Transistor Aging Reversal Using Hot Carrier Injection

A method for reverting a shift in a threshold voltage of a transistor, comprising:

• sensing a transistor current and generating a mirrored current corresponding to the sensed transistor current;
• generating a calibration gate bias voltage, the calibration gate bias voltage for operating the transistor in a region where hot carrier injection (HCI) is present;
• determining whether the mirrored current is outside of a predetermined range indicative of a shift in the threshold voltage of the transistor;
• and
• responsive to determining that the mirrored current is outside of the predetermined range, providing the calibration gate bias voltage to a gate terminal of the transistor.

An electronic circuit, comprising:

• a main transistor, the main transistor having a source terminal coupled to a first power supply voltage, a drain terminal, and a gate terminal;
• and
• an aging reversal circuit coupled to the gate terminal and the drain terminal of the main transistor, the aging reversal circuit comprising:
• a current mirror coupled to the drain terminal of the main transistor, the current mirror configured to sense a transistor current of the main transistor and generate a mirrored current corresponding to the sensed transistor current,
• a gate biasing module comprising:
• a gate biasing circuit configured to generate a calibration gate bias voltage, and
• a gate switch coupled to an output of the gate biasing circuit, the gate switch for coupling the gate biasing circuit to the gate terminal of the main transistor, and
• a calibration engine configured to receive the mirrored current from the current mirror and to control the gate switch in response to determining that the mirrored current is outside of a predetermined range indicative of a shift in a threshold voltage of the main transistor.