Sub-100 Mu M Scale On-Chip Inductors With Cozrta For Ghz Applications

On-chip inductors with magnetic material are fabricated with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processes. The inductors use copper metallization and amorphous CoZrTa thin films. Enhancements of 3.5X in inductance and 3X for the quality factor at frequencies as high as 3 GHz have been successfully demonstrated by using a continuous CoZrTa-ring structure in spiral inductors at the 100 mu m scale. Further improvement of the frequency response of inductance up to 6 GHz was achieved by micro-patterning the magnetic film. The effect of increasing the film thickness on the performance of strip line inductors was measured and modeled. This work demonstrates significantly larger increases in inductance and quality factor at above 1 GHz as compared to prior efforts, thereby making the added processing cost worthwhile. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3549594]