Characterization and design of CMOS components for microwave and millimeter wave applications

Abstract

Accurate models of the on-chip active and passive components are essential for successful CMOS IC design. This work aims to characterize important active and passive components in modern CMOS technologies for microwave and millimeter wave applications to accommodate the two trends in many practical applications: smaller technology nodes and higher operating frequencies. The thesis is mainly concerned with the noise characterization of 65nm RF n-MOSFETs, modeling of the impact of metal dummy fills on the microwave behavior of spiral inductors, and the design of line resonators and filters at 60 GHz and 77 GHz in a standard CMOS process.