A precise negative bias temperature instability sensor using slew-rate monitor circuitry

Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) has become an important cause of degradation in scaled PMOS devices, affecting power, performance, yield and reliability of circuits. This paper proposes a scheme to detect PMOS threshold voltage (VTH) degradation using on-chip slew-rate monitor circuitry. The degradation in the PMOS threshold voltage is determined with high resolution by sensing the change in rise time in a stressed ring oscillator. Simulations in IBM's 65nm PD/SOI CMOS technology demonstrate good linearity and an output sensitivity of 0.25mV/mV using the proposed scheme. ©2009 IEEE.