Importance of on-chip inductor modeling in radio frequency integrated circuits

摘要

In this paper, the importance of on-chip inductor modeling in radio frequency integrated circuits is discussed. The paper describes the problems arising during inductor modeling in available technologies and presents a solution. In the first part, the paper describes the fundamentals of on-chip inductor modeling. The most important parameters of the inductor, i.e. L, Q, R, SRF, are defined. The inductance modeling problem and its effects on the designed RF systems is presented with a low noise amplifier (LNA) as an example. Verification using ANSYS HFSS software is proposed as a solution to this problem. Simulation performed using either an inductor model from the technology library or one obtained by means of electromagnetic simulation in HFSS program are compared with experimental results. The main consequences of incorrectly modeled self-resistance of inductors are identified and described.