Accurate capacitance and RC extraction software tool for pixel, sensor, and precision analog designs

This paper presents a new CAD tool – F3D – for accu rate 3D capacitance and distributed RC model extrac tion for image sensor designs. Image sensor designs include many structures and circuits that are very sensitiv e to capacitive and resistive effects caused by metal interconnects and devices. These effects can be unintentional, i .e. parasitic – such as floating diffusion (FD) node capacitance being mpacted by parasitic capacitance between metal/con ta t/poly structures, or delays along clock or signal nets ca used by distributed RC effects, or intentional – su ch as capacitance of MIM or MOM structures used in sample and hold circu its, ADCs, and other circuits. F3D overcomes limita tions of existing parasitic extraction tools and field solve rs, and enables a predictive accurate capacitance e xtraction and distributed RC model generation, automated identifi cation of all relevant capacitive coupling componen ts, including long-range coupling, and detecting even small (down to 0.01% or better) capacitance mismatch caused by layout effects.