RF noise investigation in High-k/Metal Gate 28-nm CMOS transistors

In order to pursue Moore´s law, the recent introduction of new Gate stack using High-k dielectrics and Metal Gate (H-k/MG) for CMOS has been a key point to downscale the “equivalent oxide thickness” (EOT). Within this context, this paper intends to investigate RF noise performance of a recent Low Power (LP) 28-nm H-k/MG CMOS Technology. For this purpose, S-parameters have been measured up to 110GHz to accurately extract an RF Small Signal Equivalent Circuit (SSEC), required to extract a two-temperature noise model. The technology offers a minimum noise figure NFmin of 0.8dB (with an associated gain Ga equal to 14dB) @20GHz, for a DC drain current of 135mA/mm: these performances well compete with those previously reported for other H-k/MG technology.