A 0.15 /spl mu/m/0.6 dB-NF/sub min/ RF BiCMOS technology using cobalt silicide ground shields

This paper describes a newly developed cobalt silicide ground shield without any additional process step for a 0.15 /spl mu/m RF BiCMOS. By using this ground shield, low NF/sub min/ values of 0.6 dB/0.3 dB at 2 GHz with bipolar/nMOS transistors were simultaneously achieved and NF50 of an on-chip spiral inductor was remarkably improved at high frequency.