Hsuan-Ling Kao

Very Low Voltage SiO2/HfON/HfAlO/TaN Memory with Fast Speed and Good Retention

At 85degC under very low plusmn 8V and fast 100mus P/E, good memory device integrity of 2.5V initial DeltaVth and 1.45 V 10-year extrapolated retention are obtained. This was achieved in SiO 2/HfON/HfAlO/TaN MONOS using very high-kappa (~22) and deep trapping HfON, which further gives good 1.0V 10-year memory window even at 125degC

Compact LTCC Bandpass Filter With Wide Stopband Using Discriminating Coupling

This paper presents a novel compact low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) bandpass filter (BPF) with wide stopband and high selectivity. The proposed circuit consists of two coupled λ_g/4 transmission-line resonators. A special coupling region is selected to realize a novel discriminating coupling scheme for generating a transmission zero (TZ) at the third harmonic frequency. The mechanism is analyzed and the design guideline is described. The source-load coupling is introduced to generate two TZs near the passband and one in the stopband. Thus, wide stopband can be obtained without extra circuits. Due to the LTCC multilayer structures, the filter size is 0.058 λ_g×0.058 λ_g×0.011 λ_g, or 2.63 mm × 2.61 mm × 0.5 mm. The simulated and measured results of the demonstrated LTCC BPF are presented to validate the proposed design.

Strain-induced very low noise RF MOSFETs on flexible plastic substrate

Using microstrip line design to screen substrate resistance generated RF noise, very low 1.1 dB min. noise figure (NF/sub min/) and high 12 dB associate gain are measured at 10 GHz of 0.18/spl mu/m MOSFET on plastic without de-embedding. The die on plastic was thinned to 30/spl mu/m that allows applying uniaxial strain to further lower the 10 GHz NF/sub min/ to only 0.92 dB and comparable well with the 0.13/spl mu/m and 90nm nodes MOSFETs.

A Low-Power Current-Reuse LNA for Ultra-Wideband Wireless Receivers from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz

We present an ultra-wideband 3.1-10.6 GHz low-noise amplifier which uses a two-stage current-reuse structure to reduce the power. Fabricated in a 0.18 mum CMOS process, the IC prototype achieved a power gain of 9.3 dB, a noise figure (NF) of < 5.6 dB, an input match of < -8 dB over the band, while consuming only 9.4 mW

Modeling RF MOSFETs after electrical stress using low-noise microstrip line layout

A novel microstrip line layout is developed to directly measure the minimum noise figure (NF/sub min/) accurately instead of the complicated de-embedding procedure in the conventional CPW line. A very low NF/sub min/ of 1.05 dB at 10 GHz is directly measured in 16 gate finger 0.18 /spl mu/m MOSFETs without any de-embedding. Based on the accurate NF/sub min/ measurement, we have developed a self-consistent DC, S-parameters, and NF/sub min/ model to predict device characteristics after the continuous stress, with good accuracy.

High Performance Micro-Crystallized TaN/SrTiO3/TaN Capacitors for Analog and RF Applications

Using micro-crystallized high-k SrTiO₃ on N⁺-treated TaN, very high 28 fF/mum² capacitance density, low voltage linearity (alpha) of 92 ppm/V² and small leakage of 3times10^-8 A/cm² at 2V are beyond ITRS spec of analog capacitor at year 2018. Further improving to 44 fF/mum² and low alpha of 54 ppm/V² are obtained for higher speed analog/RF ICs at 2 GHz

Electrical-stress effects and device modeling of 0.18-/spl mu/m RF MOSFETs

In this paper, a novel microstrip-line layout is used to make accurate measurements of the minimum noise figure (NF/sub min/) of RF MOSFETs. A low NF/sub min/ of 1.05 dB at 10 GHz was directly measured for 16-finger 0.18-/spl mu/m MOSFETs, without de-embedding. Using an analytical expression for NF/sub min/, we have developed a self-consistent dc current-voltage, S-parameter, and NF/sub min/ model, where the simulated results match the measured device characteristics well, both before and after electrical stress.

Inkjet-Printed Interdigital Coupled Line Filter on Liquid Crystal Polymer Substrate

This letter investigates inkjet-printed interdigital coupled line bandpass filters on liquid crystal polymer substrates. Silver nanoparticle colloidal solution was used as the printing ink. Various numbers of passes were used to print the samples to study the changes in conductivity and uniformity. Samples were then sintered in an oven to remove excess solvent and material impurities. The silver-film conductivity of the conductive ink was ~1×107 S/m. The interdigital coupled line bandpass filter was printed with an inkjet printing system. The study achieved a minimal insertion loss and maximal return loss of -3.6 and -24 dB at 25.7 GHz, respectively.

Low-Frequency Noise in Enhancement-Mode GaN MOS-HEMTs by Using Stacked

In this letter, enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMT) (MOS-HEMTs) are realized by using N₂O plasma oxidation and Gd₂O₃ stacked-gate dielectric technologies. Before the gate metal was deposited, the AlGaN barrier layer was treated by 150-W N₂O plasma for 200 s to remove the AlGaN native oxide layer and, simultaneously, to form Al₂O₃/ Ga₂O₃ compound insulator. Then, a 10-nm-thick high-dielectric-constant Gd₂O₃ thin film was electron-beam evaporated as a stacked-gate dielectric. To elucidate the interface phenomena of the device, the dependence of the 1/<i>f</i> noise spectra on the gate bias was studied. The fluctuation that is caused by trapping/detrapping of free channel carriers near the gate interface can be reduced by N₂O plasma treatment. Additionally, the variation of the Hooge factor (α<i>H</i>) of a traditional metal gate GaN HEMT, measured at 77 K and 300 K, is huge, particularly in the subthreshold gate voltage regime. The tunneling leakage current that is induced by the interface traps is determined to be higher than that in the MOS-HEMT design. The threshold voltage (<i>V</i>_th) of depletion-mode GaN HEMT was -3.15 V, and this value can be shifted to +0.6 using N₂O-treated stacked-gate AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMTs.

\hbox{Al}_{2}\hbox{O}_{3}/\hbox{Ga}_{2}\hbox{O}_{3}/\hbox{Gd}_{2}\hbox{O}_{3}

We have fabricated RF MIM capacitors, using high-κ TiTaO as the dielectric, which show a record high density of 20 fF/µm 2 . In addition, the capacitors display a small capacitance reduction of only 3.6% over the 100 kHz to 20 GHz range, a low leakage current of 8 pA and a high Q of 120. This was for a typical large 8 pF TiTaO MIM capacitor. The small voltage dependence of the capacitance (∆C/C) of 770 ppm at 2 GHz, shows that these MIM capacitors are useful for high- precision RF circuits.