04T

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CMOS Logic Families
74-series (commercial)
parts are designed for
temperatures between
0°C and 70°C
54-series (military)
parts are designed for
operation between
-55°C and 125°C
the ’00 NAND gate is
the smallest logic-
design building block
in each family
the ‘138 is a MSI part
(~15 NAND gates)

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CMOS Logic Families
These specs assume that the 5 Volt supply has a ±10%
margin; that is, VCC can be anywhere between 4.5 and 5.5 V.

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CMOS Logic Families
Specifications for TTL-compatible CMOS outputs have two sets of output
parameters; only one set is used depending on how an output is loaded.

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CMOS Logic Families
A CMOS load is one that requires the output to sink and source
very little DC current
20 µA for HC/HCT
50 µA for VHC/VHCT
A TTL load can consume much more sink and source current
up to 4 mA from and HC/HCT output
8 mA from a VHC/VHCT output
CMOS outputs maintain an output voltage within 0.1V of the
supply rails, 0 and VCC.
a worst-case VCC=4.5V is used for the table; hence, VOHminC=4.4V

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Comparison of Logic Levels
(a) 5-V CMOS; (b) 5-V TTL, including 5-V TTL-compatible
CMOS; (c) 3.3-V LVTTL; (d) 2.5-V CMOS; (e) 1.8-V CMOS

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Properties of NMOS and CMOS
Logic Gates
No current flows through the gate unless the input signal is
changing
High input impedance
High fan-out
Sandwich structure of MOS transistor creates capacitor
between the gate and substrate
High input capacitance
Slows transition time
Limits fan-out or switching speed
NMOS dissipates power in low output state
CMOS gate only dissipates power when it is changing
state
The faster a CMOS gate switches the more power it dissipates, so
there is a tradeoff between speed and power

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Why CMOS is Better
Low DC Power Consumption
Abrupt & well defined Voltage transfer Characteristic
Noise Immunity due to Low impedance between logic
levels and Supply/Gnd.
Symmetry between Tfall & Trise
High Density: Si real estate → Yield → Cost
Highly Integrated → Active & High input Impedance
→ Composition equality
No real trade off between the above

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Static vs Dynamic CMOS Design
Static
Each gate output have a low resistive path to either VDD
or GND
Dynamic
Relies on storage of signal the value in a capacitance
requires high impedance nodes

We will only worry about static design today.

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NMOS Logic
Negative charge carriers (electrons)
Positive biasing voltage at gate

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CMOS Logic
Transistors come in complementary pairs

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CMOS Inverter
CMOS gates are built around the
technology of the basic CMOS
inverter:
Vdd

PMOS
in out
in out
NMOS

Symbol

Circuit

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Basic CMOS Logic Technology
Based on the fundamental
inverter circuit at right
V
s dd
Transistors (two) are g
PMOS
enhancement mode MOSFETs d
in out
N-Channel with its source grounded d
NMOS
P-Channel with its source connected g
s
to +V
Input: gates connected together
Output: drains connected

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CMOS Inverter - Operation
When input A is grounded (logic 0),
the N-Channel MOSFET is unbiased,
and therefore has no channel enhanced VDD
within itself. It is an open circuit, and
therefore leaves the output line
Charge
disconnected from ground. A
At the same time, the P-Channel
Open
MOSFET is forward biased, so it has a
channel enhanced within itself,
connecting the output line to the +VDD
supply. This pulls the output up to
+VDD (logic 1).

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CMOS Inverter - Operation

When input A is at +VDD (logic 1),

VDD
the P-channel MOSFET is off and VDD
the N-channel MOSFET is on, Open
thus pulling the output down to
Out
ground (logic 0). Thus, this circuit
correctly performs logic inversion, A
and at the same time provides
active pull-up and pull-down, Discharge
according to the output state.

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CMOS Inverter - Operation

Vout

Since the gate is essentially an VDD

open circuit it draws no current,

and the output voltage will be
equal to either ground or to the
power supply voltage, depending
on which transistor is conducting.

VDD Vin

indeterminant range

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CMOS Inverter – A Switch Model

a) Circuit schematic for a CMOS inverter

b) Simplified operation model with a high input applied
c) Simplified operation model with a low input applied
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Static Characteristics of the
CMOS Inverter – Switch Model
The figure shows the
two modes of static
operation with the
circuit and simplified
models
Logic 1 (a) and (b)
Logic 0 (c) and (d)
Notice that VH = 5V
and VL = 0V, and that
ID = 0A which means
that there is no static
power dissipation 30
CMOS Inverter Operation

Summarizing:
When vI is pulled high (VDD), the PMOS inverter
is turned off, while the NMOS is turned on pulling
the output down to GND
When vI is pulled low (GND), the NMOS inverter
is turned off, while the PMOS is turned on pulling
the output up to VDD

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Propagation Delay Estimate

The two modes of capacitive discharging and charging that

contribute to propagation delay

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Fan-Out in CMOS Circuits
While the fan-out of CMOS gates is affected by current
limits, the fan-out of CMOS gates driving CMOS gates is
enormous since the input currents of CMOS gates is very
low.
Why are the input currents low?
On the other hand the high capacitance of CMOS gate inputs
means that the capacitive load on a gate driving CMOS gates
increases with fan-out.
This increased capacitance limits switching speeds and is a far more
significant limit on the maximum fan-out.

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Complementary CMOS
Complementary CMOS logic gates
pMOS pull-up network
pMOS
nMOS pull-down network pull-up
network

a.k.a. static CMOS inputs

output

nMOS
pull-down
network

Pull-up OFF Pull-up ON

Pull-down OFF Z (float) 1
Pull-down ON 0 X (crowbar)

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Complementary CMOS
To build a logic gate we need to build two switch networks:

PUN

PDN

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Conduction Complement
Complementary CMOS gates always produce
0 or 1
Ex: NAND gate
Series nMOS: Y=0 when both inputs are 1
Y
Thus Y=1 when either input is 0
A
Requires parallel pMOS B
Rule of Conduction Complements
Pull-up network is complement of pull-down
parallel → series, series → parallel

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CMOS Gate Design
Work out the
values for both
the push and
pull networks
Compare them
What is the
result?

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CMOS Gate Design
A 2-input CMOS NAND gate

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CMOS Gate Design
Work out the
values for both
the push and
pull networks
Compare them
What is the
result?

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CMOS Gate Design
A 2-input CMOS NOR gate

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CMOS Gate Design
A 4-input CMOS NOR gate

A
B
C
D
Y

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NAND and NOR are Popular
Logical inversion comes free
as a result an inverting gate needs smaller number of
transistors compared to the non-inverting one
In CMOS (and in most other logic families)
the simples gates are inverters
the next simplest are NAND and NOR gates

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Compound Gates
Lets take a
look at a
gate that
implements
a more
complex
function …

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Compound Gates
Compound gates can do any inverting function
Ex: Y = A B C D
A C A C
B D B D
(a) (b)

C D
A B C D
A B
(c)
(d)

C D
A
A B
B
Y Y
C
A C
D
B D
(f)

(e)

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Example: O3AI
Y = ( A + B + C) D

A
B
C D
Y
D
A B C

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