Dataset: Cryogenic-Aware Forward Body Biasing in Bulk CMOS

Cryogenic CMOS (cryo-CMOS) circuits are of-ten hindered by the cryogenic threshold-voltage increase.To mitigate such an increase, a forward body biasing (FBB)technique in bulk CMOS is proposed, which can reliablyoperate up to the nominal supply without problematic leak-age currents, thanks to the larger diode turn-on voltageat cryogenic temperatures. As a result, traditional circuits,such as pass-gates, can reliably operate down to 4.2 K, andtheir performance is augmented, e.g., digital circuits speed-ing up by 1.62× or lowering their energy per transitionand energy-delay product by 4.24× and 2.33×, respectively.Unlike back biasing in FD-SOI, here all FBB voltages remainwithin the supplies, hence enabling on-chip, dynamic anddevice-specific biasing. The proposed FBB technique thusrepresents a valuable design tool for bulk cryo-CMOS cir-cuits.