Analysis of parasitic quantum effects in classical CMOS circuits

In the mesoscopic regime, the MOS device performance is affected by gate‐induced quantization effects leading to a loss of transconductance and threshold voltage shift and gate leakage tunnelling currents degrading the overall device performance. We discuss the expected impact of quantum effects in highly down scaled CMOS circuits. Based on 1‐d numerical simulations for transport in mesoscopic systems, we set up Spice circuit models. The Spice models rebuild the influence of quantum effects; and the functionality of classical circuit concepts can be ‘tested’ in their robustness against these effects. A few circuit examples will be given. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.