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From: speck@VLSI.CALTECH.EDU (Don Speck)
Newsgroups: comp.lsi
Subject: how does layout affect threshold matching?
Message-ID: <355@nyit.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Dec-86 17:29:44 EST
Article-I.D.: nyit.355
Posted: Wed Dec 10 17:29:44 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Dec-86 14:56:50 EST
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Organization: NYIT Computer Graphics Lab., Old Westbury, N.Y.
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There are times when one desires closely matched enhancement
thresholds - in sense amps, current mirrors, op amps, etc.
What sorts of things can one do in the layout to minimize
threshold differences?	Obviously, the transistors should
be the same size (to minimize length and width dependence)
even under misalignment, and obviously they should have the
same number and kind of bends.

Do right-angle bends worsen the threshold variation?  I try to
avoid them on general principle, but sometimes space is tight.

Will mirror-image or rotated transistors match as well as
transistors sharing a common orientation?

Does it help to make the transistors large, in hopes that the
threshold variations will average out?	Do I need to draw
them long, or is it just the total gate area that matters?

Does the area/shape of the drain diffusion affect the threshold?
This tends to vary under misalignment.

Which polarity of transistor matches better, n or p, the
one built in the well, or the one built in the substrate?

Usually it's impossible to follow all the recommendations at
once, so which effects are significant and which aren't?

Don Speck   speck@vlsi.caltech.edu  {seismo,rutgers,ames}!cit-vax!speck