RF-CMOS performance trends

The impact of scaling on the analog performance of MOS devices at RF freque ncies was studied. Trends in the RF performance of nominal gate length NMOS devices from 350-nm to 50-nm CMOS technologies are presented, Both experim ental data and circuit simulations with an advanced validated compact model (MOS Model 11) have been used to evaluate the RF performance. RF performan ce metrics such as the cutoff frequency, maximum oscillation frequency, pow er gain, noise figure, linearity, and 1/f noise were included in the analys is. The focus of the study was on gate and drain bias conditions relevant f or RF circuit design. A scaling methodology for RF-CMOS based on limited li nearity degradation is proposed.