Statistical RTS model for digital circuits

In this work we study the variation in drain current of MOS transistors due to the capture and emission of electrons at interface states (traps), called random telegraph signal (RTS). Usually, RTS is studied in frequency domain. However, for digital circuits, it is more appropriate to use time-domain representations. The time-domain representation here proposed models the effect of RTS on I-ds as instantaneous Vt shifts. We introduce a statistical numerical approach for computing the total Delta Vt of the transistor considering all the traps in the interface. The method analyses the effect of non-uniform charge densities along the channel. To show the applicability of the methodology to circuit analysis on the electrical level, the model is applied to characterize read and write instability failures caused by RTS on a 6T-SRAM cell. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.