Design of millimeter-wave mixed signal circuits in 45nm SOI CMOS

This work details the benefits of ultra deep submicron (UDSM) SOI CMOS technology for high performance mixed signal circuits at mm-wave frequencies. In particular, a mm-wave Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) design in 45nm partially depleted (PD) SOI CMOS is presented with post extraction simulated performance of 32 Gsps sample rate that rivals state of the art III–V DDS performance. Technology benefits of the 45nm PD-SOI technology's billion transistor integration, sub-5pS digital gate delays, and measured ∼400GHz ft/∼200GHz fmax cutoff frequency performance is highlighted. Increasing design challenges for UDSM CMOS mm-wave mixed signal circuits caused by increased gate leakage, limited transistor output impedance, inadequate foundry models, and required checking for design manufacturability are also addressed.