MOS transistor modeling for RF IC design

This paper presents the basis of the modeling of the MOS transistor for circuit simulation at RF. A physical equivalent circuit that can easily be implemented as a Spice subcircuit is first derived. The subcircuit includes a substrate network that accounts for the signal coupling occurring at HF from the drain to the source and the bulk. It is shown that the latter mainly affects the output admittance y22. The bias and geometry dependence of the subcircuit components, leading to a scalable model, are then discussed with emphasis on the substrate resistances. Analytical expressions of the Y parameters are established and compared to measurements made on a 0.25-μm CMOS process. The Y parameters and transit frequency simulated with this scalable model versus frequency, geometry, and bias are in good agreement with measured data. The nonquasi-static effects and their practical implementation in the Spice subcircuit are then briefly discussed. Finally, a new thermal noise model is introduced. The parameters used to characterize the noise at HF are then presented and the scalable model is favorably compared to measurements made on the same devices used for the S-parameter measurement.