FinFET with Contact over Active-Gate for 5G Ultra-Wideband Applications

Abstract

FinFET with contact over active-gate (COAG) is implemented on 12nm node technology platform to optimize the Maximum Oscillation Frequency $(F_{MAX})$) and the Minimum Noise Figure $(NF_{MIN}$ for devices with large fin numbers. This study shows that proposed COAG design can reduce the gate resistance of the 40-fin device by ~ 10- fold, while improving the $F_{MAX}$ by ~ 180% with comparable reliability performance to traditional FinFETs. Excellent DC and RF performances with $NF_{MIN}$ of 0.6dB at 26GHz and 3dB improvement in NF with $50\mathrm{Q}$ source impedance $(NF_{50}$) over the 5-26GHz frequency range makes large fin number COAG FinFET an excellent candidate for variety of 5G sub-6GHz and mmWave applications in which high $\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{MAX}}$ and low noise are critical.