RF S-parameter degradation under hot carrier stress

Abstract

The increasing high frequency capabilities of CMOS have resulted in increased RF and analog design in CMOS. Design of RF and analog circuits depends critically on device S-parameter characteristics, magnitude of real and imaginary components and their behavior as a function of frequency. Utilization of scaled high performance CMOS technologies poses challenges as concerns for reliability degradation mechanisms increase. It is important to understand and quantify the effects of the reliability degradation mechanisms on the S-parameters and in turn on RF and analog applications. Current modeling of voltage stress effects normally is limited to low frequency parameters, as is in-line characterization. In this paper we discuss the relationship between the low frequency parameters commonly characterized & modeled with the shifts in RF properties of MOSFETs.