Hot-carrier stress induced low-frequency noise degradation in 0.13 /spl mu/m and 0.18 /spl mu/m RF CMOS technologies

We investigate the impact of hot-carrier stress on the low-frequency noise characteristics of two different scaled RF CMOS technologies. The nFETs and pFETs for both 0.13 /spl mu/m and 0.18 /spl mu/m RF CMOS technologies show a different dc and low-frequency noise degradation response after time-dependent hot-carrier stressing. The underlying noise degradation mechanisms are investigated with the aid of 2-D device-level microscopic noise simulation.