How to Choose the Best CMOS Technology for Your Application

TL;DR

This paper discusses how to select the most suitable CMOS technology node for specific applications, considering trade-offs in features, costs, and fabrication processes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive guide on choosing the optimal CMOS technology node based on application needs and fabrication trade-offs.

Findings

Different CMOS technology nodes vary in feature size and cost.

Trade-offs exist between power, performance, and manufacturing complexity.

Guidelines for selecting the best technology node for power management applications.

Abstract

Complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) is the most widely spread technology for integrated circuits fabrication. Each foundry offers different technology nodes that are characterized by the minimum feature size, which is the smallest dimension that can be fabricated using photo-lithography with the required precision. The minimum feature size ranges from 350nm to 5nm. Each designer has to select the best technology for implementing their designs, and the designer has to specify the foundry, the technology node, and any additional features like the number of metal layers, and MIM capacitor density. In this white paper, we will describe the various trade-offs while selecting the optimal technology node for power management. You will learn 1) Semiconductor products business models 2) fabrication technologies features 3) how to select the optimal technology node for fabrication according to the application, 4) how the cost of a silicon chip scales with the sales of your design.