DC-170 GHz Characterization of 22nm FDSOI Technology for Radar Sensor Applications

The high frequency performance of fully wired 22nm FDSOI n- and p- MOSFETs was measured for the first time up to 170 GHz and 125 °C. Record MAG of 8 and 7 dB, respectively, is reported for n- and p-MOSFETs at 170 GHz, higher than for any other MOSFET technology, and comparable or higher than that of the best SiGe HBTs. Moreover, gm, MAG, fT, and fMAX improve monotonically as the gate length is reduced from 80 to 20 nm, and degrade by only 10-15% from 25 to 125 °C. Novel 4-terminal varactors and series-stacked n-MOSFET cascodes with back-gate control were also characterized to assess their application in VCOs, power amplifiers, single-transistor mixers and modulators. An output power of 14 dBm with 12% peak PAE and 24% drain efficiency were measured for 3- and 4-stack cascode test structures at 80 GHz, without any output matching network.