Low-Frequency Noise Assessment of Silicon Passivated Ge pMOSFETs With TiN/TaN/ HfO2 Gate Stack

The low-frequency noise of pMOSFETs fabricated in epitaxial germanium-on-silicon substrates is studied. The gate stack consists of a TiN/TaN metal gate on top of a 1.3-nm equivalent oxide thickness HfO₂/SiO₂ gate dielectric bilayer. The latter is grown by chemical oxidation of a thin epitaxial silicon film deposited to passivate the germanium surface. It is shown that the spectrum is of the 1/f^gamma type, which obeys number fluctuations for intermediate gate voltage overdrives. A correlation between the low-field mobility and the oxide trap density derived from the 1/f noise magnitude and the interface trap density obtained from charge pumping is reported and explained by considering remote Coulomb scattering     

Low-power voltage-controlled oscillators in 90-nm CMOS using high-quality thin-film postprocessed inductors

Wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology offers novel opportunities for the realization of high-quality on-chip passives needed in RF front-ends. This paper demonstrates a thin-film WLP technology on top of a 90-nm RF CMOS process with one 15-GHz and two low-power 5-GHz voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) using a high-quality WLP or above-IC inductor. The 5-GHz VCOs have a power consumption of 0.33 mW and a phase noise of -115 dBc/Hz and -111 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset, respectively, and the 15-GHz VCO has a phase noise of -105 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset with a power consumption of 2.76 mW.     

Radiation source dependence of performance degradation in thin gate oxide fully-depleted SOI n-MOSFETs

The degradation of the electrical performance of thin gate oxide fully depleted SOI n-MOSFETs and its dependence on the radiation particles are investigated. The transistors are irradiated with 7.5-MeV protons and 2-MeV electrons at room temperature without bias. The shift of threshold voltage and the coupling effect with the degraded opposite gate are clarified. A remarkable reduction of the floating body effects is observed after irradiation. The degradation of the extracted parameters is discussed by a comparison with the damage coefficients.     

Scalable and multibias high frequency modeling of multi-fin FETs

In the last few years, the fin field effect transistor is emerging as leading structure to continue the scaling of CMOS technology into nanometer regime. Here, we report on the determination of accurate equivalent circuit models from scattering parameter measurements of this novel kind of transistor, since it is an essential step to make a straightforward and physical consistent investigation of the RF behaviour. We focused on the bias dependence and the scalability of the extracted small signal model parameters. It is found that the extracted equivalent circuit parameters of the interdigitated multiple fin transistors under test follow successfully the conventional straightforward scaling rules and their bias dependence is in line with the expectations.     

Determination and Validation of New Nonlinear FinFET Model Based on Lookup Tables

The Fin field effect transistor (FinFET) is a multiple gate structure, which is recently emerging as a leading structure to continue the scaling of CMOS technology into the nanometer regime. This promising multiple gate structure has not only the advantage of reducing short channel effects but also of being compatible with the conventional planar CMOS technology. To our knowledge, this is the first letter addressing the nonlinear FinFET model validated by large signal network analyzer measurements. Here, we present a nonlinear FinFET model which is based on lookup tables. The accuracy of the developed model is completely and successfully verified through the comparison with nonlinear FinFET measurements     

Explaining the parameters of the electron valence-band tunneling related Lorentzian noise in fully depleted SOI MOSFETs

The behavior of the Lorentzian noise overshoot time constant /spl tau/ and plateau amplitude is investigated in fully depleted silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs with the back gate in accumulation. It is shown that /spl tau/ is identical for long-channel nand p-MOSFETs in the gate overdrive voltage range studied. For shorter lengths (L = 0.12 /spl mu/m), a slight reduction of /spl tau/ for the p-MOSFETs and an increase for the short n-MOSFETs has been found. The observations will be explained by considering both the injection of majority carriers in the floating body through electron valence-band tunneling and the dynamic resistance of the source-body and gate-body junction.     

A 5-GHz fully integrated ESD-protected low-noise amplifier in 90-nm RF CMOS

A fully integrated 5-GHz low-power ESD-protected low-noise amplifier (LNA), designed and fabricated in a 90-nm RF CMOS technology, is presented. This 9.7-mW LNA features a 13.3-dB power gain at 5.5 GHz with a noise figure of 2.9 dB, while maintaining an input return loss of -14 dB. An on-chip inductor, added as "plug-and-play," i.e., without altering the original LNA design, is used as ESD protection for the RF pins to achieve sufficient ESD protection. The LNA has an ESD protection level up to 1.4 A transmission line pulse (TLP) current, corresponding to 2-kV Human Body Model (HBM) stress. Experimental results show that only minor RF performance degradation is observed by adding the inductor as a bi-directional ESD protection device to the reference LNA.     

Incorporating detoxified Argania spinosa press cake into the diet of Alpine goats affects the antioxidant activity and levels of polyphenol compounds in their milk

Goat’s milk is an excellent source of antioxidants that resist oxidative stress. This paper reports on a study of Alpine goats, showing that introducing detoxified Argane press cake (DAPC) into their diet affected the antioxidant activity and polyphenol compounds in their milk during lactation. The results showed that the bioactive compounds of goat milk vary significantly (p < 0.001) depending on both their feed and milk lactation stage. The milk samples obtained from goats fed DAPC ranked highest total phenolic content, flavonoids, and DPPH(1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assays (367.91 ± 102.17 mg GAE/g of milk dry matter [DM], 120.76 ± 24.21 mg QE/g of milk DM, and 71.19 ± 2.84%, respectively) compared to milk samples collected from goats fed a diet including non-detoxified Argane press cake (289.03 ± 104.42 mg GAE/g of milk DM, 105.72 ± 13.60 mg QE/g of milk DM, and 64.22 ± 2.45%, respectively) and milk samples from goats fed a local diet (179.26 ± 81.28 mg GAE/g of milk DM, 89.86 ± 17.83 mg QE/g of milk DM, and 61.57 ± 5.08%, respectively). Additionally, the data revealed that including DAPC in the goat diet offers a good method for raising the amounts of total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids, with antioxidant activity in goat’s milk.     

Comment on ‘Comparison of excess 1/f noise spectra in trimmed and untrimmed thick film resistors’

The paper by Peled et al. (2000, International Journal of Electronics, 87, 1?9) reports a quantitative comparison between the low frequency excess 1/fnoise obtained on trimmed and untrimmed bismuth ruthenate thickfilm resistors (TFRs). The empirical relation of Hooge was used to quantify and compare the 1/fnoise level. Peled et al. concluded that the Hooge parameter α_H increases for trimmed TFRs. In this comment it will be shown that misusing the Hooge relation for nonhomogeneous materials can lead to misleading high apparent α values describing not the 1/fproperties of the material but the current crowding in the material.