Effects of hot-carrier stress on the RF performance of 0.18 /spl mu/m technology NMOSFETs and circuits

The effects of DC hot-carrier stress on DC and RF performance of submicron LDD NMOSFETs are investigated. It is shown that the unity current gain frequency f/sub T/ decreases as the transconductance g/sub m/ and gate-source capacitance C/sub gs/ of the transistor are degraded with stress time. It is observed that the degradation of f/sub T/ versus stress time is faster than that of the g/sub m/ degradation. This was found to be due to the increase of the C/sub gs/ with stress. The threshold voltage V/sub th/ and the output conductance g/sub ds/ increase and the intrinsic voltage gain of the device A/sub /spl nu/,int/ decreases by stress. The effect of hot carrier stress on the noise performance of the device is investigated by calculating the minimum noise figure of the device NF/sub min/ before and after stress, using the calibrated small signal model of the transistors. The results of the hot carrier experiments on single devices are used to analyze the hot carrier effects on the transistor power gain G/sub T/, input matching /spl Gamma//sub in/, noise figure NF and stability factor /spl mu/ of a low noise amplifier made of these NMOSFETs.

[1]  M. Deen,et al.  Extraction of the induced gate noise, channel noise, and their correlation in submicron MOSFETs from RF noise measurements , 2001 .

[2]  C.H. Ling,et al.  Observation of MOSFET degradation due to electrical stressing through gate-to-source and gate-to-drain capacitance measurement , 1991, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[3]  M. J. Deen,et al.  Effects of electrical stress on the frequency performance of 0.18 /spl mu/m technology NMOSFETs , 2001, ICMTS 2001. Proceedings of the 2001 International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures (Cat. No.01CH37153).

[4]  Hiroshi Iwai,et al.  CMOS technology-year 2010 and beyond , 1999, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[5]  M. Deen,et al.  Features and mechanisms of the saturating hot-carrier degradation in LDD NMOSFETs , 1996 .

[6]  R. H. Storz,et al.  Clear observation of sub-band gap impact ionization at room temperature and below in 0.1 mu m Si MOSFETs , 1992, 1992 International Technical Digest on Electron Devices Meeting.

[7]  M. L. Edwards,et al.  A new criterion for linear 2-port stability using a single geometrically derived parameter , 1992 .

[8]  M. J. Deen,et al.  Hot-carrier effects on the scattering parameters of lightly doped drain n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistors , 1998 .

[9]  M. J. Deen,et al.  High frequency noise of MOSFETs I Modeling , 1998 .

[10]  Eiji Takeda,et al.  Hot-Carrier Effects in MOS Devices , 1995 .

[11]  C. Enz,et al.  MOS transistor modeling for RF IC design , 2000, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[12]  Sung-Mo Kang,et al.  Hot-Carrier Reliability Of MOS VLSI Circuits , 1993 .

[13]  M. J. Deen,et al.  Finding the asymmetric parasitic source and drain resistances from the a.c. conductances of a single MOS transistor , 1996 .

[14]  M. J. Deen,et al.  Hot-carrier effects on radio frequency noise characteristics of LDD n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistors , 2000 .

[15]  M. J. Deen,et al.  A simple method to qualify the LDD structure against the early mode of hot-carrier degradation , 1996 .

[16]  C. Hu,et al.  Low-voltage hot-electron currents and degradation in deep-submicrometer MOSFETs , 1989, 27th Annual Proceedings., International Reliability Physics Symposium.

[17]  A. Ziel.  Noise in solid state devices and circuits , 1986 .

[18]  C. Hu,et al.  Low-voltage hot-electron currents and degradation in deep-submicrometer MOSFETs , 1990 .

[19]  M. E. Mokari,et al.  A new method of noise parameter calculation using direct matrix analysis , 1992 .

[20]  M.I.H. King,et al.  A simple method to extract the asymmetry in parasitic source and drain resistances from measurements on a MOS transistor , 1995 .

[21]  D. Ang,et al.  A study of hot carrier degradation in NMOSEET's by gate capacitance and charge pumping current , 1995 .

[22]  Kwyro Lee,et al.  A fully integrated 1.9-GHz CMOS low-noise amplifier , 1998, IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters.