RF Model of BEOL Vertical Natural Capacitor (VNCAP) Fabricated by 45-nm RF CMOS Technology and Its Verification

A radio-frequency equivalent circuit model for the symmetric vertical natural capacitor (VNCAP) in a 45 nm low-standby-power CMOS process is presented. The average effective capacitance density of 2.24 fF/ mum
²
is obtained from VNCAPs of 1 times (M1 - M5) + 2 times (M6 - M7) metal-layer configuration after the open-short de-embedding procedure. The proposed model consists of main series capacitance network and lossy substrate network. The accuracy of the VNCAP model is verified S-parameters, effective capacitance C
_eff
, and quality factor (Q) up to 15 GHz. The proposed model can accurately describe the frequency characteristics of S-parameters, C
_eff
, and Q-factor up to 15 GHz for VNCAPs with different widths and lengths.