Basic VLSI Design

The overwhelming majority ofVLSI systems in silicon utilize nMOS, CMOS or BiCMOS technology and, although nMOS designs are now mostly outmoded, it is advantageous to understand the processes and to be able to design or analyse nMOS circuits as the need arises. This added learning load is no real burden since. The three technologies are closely interrelated and design is based on common concepts. It is further possible to relate some silicon design methodology and nMOS circuit concepts to the design of gallium arsenide circuits.
A significant feature of this edition is the expansion of CMOS circuitry to include bipolar transistors-the BiCMOS process. This is of particular interest, for example, where larger capacitive l0ads must be driven. The nature and characteristics of the relevant bipolar devices are dealt with and design rules for an n-well BiCMOS process appear in the text and are used in design examples.