X-FAB sets benchmark for low-noise CMOS
X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced new transistors that the company says have drastically reduced flicker noise on its mixed-signal 0.35µm and 0.18µm CMOS process platforms.
Flicker noise in CMOS MOSFETs has been reduced in both the n-channel device in the XH035 0.35µm process and the p-channel device in the XH018 0.18µm process by a factor of five, thereby setting the industry benchmark.
The new XH035 3.3V n-channel MOSFET has a lower flicker noise comparable to that of its companion XH035 3.3V p-channel MOSFET, when referenced to its input, and maintains the standard n-channel MOSFET's threshold voltage and current drive capability. Using both types of low-noise transistors it is possible to design improved, lower-noise amplifier variants with a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and to make circuits that are more compact with better performance and are more cost-effective. Similarly, the new 0.18µm process XH018 3.3V p-channel MOSFET exhibits a much lower flicker noise level than the standard p-channel device. The new low-noise XH018 3.3V p-channel device behaviour now is similar to that of the low-noise XH035 3.3V p-channel MOSFET device.
Dr. Jens Kosch, Chief Technical Officer at X-FAB, explained the significance and cost-effectiveness of the new low-noise CMOS transistors: "For years X-FAB has set the benchmark for low-noise transistors with our p-channel MOSFET transistor in our 0.35µm technology. When our customers asked for additional low-noise transistors, we developed our XH035 low-noise n-channel MOS transistor (NMOS) and our XH018 p-channel MOS transistor. The combination of the complementary XH035 n- and p-channel transistors offers designers more freedom in their circuit designs. No longer are they limited to only a low-noise p-channel device, and they benefit from having no additional mask layer expense. In addition, the new XH018 p-channel device makes it possible to develop noise-critical designs for 0.18µm processes."
The new 0.35µm lower-noise n-channel transistor and its low-noise p-channel counterpart, integrated within the XH035 process design kit (PDK), are available immediately for new designs.
