ADVANCED THIN-FILM SILICON-ON-SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY - MICROWAVE CIRCUITAPPLICATIONS

This paper reviews the prospects of thin-film silicon-on-sapphire (TFS OS) CMOS technology in microwave applications in the 1-5 GHz regime an d beyond and presents the first demonstration of microwave integrated circuits based on this technology. MOSFET's optimized for microwave us e, with 0.5-mu m optically defined gate lengths and a T-gate structure , have f(t) values of 25 GHz (14 GHz) and f(max) values of 66 GHz (41 GHz) for n-channel (p-channel) devices and have noise figure values be low 1 dB at 2 GHz, some of the best reported performance characteristi cs of any silicon-based MOSFET's to date. On-chip spiral inductors exh ibit quality factors above ten. Circuit performance compares favorably with that of other CMOS-based technologies and approach performance l evels similar to those obtained by silicon bipolar technologies. The r esults demonstrate the significant potential of this technology for mi crowave applications.