Radiofrequency characteristics of ionized sputtered tantalum nitride thin-film resistor in CMOS device

• Published in: Electronic materials letters Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 230 - 234
• Main Authors: Sul, Woo Suk, Kwon, Soon Hyeong, Choi, Eunmi, Cui, Yinhua, Lee, Kang Won, Shim, Ho Jae, Gao, Yuan, Hahn, Sang June, Pyo, Sung Gyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials 01.05.2017; Springer Nature B.V; 대한금속·재료학회
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; CMOS; Condensed Matter Physics; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Optical and Electronic Materials; Radio frequency; Silicon substrates; Tantalum; Tantalum nitrides; Thin films; 전자/정보통신공학; RFIC; CMOS; patterned ground shield; tantalum nitride thin film; resistance; thin-film resistor
• ISSN: 1738-8090; 2093-6788
• DOI: 10.1007/s13391-017-1723-x

We report the analysis of the radiofrequency (RF) characteristics according to the size, area, and shape of TaN thin-film resistor (TFR) layers. As the TFR size increased, its characteristics were degraded with increasing frequency owing to the increased capacitive parasitic components. As the frequency increased from 1 MHz to 10 GHz, the effective resistance decreased by approximately 12.5%, 16.4%, and 37.8% when the resistor widths and lengths were 0.5 × 20, 1 × 40, and 2 × 80 μm, respectively. To optimize the performance of the high-frequency TFR, ensuring RF isolation via sufficient separation from the silicon substrates was crucial. To realize this RF isolation, methods for minimizing the effect of lossy Si substrates by using TFRs with a smaller area or by forming a patterned ground shield should be introduced.