19.5 An HCI-healing 60GHz CMOS transceiver

The research of 60GHz CMOS transceivers has bloomed due to their capability of achieving low-cost multi-Gb/s short-range wireless communications [1]. Considering practical use of the 60GHz CMOS transceivers, longer operation lifetime with high output power is preferred to provide reliable products. Unfortunately, as indicated in [2], the output power capability of the transmitter will gradually degrade due to the hot-carrier-injection (HCI) effects in the standard CMOS transistors at large-signal operation (e.g. power amplifiers). It is because the inherently large voltage swing at the output of the power amplifiers (PAs) is the main source of the HCI damage. Unfortunately, a thick-oxide transistor, a common solution for reliability issues at lower frequencies, cannot be utilized for 60GHz CMOS PA design due to its limited maximum oscillation frequency (f_max).