Instrumentation for gate current noise measurements on sub-100 nm MOS transistors

This work describes a measuring system that was developed to characterize the gate current noise performances of CMOS devices with minimum feature size in the 100 nm span. These devices play an essential role in the design of present day mixed signal integrated circuits, because of the advantages associated with the scaling process. The reduction in the gate oxide thickness brought about by CMOS technology downscaling leads to a non-negligible gate current due to direct tunneling phenomena; this current represents a noise source which requires an accurate characterization for optimum analog design. In this paper, two instruments able to perform measurements in two different ranges of gate current values will be discussed. Some of the results of gate current noise characterization will also be presented.