This paper discusses the features of SOI/CMOS circuits in comparison with bulk/CMOS circuits. We have to design circuits with small fan outs and short wires to take advantage of high-speed and low-power SOI/CMOS devices to their fullest. We can take advantage of the SOI/CMOS structure if the ratio of the source/drain capacitances to the gate capacitances is much greater in the load capacitance. Thus, we propose a new flip-flop circuit with a smaller gate capacitance. The flip-flop circuit operates 30% faster than the previous circuit at 2.0 V. We also propose a buffer circuit having less delay disparity between the complementary output signals. The buffer circuit has the delay disparity of 18 ps at 0.2 pF and 2.0 V. We fabricated an 8-bit frequency divider and a 4-bit demultiplexer using the proposed circuits and 0.35 µm SOI/CMOS process. The 8-bit frequency divider and the 4-bit demultiplexer operate at 2.8 GHz and 1.6 GHz, respectively, at 2.0 V.

This paper describes a 0.35µm SOI-CMOS gate array using partially-depleted transistors. The gate array adopts the field-shield isolation technique with body-tied structures to suppress floating-body problems such as: (1) kink characteristics in drain currents, (2) low break-down voltage, and (3) frequency-dependent delay time. By optimizing the basic-cell layout and power-line wiring, the SOI-CMOS gate array also allows the use of the cell libraries and the design methodologies compatible with bulk-CMOS gate arrays. An ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) physical-layer processing LSI was fabricated using a 0.35µm SOI-CMOS gate array with 560k raw gates. The LSI operated at 156 Mbps at 2.0 V, while consuming 71% less power than using a typical 0.35µm 3.3 V bulk-CMOS gate array.

Based on the partially-depleted, thin-film SOI/CMOS technology, the influence of reduced junction capacitance on the performance of the elementary gates and large scale gate array chip is reviewed. To further reduce the power consumption, SOI-specific device configurations, in which the body-bias is individually controlled, are effective in lowering the supply voltage and hence the power consumption while keeping the circuit speed. Two attempts are introduced: (1) DTMOS (Dynamic-Threshold MOS)/SOI to achieve ultra low-voltage and yet high-speed operation, and (2) ABB (Active-Body-Bias) MOS to enhance the current drive under the low supply voltage.