Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The physicist in me wants to give this book 2 stars and the mathemetician in me wants to give it 5 stars, while the engineer and organizer in me wants to give it 4 stars. End result is 4 stars, but frustrated with the linear grading system. Here's a bit more on why.

Yes, as previous reviewers have said, this book gives you what many similarly named books don't: an advanced-level, industrial-view, practioner look at semiconductor device operation and design. It is well organized from that standpoint, which originally drew me in wholeheartedly.

My criticism is that when you really get into it -- and I have, by reading every page from start to finish -- the authors sometimes only use the math equations to explain why things happen. I guess this is okay in some science topics say, for abstract problems in QM matrix formalism when the "thing" is difficult to visualize physically, but this is a working, quasi-classical, real-world "machine"; physical explanations should almost always be possible. Writing about the concepts in addition to the math equations is important because most of us don't remember dozens of math equations day-to-day, but only the relationships often buttressed up by physical pictures. For example, on page 187 an equation (and equations are models of reality themselves containing their own limitations) is used to show (prove?) "the gate work function has a major effect on channel profile design, since, through the V_fb term, it has a strong influence on the MOSFET threshold voltage". In addition to the math symbolic relationship, this could also be said with physical underpinnings or something more physical sounding than "through the V_fb term".

People tend to solve problems either with: (1) pictures, (2) math, or (3) words, or combinations of these, so perhaps this is just a matter of which style is more 'natural' to a person. However, this pattern of occasionally only using math symbols to explain advanced concepts is done throughout the text. I think for an advanced text, deep physical understanding is sought, not just developing equations from standard theories; the theories breakdown under some conditions and only a good understanding of the advanced concepts will inform you when that might happen. Such understanding allows you to be on the lookout for the exceptions, which is important for the practicing engineer or researcher in this field.

Every year a large number of textbooks are published, many times, unfortunately without contributing anything new to the market. In this case, however, Taur and Ning have written a book that will surely be referenced for many years. Rather than trying to write about every modern electronic device, they concentrate on sub-micron MOS and bipolar transistors in silicon, and do so very well. It is clear that the authors know what they are talking about (they are both IEEE Fellows and long-time employees of IBM). They draw heavily from their experience of industrial VLSI technology, and cover subjects such as device optimization, tradeoffs between power consumption and packing density, and physical limits to scaling. Half the book is dedicated to MOS (including CMOS circuitry) and half to bipolar transistors, but there is also enough basic semiconductor physics for review. This book should be useful for practicing engineers, but the ample amounts of exercises in each chapter is why I use it for teaching a senior undergraduate / first-year graduate course in advanced VLSI devices.

This is the best book currently available on device electronics. Written by renown contributors to the field from IBM, it takes the complexity of integrated semiconductor devices down to its first-order, industry-proven essentials. In this respect, "Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices" comes in line with what I consider to be the epitoms of the class of lasting transistor books, Alvin Phillips' "Transistor Engineering" (McGraw-Hill 1962) and Andrew Grove's "Physics and Technology of Semiconductor Devices" (Wiley, 1967). The treatment of the subject matter is outstandingly thorough, covering the basic device physics and technology integration of bipolar and field-effect metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOSFET) and highlighting the subtle tradeoffs involved in modern transistor design and optimization. The approach is first-order analytical, with refrainment from the use of computer-simulations tools that would have run the risk of diminishing the teaching strength of the book. Equations and parameters provided are checked continuously against the reality of silicon data. This makes the book invaluably useful in practical transitor design as well as in the classroom. I keep it on my desk at all times. The bipolar-transitor part takes the reader all the way from the classical junction transistor to the modern polysilicon-emitter, SiGe-base variety. The MOSFET part is equally sweeping, coming as far as to the technology node (gate length) of 100 nm. Each chapter concludes with real-life exercises that actually extend the depth of analysis, getting the reader directly involved.

The book has been very well written and focuses on all the latest aspects of devices. The treatment of Short channels, Scaling are especially good. The problems at the end really give you a feel of things and let you understand the concepts better.

An excellent book for graduate level and a good book for practicing engineers in the semi conductor industry.

There are two types of books on modern device physcis. One is "textbook" like. They have quite thourough discussion on the physics of different devices. But the topics they discuss is of little relevence to the practicing enginners trying to develop the vlsi technology. Another type is "review" like discussion scatter around different places. They do shed some light on the current issues in vlsi technology development. But often they are concerned with very small details of the issue. For a relative new comer, he/she can easily loss the big picture.

Happiy, Drs. Taur and Ning's book provide thourough yet relevent discussion on the vlsi device physics. Chapters on the basic device physics provide clear understanding of the fundamentals. A grad student or engineer would appreciate the streamlined, well presented theory.

The most important part of the book, in my humble opinion, is the discussion on mosfet and bjt device design and performance factors. These four chapters clearly demonstrate the extensive experience and knowledge authors have in this field. They are all of paramount importance in today's vlsi technology development. I have not seen such in-depth, yet clear discussion on the topics in similar books. Highly recommended!

QW

It covers most of the interesting fields in short channel device research/engineering. In addition, there is one chapter focused on device design from scaling point of view; and another one talking about the CMOS logic performance, which is not common in device book.

Also, this is an excellent device book balanced between physics and mathematics - another plus.

Despite a writing style that reads drier than a cracker, this book succinctly covers the math you will need to analyze CMOS devices. The authors' IBM industry background seems to have shaped this practical engineer's guide. I recommend this book to people involved in device design and engineering; not for theorists.

this is the best textbook i used. you can realize how deep and clear of understanding the device physics the Dr. Taur is!
my feeling is many professors at university teaching this kind of device classes only understand 70% - 80% of vlsi device physics
even the ieee fellow! i believe many readers agree what i said.
based on my 7 yrs industrial research experience, i recommend
person who wants to be a device engineer should read this book, and don't skip any chapter. It's not easy for a circuit designer to understand all the contents, but it's helpful sometimes for their design. anyway, i suggest professors to use this book as a senior device textbook, and professors/IEEE fellows can clarify their confused concepts from this book.

If you seek to understand devices from a physical point of view this book just fails to live up to it.I read the chapters on MOSFETs' thoroughly and also the section of second chapter which describes MOS capacitor.The feel you get when you read the book is somewhat hard to write, it has all the relevant equations but lacks a physical insight.For example the quantum confinement of the inversion layer is so briefly described that someone reading the topic for the first time will never be able to make sense out of it.For those who know device physics, rather well, this book provides great material, drawn primarily from the authors' experience at IBM's T J watson research lab.As a suggestion Dr.Taur has a few papers, available online for free download at IBM's research and development journal,it will be a good idea to explore it and the other allied material appearing there.For the starter I will suggest to pick up Tsividis book on "Operation and modeling of MOS Transistor" and concurrently try the present volume.A better physical model can be developed.

If you own a basic knowledge of semiconductor devices and you want to go in deep without wasting your time with tedios and unintuitive mathematics, this is a perfect book. You can get an in deep understanding not only about the phisycs but even about design of semiconductor VLSI devices.