RF CMOS: Device Characterization, Model Development, and Circuit Applications

Description

The applications of CMOS devices in radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC) designs have recently become increasingly important. The key advantages of RFCMOS technology are full compatibility with mainstream digital IC technology, along with low cost and low power consumption features. With these unique features, it has attracted tremendous research interests and the recent development of RFCMOS technology is quite encouraging. The process for hundred gigahertz CMOS devices has been developed and some simple CMOS RFICs have already appeared. However, challenges still remain to resolve the important issues particularly concerning the hot-carrier reliability and the accurate device models for circuit designs. In addition, the design methodologies for RF circuits based on CMOS technology are still not mature and actual telecommunication CMOS ICs have yet to be developed. This work aims to tackle those issues by focusing on device characterization and model development for the nanoscale CMOS devices operated at radio frequency. The results will be applied in RF circuit designs.