An overview of low-frequency noise in advanced CMOS/SOI transistors

In this paper, the LFN in partially and fully depleted SOI CMOS technologies is overviewed. Static performances of the devices are first presented. Then we address, for different types of architectures, the drain current fluctuations in both linear and saturation regimes. A particular attention is paid to the floating body effect that induces a kink-related excess noise, which superimposes a Lorentzian spectrum on the flicker noise. The behavior of this effect with the frequency and the physical mechanisms explaining this excess niose, are discussed. The control of this noise overshoot by using a body contact or by applying a back gate voltage is also demonstrated. On the other hand, the LFN in DTMOS, in ohmic and saturation regimes, is studied and the impact of the use of a current limiter is thoroughly analyzed. Finally, the influence of the oxide thickness thinning on the noise is shown.