CMOS circuit analysis with luminescence measurements and simulations

Abstract

Hot-carriers in MOSFETs are responsible for time-dependent near-infrared emission, synchronous with the switching transitions in CMOS circuits. Fast electrical waveforms propagating through integrated circuits can be effectively measured by means of high sensitivity solid-state photo detectors with sharp time-resolution. Thanks to a time jitter of less than 30ps. We obtained an equivalent analog bandwidth of about 30GHz. We simulate the luminescence waveforms. In-depth insight of circuit behavior is reported by comparing measured and simulated luminescence waveforms, leading to a powerful identification of design errors and failures.