ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the characterization of the different sources of leakage current that appear in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices; physical origins of
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are outlined and data on how voltage and temperature affect the various components of
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are provided. In addition, the impact of technology scaling is presented. This characterization is used in order to predict the circuit level impact of
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of a CMOS circuit. The characterization of leakage components in nanometric technologies is an important issue: Whereas old technology, long channel transistors had basically one leakage mechanism, the well-known reverse-biased pn junction leakage, deep submicron, and nanometric transistors may have different leakage sources depending on the fabrication process.