The Compact Model Coalition (formerly the Compact Model Council) is a working group in the

Electronic Design Automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

industry formed to choose, maintain and promote the use of standard semiconductor device models. Commercial and industrial analog simulators (such as

SPICE A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

) need to add device models as technology advances (see

Moore's law Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years. Moore's law is an observation and projection of a historical trend. Rather than a law of physics, it is an empir ...

) and earlier models become inaccurate. Before this group was formed, new

transistor models Transistors are simple devices with complicated behavior. In order to ensure the reliable operation of circuits employing transistors, it is necessary to scientifically model the physical phenomena observed in their operation using transistor mod ...

were largely proprietary, which severely limited the choice of simulators that could be used. It was formed in August, 1996, for the purpose developing and standardizing the use and implementation of SPICE models and the model interfaces. In May 2013, the

Silicon Integration Initiative Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) is a non-profit consortium of semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. I ...

(Si2) and

TechAmerica TechAmerica is a United States technology trade association. It was formed from the merger of AeA (formerly known as the America Electronics Association), the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), the Government Electronics & Information Techno ...

announced the transfer of the Compact Model Council to Si2 and a renaming to Compact Model Coalition. New models are submitted to the Coalition, where their technical merits are discussed, and then potential standard models are voted on. Some of the models supported by the Compact Modeling Coalition include: *BSIM3, a

MOSFET The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

model from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

(see

BSIM BSIM (Berkeley Short-channel IGFET Model) refers to a family of MOSFET transistor models for integrated circuit design. It also refers to the BSIM group located in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the Univer ...

). *BSIM4, a more modern MOSFET model, also from UC Berkeley. *PSP, another MOSFET model. PSP originally stood for

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, but one author moved to ASU, and Philips spun off their semiconductor group as

NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

. *BSIMSOI, a model for

silicon on insulator In semiconductor manufacturing, silicon on insulator (SOI) technology is fabrication of silicon semiconductor devices in a layered silicon–insulator–silicon substrate, to reduce parasitic capacitance within the device, thereby improving perfo ...

MOSFETs. *HICUM or HIgh CUrrent Model for

bipolar transistor A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar t ...

s, from CEDIC,

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

, Germany, and

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, USA. *MEXTRAM, a compact model for bipolar transistors that aims to support the design of bipolar transistor circuits at high frequencies in Si and SiGe based process technologies. MEXTRAM was originally developed at

and is now developed and supported at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. *ASM-HEMT, and MVSG, the newest standard models for

Gallium Nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it ...

(GaN) transistors. To address the increasing need for Reliability (ageing) simulation the CMC nominated the OMI Interface as the new EDA vendor independent solution for ageing simulations. Technically the Interface is very close the TMI2 Interface developed by

TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC; also called Taiwan Semiconductor) is a Taiwanese multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the world's most valuable semicon ...

. The standardization will allow Silicon Foundries to develop a common set of aging models that will work with all significant analog simulators.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Member list at CMC website

Site map of CMC website including links to working groups
Transistor modeling Electronic engineering

See also

References

External links