Using operating point-dependent degradation and gm/ID method for aging-aware design

Abstract

Effects like NBTI and HCI are degrading the characteristics of analog circuits. Available countermeasures to maintain system performances often include the use of optimizers or other external tools to size devices appropriately, which give no insight in relations between degradation and circuit parameters for the designer. This paper proposes an extension of the gm/ID sizing method by considering aged transistor parameters for fresh circuit design. A possible usage scenario for this investigation is given by optimizing a simple circuit towards higher reliability. The degradation in amplification of a common source amplifier is reduced by 19 % for a full time operation of 10 years.