A new geometrical optimization technique for rf integrated inductors

This letter decribes a new approach to maximize the quality (Q) factor of a spiral inductor. without any modifications to the existing CMOS or BiCMOS processes. The proposed method is based on successively increasing the meta l width Slam the inner to the outer turns of the spiral inductor: This meth od has been used to realize an optimized inductor for RF applications. The comparative evaluation shows that the optimized inductor outperforms four o ther spiral inductors with fixed metal widths of 10, 15, 20, and 25 mu in t erms of the Q-factor without sacrificing the inductance nod chip area. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.