Title :
A completely integrated 2 GHz VCO with post-processed Cu inductors
Author :
Rogers, John W M ; Levenets, Vladislav ; Pawlowicz, Chris A. ; Tan, G.N. ; Smy, Tom J. ; Plett, Calvin
Author_Institution :
SiGe Microsyst., Ottawa, Ont., Canada
Abstract :
A simple post-processing technique allowing Cu inductors to be added to integrated circuits is presented. The inductors use a 4 μm thick Cu layer, and are formed over a 9 μm thick polyimide dielectric. VCOs with Cu inductors gave a phase noise of -106 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset from a 2 GHz carrier. In contrast, an identical control circuit with Al inductors gave a phase noise of only -101 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset from a 1.8 GHz carrier and had higher power consumption
Keywords :
MMIC oscillators; UHF integrated circuits; UHF oscillators; copper; inductors; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit noise; low-power electronics; phase noise; transceivers; voltage-controlled oscillators; 2 GHz; 4 micron; 9 micron; Cu; IC metallisation; VCO; phase noise; polyimide dielectric; post-processed Cu inductors; power consumption; transceivers; Artificial intelligence; Costs; Dielectric substrates; Inductors; Integrated circuit technology; Metallization; Phase noise; Q factor; Radio frequency; Voltage-controlled oscillators;
Conference_Titel :
Custom Integrated Circuits, 2001, IEEE Conference on.
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-6591-7
DOI :
10.1109/CICC.2001.929845
