Low Frequency Noise and Hot Carrier Degradation Characteristics on 55nm LP Platform

The integration of 55-nm radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal technology on the low power (LP) platform has enabled highly integrated system on chip (SoC) solutions. The RF CMOS technology, known for its high integration and cost-effectiveness, is widely used in RF front-end modules like voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO), power amplifiers (P A), low noise amplifiers (LNA), and switches. Hot carrier injection (HCI) poses a reliability challenge in analog/RF circuit design on the 55nm LP platform. This paper presents an assessment of HCI reliability in two groups of thick gate oxide NIO FETs with different 10 LDD implant conditions. By optimizing the 10 LDD implant, the HCI lifetime is shown to be 3.5 times higher with a lighter arsenic dose (LDD-) compared to a higher dose (LDD+). Low frequency noise is another critical parameter for RF and mixed-signal applications, particularly in the Internet of Things (IoT) field. The low frequency noise upconverted to phase noise of VCO can degrade the performance of RF front-end chips. In this paper, hot carrier degradation and low frequency noise characteristics are investigated for NIO FETs. The coupling results between HCI and low frequency noise are also investigated, contributing to the advancement of RF and mixed-signal platforms.