Abstract
In this paper, a robust micromachined spiral inductor with a cross-shaped sandwich membrane support is proposed and fabricated with fully CMOS compatible post-processes for radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) applications. Via the incorporation of a sandwich dielectric membrane (0.7 μm SiO2/0.7 μm Si3N4/0.7 μm TEOS) to enhance the structure rigidity, the inductor can have better signal stability. In comparison, the new design of a ∼5-nH micromachined inductor can have 45% less inductance variation than the one without the dielectric support while both devices are operated with 10 m/s2 acceleration. Meanwhile, using a cross shape instead of blanket membrane can also effectively eliminate the inductance variation induced by the working temperature change (20 °C to 75 °C). The measurement results show the robust inductor can have similar electrical performance to the as-fabricated freely suspended inductor, which has five times Q (quality factor) improvement than the inductor without the substrate removal. It is our belief that the new micromachined inductors can have not only high-Q performance but also better signal stability suitable for wide-range RFIC applications.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1489-1496 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2005 |
Keywords
- Accelerative and thermal disturbance system
- High-Q micromachined inductor
- Radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)
- Robust design
- Signal stability