John E. Florkey

Differentially-shielded monolithic inductors

Differential shielding reduces substrate losses and improves the Q-factor of a monolithic inductor on silicon by up to 35% without process modification or a patterned ground shield. Peak Qs of 32 for 4 /spl mu/m thick aluminum and 28 for 2.3 /spl mu/m thick copper metals are demonstrated on 10 /spl Omega/-cm substrates for a 7.7 nH test inductor. The differential shield fulfills all existing metal density requirements, and a compact circuit model is presented that agrees within 8% of measurement.

RFCMOS technology from 0.25/spl mu/m to 65nm: the state of the art

The effort to design RF circuits in CMOS is motivated by low cost and significant capacity for on-chip integration. We discuss some of the challenges of implementing RF designs in CMOS, focusing on those introduced by the changing properties of FETs as technology nodes scale and devices shrink. We present methods and tools, using which, designers can ease these challenges and reduce the risk of implementing RF circuits in CMOS.