US20170317219A1 - Systems and methods for cmos-integrated junction field effect transistors for dense and low-noise bioelectronic platforms - Google Patents

Systems and methods for cmos-integrated junction field effect transistors for dense and low-noise bioelectronic platforms Download PDF

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US20170317219A1
US20170317219A1 US15/651,712 US201715651712A US2017317219A1 US 20170317219 A1 US20170317219 A1 US 20170317219A1 US 201715651712 A US201715651712 A US 201715651712A US 2017317219 A1 US2017317219 A1 US 2017317219A1
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transistor
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Kenneth L. Shepard
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Columbia University in the City of New York
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
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    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/68—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor controllable by only the electric current supplied, or only the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
    • H01L29/76—Unipolar devices, e.g. field effect transistors
    • H01L29/772—Field effect transistors
    • H01L29/80—Field effect transistors with field effect produced by a PN or other rectifying junction gate, i.e. potential-jump barrier
    • H01L29/808—Field effect transistors with field effect produced by a PN or other rectifying junction gate, i.e. potential-jump barrier with a PN junction gate, e.g. PN homojunction gate
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    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
    • H01L21/76—Making of isolation regions between components
    • H01L21/762—Dielectric regions, e.g. EPIC dielectric isolation, LOCOS; Trench refilling techniques, SOI technology, use of channel stoppers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
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    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/77—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate
    • H01L21/78—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices
    • H01L21/82—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components
    • H01L21/822—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components the substrate being a semiconductor, using silicon technology
    • H01L21/8232—Field-effect technology
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    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers
    • H01L27/04—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/08—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind
    • H01L27/085—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind including field-effect components only
    • H01L27/098—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind including field-effect components only the components being PN junction gate field-effect transistors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
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    • H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/06—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions
    • H01L29/0684—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions characterised by the shape, relative sizes or dispositions of the semiconductor regions or junctions between the regions
    • H01L29/0692—Surface layout
    • H01L29/0696—Surface layout of cellular field-effect devices, e.g. multicellular DMOS transistors or IGBTs
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    • H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/40—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/41—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions
    • H01L29/423—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions not carrying the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
    • H01L29/42312—Gate electrodes for field effect devices
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    • H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/66007—Multistep manufacturing processes
    • H01L29/66075—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials
    • H01L29/66227—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials the devices being controllable only by the electric current supplied or the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched, e.g. three-terminal devices
    • H01L29/66409—Unipolar field-effect transistors
    • H01L29/66893—Unipolar field-effect transistors with a PN junction gate, i.e. JFET
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    • H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/06—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions
    • H01L29/0603—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions characterised by particular constructional design considerations, e.g. for preventing surface leakage, for controlling electric field concentration or for internal isolations regions
    • H01L29/0642—Isolation within the component, i.e. internal isolation
    • H01L29/0649—Dielectric regions, e.g. SiO2 regions, air gaps

Definitions

  • Compact electronic systems that interface with biophysical systems can be suitably sensitive to detect even weak signals of such systems without introducing measurement inaccuracies.
  • Signal weakness can increase the effects of measurement noise and, as such, integrated circuit components that minimize measurement noise can be beneficial.
  • a source of such noise can be irregularities in the physical structure found in certain electronic components. These irregularities can produce unpredictable measurement fluctuations called 1/f or flicker noise.
  • Flicker noise can vary inversely as to the area of a transistor and, as such, can affect electronic interfaces to biophysical systems having highly dense transistor arrays.
  • Flicker noise can be considered a generic name for fluctuations whose power spectral density scales with frequency as S N (f) ⁇ 1/f.
  • Flicker noise can come from a number of physical sources, such as from inhomogeneous structures that fluctuate unpredictably over time.
  • flicker noise can arise from traps in interfaces between materials, semiconductor dopants, and material defects.
  • Flicker noise can decrease as the size of an element increases, and the increasing number of individual point defects can reduce or inhibit each other.
  • Integrated electronics can be generally planar, and thus flicker noise power can be inversely proportional to the area (W ⁇ L) of a transistor.
  • Certain applications involving electronic interfaces to biophysical systems can include measuring weak signals with fine spatial resolution, high channel count, and low cost. Yet these can be competing goals, at least in part, because reducing the dimensions of electronic elements can yield higher noise levels, which in turn can impact a wide range of applications, including biochemical assays and sequencing platforms, neural recording arrays, and advanced imagers and particle detector readout arrays.
  • Electronic components can contain a range of structural irregularities such as interface traps, dopant inhomogeneity, and material defects. These irregularities can cause unpredictable electrical fluctuations, such as flicker noise.
  • JFETs Junction Field Effect Transistors
  • MOSFET Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor
  • JFET transistors including CMOS-integrated JFET transistors that can be suitable for dense and low-noise bioelectronic platforms.
  • CMOS complementary metal oxide semiconductor
  • JFETs integrated junction field effect transistors
  • JFET integrated low-noise Junction Field Effect Transistor
  • MOSFET Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
  • JFETs according to the disclosed subject matter can thus be used to construct dense low-noise sensor interface arrays.
  • JFETs according to the disclosed subject matter can reduce the complexity of electronic systems by reducing or eliminating the need to employ noise reduction techniques.
  • a method for reducing noise in a JFET implemented in CMOS-technology can include a top gate and source and drain contacts, and the method can include removing shallow trench isolation (STI) from an area between a top gate and the source and drain contacts to reduce flicker noise.
  • STI shallow trench isolation
  • a method includes implementing a JFET in CMOS with independent top and bottom gates, which can allow implementation of an interdigitated JFET transistor differential pair.
  • the method can include switched-biasing and/or correlated double sampling of the JFET.
  • Systems and methods according to the disclosed subject matter can allow for applications involving electronic interfaces to biophysical systems, which can involve measuring weak signals with fine temporal resolution, high channel count and low cost.
  • Such applications can include, for example and without limitation, biochemical assays and sequencing platforms, neural recording arrays and imagers and particle detector readout arrays.
  • the disclosed subject matter can also be used to implement a JFET-CMOS architecture for dense, low-noise sensor interface arrays.
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFETJC device structure.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFETJC noise spectrum.
  • FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Modified JFET device structure according to the disclosed subject matter.
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Modified JFET noise spectrum according to the disclosed subject matter.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFET noise spectrum, as compared with an exemplary JFETJC noise spectrum.
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFET-input CMOS OTA.
  • FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary current integrating amplifier utilizing JFET-CMOS OTA.
  • FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary method of making a junction field effect transistor according to the disclosed subject matter.
  • junction field-effect transistors can provide low gate leakage current, low white voltage noise, and low flicker noise.
  • One integrated-circuit alternative can be a MOS transistor, which can have negligible gate current and increased white noise, but an increased flicker voltage noise.
  • An exemplary JFET device can be implemented, for example and without limitation, in an IBM 0.18 ⁇ m CMOS technology.
  • Certain CMOS JFET designs can be configured for high-voltage operation up to 8 volts between device terminals, but can have unsuitable noise performance due at least in part to the presence of shallow trench isolation (STI) in the vicinity of the JFET channel.
  • STI shallow trench isolation
  • the STI can be removed from the junction regions. As illustrated herein, such a modification can decrease the drain current flicker noise power by a factor of 100 or more.
  • JFETJC a conventional JFET structure, known as JFETJC
  • FIG. 1 a conventional JFET structure, known as JFETJC
  • the transistors use two additional mask levels (PI 103 , which defines the n-type triple well, and JC, which defines the JFET channel 106 and p-type inner well 104 ) to construct a full n-channel JFET in IBM's 0.18 ⁇ m process.
  • this device has STI regions 109 in the vicinity of the channel. These silicon dioxide interfaces near the channel can produce charge trapping, which can degrade the device flicker noise performance.
  • the measured noise performance of this device is shown in FIG. 2 for a width of 320 ⁇ m and length of 500 nm.
  • shallow trench isolation (STI) 309 can be removed from the devices with the addition of a blocking layer, for example and embodied herein as a polysilicon (PC) layer 310 , to replace the STI.
  • PC can act as a blocking layer, thereby breaking the conductive salicide that can be present to reduce the diffusion contact resistances.
  • PC can also block the dopant implant between the source gate and drain of the transistor, as shown for example in FIG. 3 .
  • the flicker noise spectrum of the exemplary JFET device is shown in FIG. 4 at the same device geometry and biasing conditions.
  • the drain current flicker noise can be reduced by a factor of 100 or more in the exemplary JFET, as shown in FIG. 5 .
  • the blocking layer described herein is a PC blocking layer, any layer that effectively isolates the source, gate and drain surface conduction and breaks the salicide can be utilized, including for example and without limitation an OP mask which can function as a salicide block, for example when combined with BP2ND, a n+ and p+ dopant block mask.
  • JFET devices described herein can allow for the design of a low-noise JFET-input, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), as shown for example in FIG. 6 .
  • FIG. 6 shows an exemplary folded cadcode OTA using JFET devices for the inputs 601 and 601 b .
  • Transistors 602 , 603 a , and 603 b can supply the device bias current, and transistors 604 a through 604 d can act as an active load.
  • Transistors 605 and 605 b can function as the cascode devices, which can increase the output impedance of the amplifier, thereby increasing the gain.
  • the Vdd voltage 606 can be raised to account for the depletion mode functioning of the JFET, as with the JFETJC.
  • the JFET-CMOS OTA can form the basic building block for a number of circuits that can benefit from the JFET input stage. Without limitation to the OTA designs described herein, the JFET-CMOS devices can be used to decrease noise and capacitance for any OTA design. For example, the JFET-CMOS OTA can be used as an amplifier in a variety of small-signal current and voltage measurements.
  • a JFET-CMOS OTA can provide reduced flicker noise and input capacitance when compared with other CMOS OTAs. This reduced noise and capacitance can be suitable for low-noise transimpedance amplifier (TIA) applications.
  • TIA low-noise transimpedance amplifier
  • C par 701 and R par 702 can represent parasitic capacitance and resistance associated with the physical structure of the connected current mode sensor.
  • I sig can represent the signal current of the sensor which can vary based at least in part on the device function.
  • V bias 704 can be a designer-set voltage, which can be chosen to allow for suitable functioning of the sensor based on that device's operating region.
  • Op amp 705 can represent the JFET-input CMOS OTA building block.
  • C F 706 can represent the feedback capacitance of the TIA, which can set the gain of the amplifier.
  • C F 706 can also vary based on the value of I sig 703 .
  • Typical values for C F 706 can be application-specific and thus can vary from about 10 fF to 50 pF.
  • Such an integrating amplifier design can have applications in the measurement of biological and solid state nanopore sensors, nanogap sensors, and other current output sensors that utilize low-noise current measurement.
  • the use of an integrated amplifier can allow for close integration with the sensors, reducing parasitic capacitances and electromagnetic interference. Arrays of these amplifiers can also be integrated on the same substrate.
  • Nanopore sensors can operate using detection of current changes in the picoamp regime.
  • the current can indicate the blockade of the electrolytic conduction through the pore by the translocation of single molecules.
  • Such techniques can be used to study many types of biomolecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins. Such techniques can also be used for nanopore sequencing of DNA.
  • Nanogap sensors can also benefit from low-noise TIAs created with JFET input devices. Nanogap sensors can use electrochemical detection through repeated oxidation and reduction of analytes, and currents in the femtoampere range can be typical. These amplifiers can have voltage-clamp applications in electrophysiology.
  • a method for reducing noise in a JFET implemented in CMOS-technology is shown for example in FIG. 8 .
  • a substrate of a first dopant type can be provided and, at 802 , can have a second dopant type well deposited thereon.
  • the well can be doped with the first dopant type to form the back gate contacts at 803 .
  • the back gate bottom of the first dopant type and channel of the second dopant type can be formed, along with the source and drain contacts at 804 .
  • the top gate can be formed at 805 , for example, using the first dopant. Formation of the top gate can include deposition of the blocking layer as described herein.

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  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
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  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
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Abstract

A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-integrated junction field effect transistor (JFET) has reduced scale and reduced noise. An exemplary JFET has a substrate layer of one dopant type with a gate layer of that dopant type disposed on the substrate, a depletion channel of a second dopant type disposed on the first gate layer, and a second gate layer of the first dopant type disposed on the depletion channel and proximate a surface of the transistor. The second gate layer can separate the depletion channel from the surface, and the depletion channel separates the first gate layer from the second gate layer.

Description

    CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
  • This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/715,193, filed Oct. 17, 2012, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
    • STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
  • This invention was made with government support under Award No. R33-HG003089 awarded by the National Institute of Health. The government has certain rights in the invention.
    • BACKGROUND
  • Compact electronic systems that interface with biophysical systems can be suitably sensitive to detect even weak signals of such systems without introducing measurement inaccuracies. Signal weakness can increase the effects of measurement noise and, as such, integrated circuit components that minimize measurement noise can be beneficial. A source of such noise can be irregularities in the physical structure found in certain electronic components. These irregularities can produce unpredictable measurement fluctuations called 1/f or flicker noise. Flicker noise can vary inversely as to the area of a transistor and, as such, can affect electronic interfaces to biophysical systems having highly dense transistor arrays.
  • Flicker noise can be considered a generic name for fluctuations whose power spectral density scales with frequency as SN(f)∝1/f. Flicker noise can come from a number of physical sources, such as from inhomogeneous structures that fluctuate unpredictably over time. In integrated electronics, flicker noise can arise from traps in interfaces between materials, semiconductor dopants, and material defects.
  • Flicker noise can decrease as the size of an element increases, and the increasing number of individual point defects can reduce or inhibit each other. Integrated electronics can be generally planar, and thus flicker noise power can be inversely proportional to the area (W×L) of a transistor.
  • Certain applications involving electronic interfaces to biophysical systems can include measuring weak signals with fine spatial resolution, high channel count, and low cost. Yet these can be competing goals, at least in part, because reducing the dimensions of electronic elements can yield higher noise levels, which in turn can impact a wide range of applications, including biochemical assays and sequencing platforms, neural recording arrays, and advanced imagers and particle detector readout arrays.
  • In these and other applications, large arrays on a fine pitch can be desirable, yet the signals can be weak and thus reduced electronic measurement noise can be desirable. Electronic components can contain a range of structural irregularities such as interface traps, dopant inhomogeneity, and material defects. These irregularities can cause unpredictable electrical fluctuations, such as flicker noise.
  • Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFETs) can exhibit lower levels of flicker noise than other transistor designs at least in part because of their construction. A JFET can achieve a noise target comparable to that of a Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) while occupying an area 20 times as small.
  • Accordingly, there is an opportunity for improved JFET transistors, including CMOS-integrated JFET transistors that can be suitable for dense and low-noise bioelectronic platforms.
    • SUMMARY
  • The disclosed subject matter provides for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-integrated junction field effect transistors (JFETs), including JFETs integrated with CMOS.
  • The disclosed subject matter provides an integrated low-noise Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) design that can be fabricated using standard CMOS technology. JFETs can achieve lower flicker noise targets than integrated Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) for similarly sized components. JFETs according to the disclosed subject matter can thus be used to construct dense low-noise sensor interface arrays. JFETs according to the disclosed subject matter can reduce the complexity of electronic systems by reducing or eliminating the need to employ noise reduction techniques.
  • In an exemplary embodiment, a method for reducing noise in a JFET implemented in CMOS-technology is provided. The JFET can include a top gate and source and drain contacts, and the method can include removing shallow trench isolation (STI) from an area between a top gate and the source and drain contacts to reduce flicker noise.
  • In some embodiments, a method includes implementing a JFET in CMOS with independent top and bottom gates, which can allow implementation of an interdigitated JFET transistor differential pair. In some embodiments, the method can include switched-biasing and/or correlated double sampling of the JFET.
  • Systems and methods according to the disclosed subject matter can allow for applications involving electronic interfaces to biophysical systems, which can involve measuring weak signals with fine temporal resolution, high channel count and low cost. Such applications can include, for example and without limitation, biochemical assays and sequencing platforms, neural recording arrays and imagers and particle detector readout arrays. The disclosed subject matter can also be used to implement a JFET-CMOS architecture for dense, low-noise sensor interface arrays.
    • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated and constitute part of this disclosure, illustrate some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFETJC device structure.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFETJC noise spectrum.
  • FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Modified JFET device structure according to the disclosed subject matter.
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Modified JFET noise spectrum according to the disclosed subject matter.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFET noise spectrum, as compared with an exemplary JFETJC noise spectrum.
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary JFET-input CMOS OTA.
  • FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary current integrating amplifier utilizing JFET-CMOS OTA.
  • FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary method of making a junction field effect transistor according to the disclosed subject matter.
    •  DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • Junction field-effect transistors can provide low gate leakage current, low white voltage noise, and low flicker noise. One integrated-circuit alternative can be a MOS transistor, which can have negligible gate current and increased white noise, but an increased flicker voltage noise.
  • According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a low-noise CMOS-integrated n-channel JFET device is provided, with current noise up to 4×10−18 A2/Hz at f=1 Hz with α=−1.03 (1/fα). An exemplary JFET device can be implemented, for example and without limitation, in an IBM 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Certain CMOS JFET designs can be configured for high-voltage operation up to 8 volts between device terminals, but can have unsuitable noise performance due at least in part to the presence of shallow trench isolation (STI) in the vicinity of the JFET channel. In an exemplary JFET of the disclosed subject matter, without any process modifications, the STI can be removed from the junction regions. As illustrated herein, such a modification can decrease the drain current flicker noise power by a factor of 100 or more.
  • For purpose of comparison to the disclosed subject matter, a conventional JFET structure, known as JFETJC, is shown in FIG. 1. The transistors use two additional mask levels (PI 103, which defines the n-type triple well, and JC, which defines the JFET channel 106 and p-type inner well 104) to construct a full n-channel JFET in IBM's 0.18 μm process. As shown in FIG. 1, this device has STI regions 109 in the vicinity of the channel. These silicon dioxide interfaces near the channel can produce charge trapping, which can degrade the device flicker noise performance. The measured noise performance of this device is shown in FIG. 2 for a width of 320 μm and length of 500 nm.
  • Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary JFET structure will be described. In accordance with the disclosed subject matter, shallow trench isolation (STI) 309 can be removed from the devices with the addition of a blocking layer, for example and embodied herein as a polysilicon (PC) layer 310, to replace the STI. As embodied herein, PC can act as a blocking layer, thereby breaking the conductive salicide that can be present to reduce the diffusion contact resistances. PC can also block the dopant implant between the source gate and drain of the transistor, as shown for example in FIG. 3. The flicker noise spectrum of the exemplary JFET device is shown in FIG. 4 at the same device geometry and biasing conditions.
  • The drain current flicker noise can be reduced by a factor of 100 or more in the exemplary JFET, as shown in FIG. 5. Although the blocking layer described herein is a PC blocking layer, any layer that effectively isolates the source, gate and drain surface conduction and breaks the salicide can be utilized, including for example and without limitation an OP mask which can function as a salicide block, for example when combined with BP2ND, a n+ and p+ dopant block mask.
  • According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, JFET devices described herein can allow for the design of a low-noise JFET-input, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), as shown for example in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows an exemplary folded cadcode OTA using JFET devices for the inputs 601 and 601 b. Transistors 602, 603 a, and 603 b can supply the device bias current, and transistors 604 a through 604 d can act as an active load. Transistors 605 and 605 b can function as the cascode devices, which can increase the output impedance of the amplifier, thereby increasing the gain. The Vdd voltage 606 can be raised to account for the depletion mode functioning of the JFET, as with the JFETJC. The JFET-CMOS OTA can form the basic building block for a number of circuits that can benefit from the JFET input stage. Without limitation to the OTA designs described herein, the JFET-CMOS devices can be used to decrease noise and capacitance for any OTA design. For example, the JFET-CMOS OTA can be used as an amplifier in a variety of small-signal current and voltage measurements.
  • A JFET-CMOS OTA can provide reduced flicker noise and input capacitance when compared with other CMOS OTAs. This reduced noise and capacitance can be suitable for low-noise transimpedance amplifier (TIA) applications.
  • According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a low-noise TIA utilizing JFET-CMOS OTAs described herein is shown for example in FIG. 7. C par 701 and R par 702 can represent parasitic capacitance and resistance associated with the physical structure of the connected current mode sensor. Isig can represent the signal current of the sensor which can vary based at least in part on the device function. V bias 704 can be a designer-set voltage, which can be chosen to allow for suitable functioning of the sensor based on that device's operating region. Op amp 705 can represent the JFET-input CMOS OTA building block. C F 706 can represent the feedback capacitance of the TIA, which can set the gain of the amplifier. The value of C F 706 can also vary based on the value of I sig 703. Typical values for C F 706 can be application-specific and thus can vary from about 10 fF to 50 pF. Such an integrating amplifier design can have applications in the measurement of biological and solid state nanopore sensors, nanogap sensors, and other current output sensors that utilize low-noise current measurement. The use of an integrated amplifier can allow for close integration with the sensors, reducing parasitic capacitances and electromagnetic interference. Arrays of these amplifiers can also be integrated on the same substrate.
  • Nanopore sensors can operate using detection of current changes in the picoamp regime. The current can indicate the blockade of the electrolytic conduction through the pore by the translocation of single molecules. Such techniques can be used to study many types of biomolecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins. Such techniques can also be used for nanopore sequencing of DNA.
  • Nanogap sensors can also benefit from low-noise TIAs created with JFET input devices. Nanogap sensors can use electrochemical detection through repeated oxidation and reduction of analytes, and currents in the femtoampere range can be typical. These amplifiers can have voltage-clamp applications in electrophysiology.
  • According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a method for reducing noise in a JFET implemented in CMOS-technology is shown for example in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, at 801, a substrate of a first dopant type can be provided and, at 802, can have a second dopant type well deposited thereon. The well can be doped with the first dopant type to form the back gate contacts at 803. The back gate bottom of the first dopant type and channel of the second dopant type can be formed, along with the source and drain contacts at 804. The top gate can be formed at 805, for example, using the first dopant. Formation of the top gate can include deposition of the blocking layer as described herein.
  • The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosed subject matter. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous techniques which, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the disclosed subject matter and are thus within its spirit and scope.

Claims (16)

1. An integrated junction field effect transistor formed as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor, comprising:
a substrate layer of a first dopant type;
an isolation well of a second dopant type disposed above the substrate;
a first gate layer of the first dopant type disposed above the isolation well;
a depletion channel of the second dopant type disposed above the first gate layer; and
a second gate layer of the first dopant type disposed on the depletion channel and proximate a surface of the transistor, the second gate layer separating the depletion channel from the surface, and the depletion channel separating the first gate layer from the second gate layer.
2. The transistor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the isolation well of the second dopant type is disposed between and separating the substrate layer and the first gate layer.
3. The transistor as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a drain contact and a source contact, each disposed proximate the surface and in electrical communication with the depletion channel.
4. The transistor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the transistor is free of shallow trench isolation between the second gate layer and each of the source and drain contacts.
5. The transistor as claimed in claim 3, further including shallow trench isolation between the second gate layer and each of the source and drain contacts.
6. The transistor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first dopant type is P-type and the second dopant type is N-type.
7. The transistor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first dopant type is N-type and the second open type is P-type.
8. A plurality of transistors as claimed in claim 1, configured as an array.
9. A method of making a junction field effect transistor using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, comprising:
providing a substrate layer of a first dopant type;
forming an isolation well of the second dopant type above the substrate;
forming a first gate layer of the first dopant type above the isolation well;
forming a depletion channel of the second dopant type above the first gate layer; and
forming a second gate layer of the first dopant type above the depletion channel and proximate a surface of the transistor, the second gate layer separating the depletion channel from the surface, and the depletion channel separating the first gate layer from the second gate layer.
10. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the isolation well of the second dopant type is disposed between and separating the substrate layer and the first gate layer.
11. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a drain contact and a source contact, each disposed proximate the surface and in electrical communication with the depletion channel.
12. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the transistor is free of shallow trench isolation between the second gate layer and each of the source and drain contacts.
13. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the transistor is formed using a 180 nm process.
14. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first dopant type is P-type and the second dopant type is N-type.
15. A method of making the transistor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first dopant type is N-type and the second open type is P-type.
16. A method of making the plurality of transistors as claimed in claim 9, configured as an array.
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