Driving CMOS into the wireless communications arena with technology scaling

This paper provides a review of the impact of technology scaling on the radio-frequency (RF) performance of CMOS devices. The major active and passive elements are presented. Unity current gain frequency and unity power gain frequency of greater than 50 GHz and 60 GHz respectively have been achieved with the 180 nm transistors. The minimum noise figure is less than 1.5 dB at 2.45 GHz for gate lengths of 250 nm and below. The flicker noise spectra of thin- and thick-gate transistors have risen by an order of magnitude due to the effects of scaling and nitridation. Quality factors (Q) close to 10 and Q-enhancement of greater than 50% at 2.45 GHz have been achieved using 2 mum thick top aluminimum metal on circular stacked coil inductors.