ABSTRACT
The continuous progress of SiGe:C HBT BiCMOS process technology paves the way for high-volume low-cost mm-wave and sub-mm-wave applications. The design of the corresponding high-frequency (HF) integrated circuits requires accurate compact models for both active and passive devices. The verification of compact models at such a high speed has become a major issue since device measurement capability has kept pace with process and circuit development. The demand for model accuracy to ensure one-pass success for saving R&D cost in mm-wave and sub-mm-wave circuit design forces compact models of transistors to undergo tests in a vast range of operating conditions instead of merely verifying typical device characteristics. Benchmark circuits on the one hand have to be sufficiently simple so as to avoid masking compact transistor model deficiencies by other effects, but should on the other hand resemble the typical transistor operation in related larger circuit building blocks.
