Modeling and Layout Optimization Techniques for Silicon-Based Symmetrical Spiral Inductors

Abstract

Abstract-A scalable and highly accurate RF symmetrical inductor model (with model error of less than 5%) has been developed from more than 100 test structures, enabling device performance versus layout size trade-offs and optimization up to 10 GHz. Large conductor width designs are found to yield good performance for inductors with small inductance values. However, as inductance or frequency increases, interactions between metallization resistive and substrate losses render the use of large widths unfavorable as they consume silicon area and degrade device performance. These findings are particularly important when exploiting the cost-effective silicon-based RF technologies for applications with operating frequencies greater than 2.5 GHz.

High-Performance Compact 3-D Solenoids for RF Applications

“…5(a), (b) and (c), respectively. First, the comparison is made with on-chip silicon planar spiral inductors [11], [12]. If these inductors occupy the smallest area ( Fig.…”

Analytical Optimization of High Performance and High Quality Factor Mems Spiral Inductor

“…It can be seen that by increasing the line width, the inductance is increased. Large conductor width designs are found to yield good performance for inductors with small inductance values [4]. Figure 6 illustrates the quality factor as a function of frequency with different space between the turns.…”

“…The quality factor is a very important parameter in the design of spiral inductor which can be a key element for high performance RF circuits such as voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and low-noise amplifier (LNA). As silicon processing technologies advances with huge improvements are made to the transistor's speed and cut-off frequency, RF circuits operating at higher frequencies will benefit from small-size, high Q-factor inductors [4]. Standard silicon IC process cannot provide inductor Q factors higher than 12, which is not sufficient.…”

“…In addition, the simulated values of this parameter on the nitride insulation layer and oxide insulation layer were 12.5 and 21.5 at 1 GHz, respectively. To fully exploit the cost-effective silicon technologies, area-efficient inductors with optimized performance at the application frequency are required [4]. This paper proposes an optimum design of MEMS spiral inductor with high quality factor and small size with good performance at high frequency.…”

A Novel and Innovative Method for Designing of Rf Mems Devices

“…With the advancement of silicon processing technologies, huge improvements have been made to the size and speed of the transistor. Similarly RF circuits operating at higher frequencies will also benefit from small-size, high Q-factor inductors [7]. Another example is the band pass filter (BPF) built with inductors andcapacitors, in which the quality factor of the spiral inductor determines theinsertion loss.…”