A Multi-Finger GHz Frequency Doubler Based on Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide Thin Film Transistors

This paper presents a multi-finger doubler based on amorphous-indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFT) operating at GHz frequency. The doubler and the TFTs have been fabricated in-house with chromium (Cr) gate electrodes. We have used the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute amorphous silicon (RPI-a) TFT DC model and a Null-Bias method extracted AC model for simulation. The device output power, the threshold voltage mismatch, and breakdown characteristics are explained with the help of the model. The device yield reduces as the number of fingers in the TFTs increase. The model helps explain the doubler’s non-idealities and compensate for these transistors’ low yield. The peak second harmonic conversion gain of the doubler is measured to be <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {-32\,\,dB}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at a gate overdrive voltage of around <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {2.8~V}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {500~MHz}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> input signal. This second harmonic output frequency exceeds the TFT’s transit and maximum oscillation frequencies.

[1]  M. Shur,et al.  Multi-Segment TFT Compact Model for THz Applications , 2022, Nanomaterials.

[2]  T. Riedl,et al.  Amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide TFTs Patterned by Self-Aligned Photolithography Overcoming the GHz Threshold , 2020, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[3]  Naveen Verma,et al.  Gigahertz Zinc-Oxide TFT-Based Oscillators , 2019, 2019 Device Research Conference (DRC).

[4]  T. Riedl,et al.  Evaluation of the Beyond- $f_T$ Operation of an IGZO TFT-Based RF Self-Mixing Circuit , 2019, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[5]  Sigurd Wagner,et al.  Self-aligned ZnO thin-film transistors with 860 MHz fT and 2 GHz fmax for large-area applications , 2017, 2017 75th Annual Device Research Conference (DRC).

[6]  Corrado Carta,et al.  A transistor model for a-IGZO TFT circuit design built upon the RPI-aTFT model , 2017, 2017 15th IEEE International New Circuits and Systems Conference (NEWCAS).

[7]  Pydi Ganga Bahubalindruni,et al.  Basic analog and digital circuits with a-IGZO TFTs , 2016, 2016 13th International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design (SMACD).

[8]  T. Hou,et al.  Abnormal positive bias stress instability of In–Ga–Zn–O thin-film transistors with low-temperature Al2O3 gate dielectric , 2016 .

[9]  Wei Li,et al.  High mobility flexible graphene field-effect transistors and ambipolar radio-frequency circuits. , 2015, Nanoscale.

[10]  G. Troster,et al.  A 2.62 MHz 762 µW cascode amplifier in flexible a-IGZO thin-film technology for textile and wearable-electronics applications , 2013, 2013 International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble (ISCDG).

[11]  Thomas Riedl,et al.  Facile Encapsulation of Oxide based Thin Film Transistors by Atomic Layer Deposition based on Ozone , 2013, Advanced materials.

[12]  T. Riedl,et al.  Water as origin of hysteresis in zinc tin oxide thin-film transistors. , 2012, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[13]  Yueh-Hua Yu,et al.  Investigation of Polysilicon Thin-Film Transistor Technology for RF Applications , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[14]  Jin-seong Park,et al.  The impact of SiNx gate insulators on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin film transistors under bias-temperature-illumination stress , 2010 .

[15]  S. Jin,et al.  Parameter Extraction of Short-Channel a-Si:H TFT Including Self-Heating Effect and Drain Current Nonsaturation , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[16]  F. J. Garcia Sanchez,et al.  New procedure for the extraction of basic a-Si:H TFT model parameters in the linear and saturation regions , 2001 .

[17]  Jean-Pierre Raskin,et al.  Direct extraction of the series equivalent circuit parameters for the small-signal model of SOI MOSFETs , 1997 .

[18]  Trond Ytterdal,et al.  SPICE Models for Amorphous Silicon and Polysilicon Thin Film Transistors , 1997 .

[19]  K. F. Lee,et al.  Impact of distributed gate resistance on the performance of MOS devices , 1994 .

[20]  Joachim N. Burghartz,et al.  Accurate Capacitance Modeling and Characterization of Organic Thin-Film Transistors , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[21]  Hyungcheol Shin,et al.  Non-quasi-static small-signal modeling and analytical parameter extraction of SOI FinFETs , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology.

[22]  Y. Tsividis.  Operation and modeling of the MOS transistor , 1987 .

[23]  A. G. Blachman.  Stress and resistivity control in sputtered molybdenum films and comparison with sputtered gold , 1971 .