Compact modelling in RF CMOS technology

Abstract

With the continuous downscaling of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the RF performance of metal-oxide-semiconductor field transistors (MOSFETs) has considerably improved over the past years. Today, the standard CMOS technology has become a popular choice for realizing radio frequency (RF) applications. The focus of the thesis is on device compact modelling methodologies in RF CMOS. Compact models oriented to integrated circuit (ICs) computer automatic design (CAD) are the key component of a process design kit (PDK) and the bridge between design houses and foundries. In this work, a novel substrate model is proposed for accurately characterizing the behaviour of RF-MOSFETs with deep n-wells (DNW). A simple test structure is presented to directly access the substrate parasitics from two-port measurements in DNWs. The most important passive device in RFIC design in CMOS is the spiral inductor. A 1-pi model with a novel substrate network is proposed to characterize the broadband loss mechanisms of spiral inductors. Based on the proposed 1-pi model, a physics-originated fully-scalable 2-pi model and model parameter extraction methodology are also presented for spiral inductors in this work. To test and verify the developed active and passive device models and model parameter extraction methods, a series of RF-MOSFETs and planar on-chip spiral inductors with different geometries manufactured by employing standard RF CMOS processes were considered. Excellent agreement between the measured and the simulated results validate the compact models and modelling technologies developed in this work