Large Q-factor improvement for spiral inductors on silicon using proton implantation

Author

Chan, K.T. ; Huang, C.H. ; Chin, Albert ; Li, M.F. ; Kwong, Dim-Lee ; McAlister, S.P. ; Duh, D.S. ; Lin, W.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan

Volume

13

Issue

11

fYear

2003

Firstpage

460

Lastpage

462

Abstract

We have improved the Q-factor of a 4.6 nH spiral inductor, fabricated on a standard Si substrate, by more than 60%, by using an optimized proton implantation process. The inductor was fabricated in a 1-poly-6-metal process, and implanted after processing. The implantation increased the substrate impedance by /spl sim/ one order of magnitude without disturbing the inductor value before resonance. The S-parameters were well described by an equivalent circuit model. The significantly improved inductor performance and VLSI-compatible process makes the proton implantation suitable for high performance RF ICs.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; Q-factor; S-parameters; equivalent circuits; inductance; inductors; ion implantation; radiofrequency integrated circuits; silicon; 0.18 micron; 1 to 6.2 GHz; 1-poly-6-metal process; CMOS technology; S-parameters; Si; Si substrate; VLSI-compatible process; equivalent circuit model; high performance RF ICs; inductance values; large Q-factor improvement; proton implantation; silicon; spiral inductors; substrate impedance; Equivalent circuits; Impedance; Inductors; Protons; Q factor; Radio frequency; Resonance; Scattering parameters; Silicon; Spirals;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1531-1309

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LMWC.2003.819383

Filename

1243531