Linearity and low-noise performance of SOIMOSFETs for RF applications

Recently, CMOS has been actively developed for RF applications in the low-GHz range. Full integration of the RF active and passive components in bulk-Si however, requires special processing, like triple well and deep trenches to control the cross-talk interaction, substrate noise and Q-factor degradation of on-chip inductors (Erzgraber et al., 1998). This paper describes the integration and performance of RF transistors and passive components in a FD-SOI process which work in the L-band for portable wireless applications. In this work, we show that by using high-resistivity substrates, simple integration can be achieved. Our analysis of RF devices indicates that RF noise figure (NF) and linearity (IP3) are critical parameters affected by the substrate, the Q-factor of passive elements, and "kink" in the transistor I/sub d/-V/sub ds/ characteristic.