CAPACITANCE- VOLTAGE
Capacitance- Voltage characteristic
MOS- parallel plate capacitor resemblance
Small signal capacitance
C = : dQ = incremental change of charge
dV = incremental change in voltage
dc capacitance : Cdc=
Assumptions : change in gate-to-body voltage Vgb: ΔVgb
Causes change ΔQ’g in gate charge Q’g
Small signal gate to body capacitance/unit area: C’gb
C’gb =
Incremental charge balance equation:
ΔQ’g = - (ΔQ’b + ΔQ’i) = - ΔQ’s
Δ VGB =Δψox+ΔΨs
divide by ΔQ’g
= +
↓ ↓
1/C’ox 1/C’s (semiconductor
capacitance/unit area)
= 1/C’ox + 1/C’s
Total gate-to-body capacitance= series combination of two
capacitors
Small signal equivalent circuit
gate-to-body capacitance: gate-to –body voltage:
function of region of operation
Accumulation: Depletion; Inversion
Q’s = + exp(- )
At accumulation: exponential increment of
semiconductor charge
Large value of semiconductor capacitance C’s
Total gate-to-body capacitance: oxide capacitance
= 1/C’ox : At accumulation: perfect parallel plate
capacitor: no voltage dependence
Depletion and inversion region
Semiconductor charge density: Q’s
Q’s= - [ + Vtexp()]1/2
Taking derivative wrt
Semiconductor capacitance C’s ?
Condition 1. Below moderate inversion region: <
Exponential terms could be neglected
C’s has inverse square root dependence on
Condition 2. Strong inversion:
C’s varies exponentially with
In strong inversion: device behaves like parallel plate
capacitor
Capacitance: Oxide capacitance
Total semiconductor charge: depletion charge+ inversion charge
Capacitance composed of two components
C’s = C’b + C’I
Depletion and inversion capacitances
Exact model
Simplified version of depletion capacitance
Apply charge sheet approximation
Depletion layer: width dB
Entire potential drop
C’b =
dB = C’b =
Depletion capacitance: C’b – charge sheet: inverse square root
dependence
Exact model: drop in capacitance in strong inversion
Weak inversion region: total semiconductor capacitance:
equal to depletion capacitance
Strong inversion region: equals to inversion capacitance
At = inversion capacitance
Capacitance – Voltage characteristics
Variation of total capacitance: wrt applied Vgb different regions of operation
Small AC signal superimposed on dc signal: applied to gate
DC voltage increased 50mV step
Vgb much lesser than Flat Band voltage: semiconductor
surface: accumulation
Total capacitance: equals oxide capacitance C’ox
Vgb increased near VFB (still lesser) : total capacitance
start to drop: semiconductor capacitance significant
Vgb exactly equals VFB : total capacitance = oxide
capacitance+ flatband capacitance
C’gb = C’ox + C’FB
Vgb exceeds VFB : semiconductor surface deplate
Total capacitance = series combination of ( C’ox +
depletion capacitance C’b)
As Vgb rises: also increases C’b =
Causes drop in C’b
= 2 and beyond : inversion layer build up
C’I larger than C’b
Total capacitance once again equates to C’ox
Significant difference in C’ox (accumulation) and C’ox(inversion)
Property of surface charge
Minority carrier dependence on frequency
first region
at strong inversion: source of minority electrons: thermal
EHP generation
Frequency of small ac signal very low: slow change wrt
time
Slow generation of thermal EHP keep pace with ac signal
Inversion layer build up
Total capacitance approaches C’ox
Second region:
At moderate high frequency: thermal EHP can not keep pace with
frequency
Results low total capacitance: does not reverts to oxide capacitance
Third region:
Deep depletion: At very high frequency: sudden widening of
depletion region
Exposure of large amount of depletion ions
Drastic reduction in depletion capacitance
