Comparative study of low-frequency noise in 0.18 μm and 0.35 μm gate-length nMOSFETs with gate area of 1.1 μm2

• A comparison of flicker noise and RTS noise characteristics of different gate length nMOSFETs is provided.
• We found that long gate lengths or more fingers produce less flicker noise.
• RTS noise was found to become more serious with smaller finger width and larger gate-length device.

We analyzed the noise characteristics of 0.18 μm and 0.35 μm nMOSFETs with a gate area of 1.1 μm2 in the frequency range of 1 Hz to 100 kHz. Both two- and four-finger devices were investigated and analyzed. The experimental results show that the noise of 0.35 μm gate-length nMOSFET possesses lower 1/f component than the 0.18 μm one, whereas the four-finger devices reveal less 1/f noise than those of with two-finger ones. Furthermore, we used time domain measurement of drain current and also the statistical analysis of wafer level on the random telegraph signals (RTS) tests, and the results showed that RTS noise is higher in devices with a 0.35 μm gate-length, and devices with a smaller gate finger width produce more RTS noise than devices with a larger gate finger width.