Cost-Effective Integrated RF Power Transistor in 0.18-$muhboxm$CMOS Technology

A novel MOS power transistor with high breakdown voltage is proposed and manufactured in a standard 0.18-
$muhboxm$
CMOS process without any additional masks or extra process steps. A “U”-type
$hboxn^-$
drift region formed with shallow trench isolation (STI) layer and n-well is adopted to improve the breakdown voltage. A MOS transistor with 11.6-V breakdown voltage, 18-GHz cutoff frequency, and 30-GHz maximum oscillation frequency has been demonstrated. In addition, it has 11.5-dB power gain, 19.3-dBm output power at 2.45 GHz with power-added efficiency (PAE) of 55%, and 8.3-dB power gain 18.7-dBm output power at 5.8 GHz with PAE of 38%. The presented RF power transistor is cost effective and can be conveniently applied in the power amplifier integration for RF SoC.