Title :
An investigation of on-chip spiral inductors on a 0.6 μm BiCMOS technology for RF applications
Author :
Power, J.A. ; Kelly, S.C. ; Griffith, E.C. ; O´Neill, M.
Author_Institution :
Analog Devices, Limerick, Ireland
Abstract :
Inductors are very important passive elements in many RF circuit applications. Integrated on-chip metal inductors, formed in conventional CMOS or BiCMOS technologies, suffer from performance limitations due to substrate injection through the oxide, metal resistive losses, and substrate losses due to low-resistivity substrates. These problems mean that the highest attainable inductor quality factor (Q) is significantly lower than that which can be attained from off-chip inductors. This paper details an analysis of on-chip metal inductors fabricated on a 0.6 μm BiCMOS technology. Issues relating to test structure layout, measurement techniques, inductor composition, and inductor characterization and modeling are addressed. In addition, an analysis of the impact of inductor shape and metal thickness on inductor performance is examined
Keywords :
BiCMOS integrated circuits; MMIC; Q-factor; electrical resistivity; inductors; integrated circuit layout; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit modelling; integrated circuit testing; losses; 0.6 micron; BiCMOS technology; RF applications; RF circuit applications; inductor characterization; inductor composition; inductor modeling; inductor performance; inductor quality factor; inductor shape; inductors; integrated on-chip metal inductors; low-resistivity substrates; measurement techniques; metal resistive losses; metal thickness; off-chip inductors; on-chip metal inductors; on-chip spiral inductors; passive elements; performance limitations; substrate injection; substrate losses; test structure layout; BiCMOS integrated circuits; CMOS technology; Inductors; Integrated circuit technology; Measurement techniques; Performance loss; Q factor; Radio frequency; Spirals; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Microelectronic Test Structures, 1999. ICMTS 1999. Proceedings of the 1999 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Goteborg
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5270-X
DOI :
10.1109/ICMTS.1999.766209
