Application Note

Modeling and Simulation of On-Chip Spiral Inductors and Transformers

Xiaojun Zhu

The procedures described in this application note are deliberately broad and generic. Requirements for your specic design might dictate procedures slightly different from those described here.

Purpose This application note describes how to model and simulate on-chip spiral inductors and planar transformers with the on-chip passive component modeler under the Analog Artist environment.

Audience Users who wish to extract on-chip spiral inductor and transformer models and to include them in Spectre or SpectreRF simulations.

Overview

Overview
The on-chip passive component modeler models spiral inductors, planar transformers, and bonding pads for RF applications. The modeler has an extraction engine based on EM (Electromagnetics) techniques which is called through a command-line interface by Analog Artist. There are two use models for the passive modeler. One is the schematic flow, where the input parameters for the modeler are filled into the CDF form, model extraction is executed at netlisting time. The other use model is RF sub-menu option, where the modeler is launched directly through the Artist tools menu. The inductor model is extracted and written to the specific model directory, and, the electric parameters of the components are calculated and displayed on the UI form. The extracted model can be included in Spectre/ SpectreRF simulations, and can be used in multiple instances, and the extraction time at netlisting is then saved. The solver for the on-chip passive modeler employs a PEEC (Partial Element Equivalent Circuit) algorithm in the generation of macromodels for the spiral components. Electro-static and magneto-static EM solvers are called separately to extract the capacitive and inductive parameters of the structure. The solver for capacitive parameter extraction is based on BEM (Boundary Element Method), where the lossy substrate is handled by a complex Greens function, and the solver is SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) accelerated. The inductance solver is based on Fasthenry, where the skin-depth effect is considered, and the substrate effect is handled by treating the lossy layers as lossy conductor planes. The mesh for inductive extraction and capacitive extraction is inter-correlated, where the number of segments in capacitive extraction is one more than of the inductive mesh, and there is a half segment overlap between the two different meshes.Because of both the conductor and substrate loss, the extracted parameters are in the form of RLGC matrices. With the extracted parameters, a multi-PI equivalent circuit is created. Depending on the bandwidth, the modeler can generates two kinds of models. One is the narrow bandwidth model, which uses the parasitic parameters extracted at the working frequency and builds a fully coupled multi-PI equivalent circuit. Since both the capacitive and inductive parameters are functions of frequency, this model is accurate only in the vicinity of the working frequency. The other model type is the wide bandwidth model, where the capacitive and inductive parameters are extracted over a wide frequency range, and a model in the form of nport is generated with the frequency dependent behavior represented in the form of ratio of rational polynomials. Compared to the narrow bandwidth model, the wide-bandwidth

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Overview

model is accurate over the whole frequency range. However, it takes longer to extract the model, and in some cases, the extracted model may not be passive and may result in the failure of the simulation. In that case, the solver automatic switches to a narrow bandwidth model. The rest of this AppNote is arranged as follows. Process File Preparation section on page 3 explains how to setup the process file and gives an example CMOS process file. Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow section on page 6 gives the details on the spiral inductor symbol and CDF parameters. Spiral Inductor Modeling under RF Sub-Menu section on page 12 discusses how to model a spiral inductor under the RF sub-menu, and explains the electrical parameters. Planar Transformer Modeling section on page 14 explains the equivalent circuit models and things need attention.

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Process File Preparation

Process File Preparation

The process file with both the metal and dielectric information is required by the passive modeler. In the current release, the user needs to hand edit the file, and needs to exactly follow the format.

File Format

The process file is in the following format prcoessType type numLayers # of layers layerInfo 0 ... layerInfo # of layers-1 In the above format, the rst line processType is for documentation purpose only for now. The second line is the number of layers including both the dielectric and metal layers. Followed are Nl blocks of layer information. Each layer info block needs to follow its own format In the process le, all different structures are considered to be situated in their own layers. For example, a two metal layer structure immersed in the substrate will modeled as ve different layers, namely, the dielectric layer underneath the bottom metal layer, the bottom metal layer, the dielectric layer between the two metal layers, the top metal layer, and the layer above the top metal layer.

Layer Info Format

There are three types of layers, they are dielectric, where the whole layer is dielectric of uniform dielectric constant, the metal layer, where part of the structure is metal surrounded by dielectric, and the third type is ground plane, where the whole layer is a piece of metal. The following are examples of layer definitions. For ground plane,
layer 0 name tab type ground thickness 0.1e-6 epsr 1 rho 1.7857e-8

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Process File Preparation

For dielectric layer

layer 1 name substrate type dielectric thickness 300e-6 epsr 11.9 rho 0.1

For metal layer

layer 3 name metal1 type metal thickness 1e-6 epsr 4 rho 1e10 rhom 3e-8

For the metal layer, rho is the resistivity of the dielectric surrounding the metal structure, rhom is the resistivity of the metals. All the units must be in MKS, namely the thickness is in meter, resistivity is in ohm.m. So Ohm.cm should be converted to ohm.m by multiplying 0.01.

Sample CMOS Process File

The following is an example process file for a CMOS process as shown in Figure. Sample CMOS process section on page 5
*Sample process file. All layers are stacked from bottom up processType CMOS numLayers 7 layer 0 name tab type ground thickness 0.1e-6 epsr 1 rho 1.7857e-8 layer 1 name substrate type dielectric thickness 300e-6 epsr 11.9 rho 0.1 layer 2 name sio2 type dielectric thickness 1.5e-6 epsr 4.0 rho 1e10 layer 3 name metal1

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Process File Preparation

type

metal thickness 1e-6 epsr 4 rho 1e10 rhom 3e-8 layer 4 name sio2 type dielectric thickness 1.5e-6 epsr 4 rho 1e10 layer 5 name metal2 type metal thickness 1e-6 epsr 4 rho 1e10 rhom 3e-8 layer 6 name sio2 type dielectric thickness 43.5e-6 epsr 4 rho 1e10

sio2 metal2 sio2 metal1 sio2

Substrate

tab

Figure 2-1

Sample CMOS process

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Modeling and Simulation of On-chip Spiral Inductors

Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

Library for Passive Components The spiral inductors, transformer and bondpads are stored under library tools/ dfII/samples/passiveLib. The name of the component is spiralInd.

Symbols for Spiral Inductors

The spiral inductor symbol is a 3-port block with the actual spiral configuration displayed. The following are the symbols for rectangular, circular and octagonal spiral inductors.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2-2

Symbols for spiral inductors: (a) rectangular, (b) circular and (c) octagonal

In the above symbols, the input terminal represents the outer input terminal of the spiral inductor, the output terminal represent the return path, the ref terminal represents the ground tab or the substrate bulk node.

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Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

CDF form for Rectangular Spiral Inductor

Figure 2-3

CDF for single spiral layer, rectangular spiral inductor

CDF Parameters

Use external model file: This button allows spiral inductor model files generated externally to beused in simulation directly. If this button is selected, the CDF form will look like Figure 2-5 on page -9. Notice that the Inductor Type parameter only changes the appearance of the symbol in the schematic, but will not effect the simulation results. Number of Spiral Layers: There are two values with this parameter: single spiral layer or double spiral layer inductors. For double layer case,

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Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

the two spiral layers can be parallel or in series. For single spiral layer or double spiral layer with parallel connection, an extra return layer is required. For double spiral layer with a series connection, one of the spiral layer serves as the return layer.
s

Spiral Layer Name: The name of the layer the spiral sits on as specified in the process file. Return layer name: The name of the layer the return path sits on. For double layer, series case, one spiral layer serves as return path, so this entry wont appear. Inductor Type: The type of the spiral inductor. There are three inductor types: rectangular, circular and octagonal. Change this option will change the appearance of the CDF also. Process file name: The name of the process file. The full path needs to be specified. Outer area length: The length of the outer dimension of the spiral Outer area width: The width of the outer dimension of the spiral. Conductor width: Width of the spiral Conductor spacing: The gap between two neighboring turns Number of turns: Number of spiral turns, can be fractional Return path width: Width of the return path Return path length: length of the return path Return path orientation: The angle between the return path and the innermost segment of the spiral, the unit is degree. Polarization: There are two values for this entry: clockwise and counterclockwise, looking from top down. Accuracy level: This parameter determines the mesh density in capacitance and inductance extraction. Model bandwidth: There are two values: narrow bandwidth model and wide bandwidth model. Working frequency: The actual working frequency of the spiral, used in the extraction of parasitics parameters Maximum frequency: The maximum frequency at which the parasitic parameter will be extracted, for wide bandwidth models.

s s s s s s s s

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Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

Lr
Wr W D Wo

Lo

Figure 2-4 Top view of a clockwise polarized 2-turn rectangular spiral inductor. Wo is the outer width, Lo is outer length, W is metal width, D is turn spacing, Lr is length of return path, Wr width of return path, a is the angle between the return path and the innermost segment.

Figure 2-5

CDF form when Use external model file option is selected.

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Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

CDF Form for Circular Spiral Inductor

The major difference between a rectangular spiral and a circular spiral is that instead of specifying the outer area length and width, the outer radius of the spiral needs to be specified, and the number of subsections in the polygon approximation of the spiral is also needed.

CDF Form for Octagonal Spiral Inductor

An octagonal spiral inductor is a circular spiral inductor with the number of subsections equals 8.

Double Layered Spiral Inductors

By selecting the number of spiral layers to double, CDF form will be switched to a modified form, where a new entry Connection type is added. The Spiral layer name entry is replaced by Spiral layer #1 name and Spiral layer #2 name. If the Connection type is selected as Series, then the Return layer name entry will be removed, as one of the spiral layers serves as the return path.

Figure 2-6

CDF form for circular spiral inductor

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Spiral Inductor Simulation in Schematic Flow

Process file and parameter update

Once the parameters are filled in and applied, the model extraction will be executed at netlisting time. If no parameters are changed, the model file previously created will be used in simulation and the model creation step will be skipped. If any of the parameters is changed, the inductor model will be recreated. Since only the process file name is used as the reference, when the user changes the content of the process file, the model will not be updated unless a new file name is used. So a new process file name is recommended for each new set of parameters.

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Spiral Inductor Modeling under RF Sub-Menu

Spiral Inductor Modeling under RF Sub-Menu

One can launch the spiral inductor modeler from the tools->RF option without going into the schematic. The UI for the spiral inductor modeler under the RF sub-menu is similar to the CDF form of the spiral inductors. The major difference is the bottom of the UI, where the directory information and the design parameters are added.

Figure 2-7

Design parameter display at the bottom of UI

How to run

After filling the parameters for the physical geometries like the length, width and spacing and the frequency information, one needs to specify the run directory where the auxiliary files created by the modeler engine are located, and the model directory where the extracted model file will be saved. The modeler engine will be launched by pushing the Run Modeler button. After the extraction is done, the design characterization parameters are displayed at the bottom of the form. The bottom half of the UI is shown in Figure 2-7.

List of design parameters

For spiral inductor, 7 parameters will be displayed. The working frequency referred below is what specified in the UI.

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Spiral Inductor Modeling under RF Sub-Menu

Series Resistance: The AC resistance of the spiral at the working frequency with skin-depth and proximity effect included. Series inductance: The total inductance of the spiral inductor, with the skin depth and proximity effect considered. Quality factor: The Q-factor at the working frequency. Maximum quality factor: The maximum quality factor of the inductor by scanning the frequency from 10 MHz to 30 GHz. Frequency of Qmax: The frequency where Qmax occurs Resonant frequency: The frequency where Q=0. Search from 10 MHz to 30 GHz. If no resonant frequency is found, a value of -1 will be displayed.

s s

s s

The above parameters are calculated based on the equivalent circuit model. Because of the difference between the wide bandwidth and narrow bandwidth model, the slight difference in the design parameters is expected.

Including the inductor model files in simulation

Once the model extraction finishes, the equivalent circuit model of the inductor in the form of a netlist is written to a file located at the specified the model directory. One can use this file directly with the Use external model file option on the spiral inductor CDF form. To do this, one needs to setup the simulation files by pushing the menubutton Setup under the "Affirma analog circuit design environment, then select Simulation files..., then the simulation files setup form pops up, one needs to put in the correct include path and definition files.

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Planar Transformer Modeling

Planar Transformer Modeling

In this release, the planar transformer is restricted to rectangular spiral planar transformers. Since a planar transformer consists of two identical spiral inductors interwund together, the procedures for its modeling, mainly the CDF form and the RF sub-menu UI, are similar to that of the spiral inductor. So in this section, only those different from that of the spiral inductor will be emphasized.

Transformer Symbol

Figure 2-8

Symbol for planar transformer

Notice in with the symbol the left side represent the input and output of the primary winding, and terminals on the right side of the symbol represent the input and output of the secondary winding.

CDF Form

The CDF form of the transformer is similar to that of the spiral inductors, except that there is no shape option as only the rectangular spiral transformers are allowed.

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Planar Transformer Modeling

Figure 2-9

CDF form for planar transformer

RF Sub-Menu

Since planar transformer modeler is in engineering release in 4.4.5, it is grayed out in the RF sub-menu by default. To activate the transformer modeler, the user needs to type in the following command in the CIW window. artDebug->activateTransformerModeler = t The layout of the UI is arranged as follows: The top portion of the UI is for input parameters which is very similar to that of the CDF form for the transformer. The bottom half of the UI displays the design parameters like series resistance and inductance, Q factors at working frequency, etc.

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Planar Transformer Modeling

Figure 2-10

Bottom Half of the Planar Transform UI

Design Parameters

Though there are two windings with the transformer, the design parameters are calculated with one winding grounded at the two terminals. Since the two windings are identical, only the series resistance and inductance of one winding are displayed. All the parameters displayed, except the coupling coefficient, will be that of a loaded spiral inductor. The coupling coefficient K is defined as: M K = ---L

where M is the mutual inductance between the two winding, and L is the self inductance of each winding.

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Equivalent Circuit Models

Equivalent Circuit Models

Narrow Bandwidth model

Model Schematic

This model is constructed directly from the R,L,G,C matrices obtained at the working frequency. All the elements are fully coupled through capacitors and mutual inductance. Notice that not all coupling capacitors and mutual inductances are shown in the following gures.

...

Figure 2-11

Narrow bandwidth model for spiral inductor

...

...

Figure 2-12

Narrow Bandwidth model for planar transformer

Since the RLGC parameters are functions of frequency, the above model is accurate only in the vicinity of the working frequency, thus only a narrow bandwidth model. Large simulation error is expected for frequency

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Equivalent Circuit Models

component outside of the bandwidth. Since this model only requires the extraction of RLCG parameters at a single frequency, the extraction is faster. Also the result model is guaranteed to be passive and stable.

Equivalent Circuit Order

The number of PIs in the equivalent circuit is determined by the number of turns of the spiral inductor. For single spiral layer case and double spiral layer /parallel connection case, the number of PIs equals the number of turns. For double spiral layer/series connection case, the number of PIs equals twice of the number of turns.

Working frequency selection and model accuracy

Since the narrow bandwidth model is built with parameters extracted at the working frequency, the model is accurate only in the vicinity of the working frequency. The error increases as the frequency is away from the working frequency. Since that error is largely due to the large variation of the RLGC parameters with frequency, the higher the frequency, the narrow the bandwidth. If at the working frequency the skin depth or the substrate loss if not significant, the narrow bandwidth model will be rather accurate from DC up to the working frequency.

Wide Bandwidth Model

The wide bandwidth model is constructed to overcome the narrow bandwidth disadvantage of the narrow bandwidth model. Unlike the narrow bandwidth model, the RLGC parameters are extracted over a frequency range, where the maximum frequency is specified by the user, and the minimum frequency is set at 10 MHz. By treating the spiral inductor as a 2-port system, the Sparameters of the 2-port are calculated at each frequency point, the resulting list of S-parameter matrices are then sent to a rational fitting module to create an wide bandwidth nport component. Figure 2-13 and Figure 2-14 show the math representation of the wide bandwidth model for inductor and transformer.
[A] X = X + BU Y = C^tX + DU

Figure 2-13

Spiral inductor wide bandwidth model

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Equivalent Circuit Models

[A] X = X + BU Y = C^tX + DU

Figure 2-14

Planar transformer Wide bandwidth model

Passivity of Wide Bandwidth Model

The passivity of the wide bandwidth models are tested over a frequency range by checking the energy conservation for each port at a set of sample frequencies. The default frequency range is from DC to 30GHz, which should be deemed as wide enough for RF applications. Since the model tested as passive is only guaranteed to work within this frequency range, its still possible that simulation may fail if any frequency component is out of this range. A mechanism is provided to change the test range.

Set maximum frequency for Passivity Check

The user can reset the maximum frequency for passivity checking by setting the environment variable maxFreqForPassivityTest setenv maxFreqForPassivityTest 50e9 If you want to set it to 50GHz, for example.

Automatic model switch

To avoid the simulation failure caused by the non-passivity of the wide bandwidth model, the modeler automatically switches to a narrow bandwidth model if the passivity test fails. This function can be turned off by setting an environment variable in the window where icms is launched. setenv pcmModelAutoSwitch OFF If the switch is turned off, the wide bandwidth model will be generated, and a warning message will be issued. The model used in Spectre simulation even though its non-passive.

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Equivalent Circuit Models

Accuracy analysis

The Accuracy level entry on both the CDF forms and the RF sub-menu UI forms controls the mesh density for both the capacitance and inductance extraction. For capacitance, the number of subsections per width is 3, 5 and 7 corresponding to the Liberal, Moderate and Conservative accuracy levels. The same is for inductance calculation, where 3, 5 and 7 filaments are used in the transverse direction to the current, corresponding to the three accuracy levels. The error at the Liberal level is less than 3%, about 1% at conservative level.

Comparison between wide bandwidth and narrow bandwidth models

To show the accuracy of wide bandwidth and narorow bandwidth models, we investigated the S-parameters of a square spiral inductor in CMOS technology. The parameters for the spiral inductor are shown in Figure 2-21 and Figure 2-22 on page -24. One simulation with wide bandwidth model and three simulations with narrow bandwidth models extracted at different working frequencies are conducted. Each of the narrow bandwidth model simulation is compared with that of the wide bandwidth model. The wide bandwidth model is extracted with maximum frequency at 10 GHz. Figure 2-15 shows the comparison with the narrow bandwidth model extracted at 500 MHz. One can see that the two agree from DC up to 1 GHz, where the conductor ac loss and substrate loss become significant. Figure 2-16 and Figure 2-17 show the comparison at 1.5 GHz and 3 GHz, respectively. Since the frequency dependent loss increases with frequency rather rapidly, the two models agree only in the vicinity of the working frequency. .

Figure 2-15 S-parameter comparison between wide and narrow bandwidth models. Narrow bandwidth model is extracted at 500 MHz.

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Equivalent Circuit Models

Figure 2-16 S-parameter comparison between wide and narrow bandwidth models. Narrow bandwidth model extracted at 1.5 GHz.

Figure 2-17 S-parameter comparison between wide and narrow bandwidth models. Narrow bandwidth model extracted at 3GHz.

The above comparisons also show that the wide bandwidth model is accurate over the whole frequency range.

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Example

Example
Colpitts Oscilator Figure 2-18 shows the schematic of a Colpitts oscillator oscillating at 1.7GHz. The oscillator is comprised of two parts. The left portion is the schematic is an LC resonantor, with a spiral inductor in it. The right partion of the schematic provides the negative resistance to cancel the resistive loss of the spiral inductor. The parameters in the circuit are choosen such that it can work with a wide range of inductor parameters even if the substrate loss and conductor ac resistance are significant.

Figure 2-18

Schematic of Colpitts oscillator. The output frequency is 1.7 GHz.

The parameters of the oscillator are shown in the schematic except that of the spiral inductor, which will be listed below. The output waveform for the rst 60 ns is shown in Figure 2-19. It takes about 200ns for the output to be steady.

Spiral inductor model

The oscillator circuit is built on a CMOS process, with the detailed process information shown in Sample CMOS Process File section on page 4. The 3D view of the spiral is shown in Figure 2-20. The physical parameters for

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Example

the spiral inductor is shown in Figure 2-21. The calculated electrical parameters are shown in Figure 2-22. The electrical parameters are calculated from the narrow bandwdith model with working frequency selected at 1.5GHz.

Figure 2-19

Transient response at Vout

Figure 2-20

3D view of the spiral inductor

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Example

Figure 2-21

Input parameters for the spiral inductor.

Figure 2-22

Electrical parameters of the spiral inductor

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