An Analysis of Small-Signal Source-Body Resistance Effect on RF MOSFETs for Low-Cost System-on-Chip (SoC) Applications

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate a comprehensive analysis of small-signal source-body resistance (R/sub sb/) effect on the RF performances of RF MOSFETs for low-cost system-on-chip (SoC) applications for the first time. Our results show that for RF MOSFETs, both the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/ become more obscure as reverse body bias (V/sub B/) increases due to the decrease of transconductance (g/sub m/). In addition, an increase of source-body spacing enhances both the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/, but deteriorates the current-gain cut-off frequency (f/sub T/), maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub MAX/), and RF noise and power performances due to the increase of R/sub sb/ of the devices. Analytical formulas are derived to explain the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/, and to explain why increasing R/sub sb/ leads to a reduction of equivalent substrate resistance R/sub sub/, or worse f/sub T/, f/sub MAX/, and RF noise performances of the devices. The present analyzes enable RF engineers to understand the S-parameters, noise parameters, and power performances of RF MOSFETs more deeply, and hence are helpful for them to optimize the layout of MOSFETs and to create a fully scalable RF CMOS model for SoC applications.