Characterization and modeling of RF MOSFETs under hot carrier stress and oxide breakdown

Abstract

Effects of hot carrier stress (HCS) and oxide breakdown (OBD) on the main figures-of-merit of RF MOSFETs are examined in this paper. We found that under the same dc degradation, the cut-off frequency (f(Tau)) and maximum oscillation frequency (f(max)) suffered mode seriously by OBD than by HCS. Minimum noise figure (NFmin) is one of the main concerns in RF characteristics. NFmin increased dramatically after OBD than that after HCS due to the added gate leakage paths. Those effects can be clarified and explained by using a constructed explained small-signal model.