Fundamental power and frequency limits of deeply-scaled CMOS for RF power applications

Abstract

This study compares the RF power performance of 65 nm and 0.25 μm CMOS devices integrated on an advanced 65 nm process, and discusses their power and frequency limitations for the first time. We demonstrate output power levels of about 80 mW for 65 nm devices, and 450 mW for 0.25 μm devices when operated at their nominal voltages of 1.0 and 2.5 V respectively. We find that output power as well as the maximum frequency is limited by parasitic resistances in the backend. Our results provide insight into the performance potential of RF power amplifiers integrated into advanced CMOS technologies in SoC applications.