IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 59, NO.

8, AUGUST 2012 2011

Design of Novel High-Q-Factor Multipath

Stacked On-Chip Spiral Inductors
Xiangming Xu, Member, IEEE, Pingliang Li, Miao Cai, and Bo Han

Abstract—High-Q-factor and small-occupying-area inductors

are prerequisite for monolithic-microwave integrated-circuit
applications. This paper presents a novel multipath crossover-
interconnection octagon stacked spiral inductor which is fabri-
cated with the 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The metal wire
of the spiral inductor is divided into multiple paths according to
the process rule and the depth of the skin effects at the response
frequency. The width of a single path is typically less than or equal
to the skin depth. This so-called multipath technique effectively
depresses the proximity and skin effects, therefore contributing to
the high Q-factor of the inductors and reducing the occupying
area. The crossover-interconnection method can make the total
path lengths approximately equal to each other. This connected
way lowers the current-crowding effect, which also enhances the Fig. 1. Vertical topology of the proposed multipath octagon stacked spiral
Q-factor. Using the proposed technique, we have observed up inductors.
to 63.8% improvement in the Q-peak (2.3 GHz) as compared
to conventional stacked inductors (1.5 GHz) and about 44% im-
provement in the occupying area as compared to conventional Much attention has been paid to on-chip Q-factor improve-
single inductors fabricated on silicon substrates.
ment techniques [3]–[10]. Most of these techniques, such as
Index Terms—Crossover-interconnection method, current- patterned ground shield [3]–[7] and thick metal [8], [9], are at
crowding effect, multipath technique, Q-factor, skin effect, the expense of the device cost. A method to improve the Q-
stacked inductors.
factor of a single inductor without process modifications has
been proposed in [10]. The metal wire of the single spiral
I. BACKGROUND AND I NTRODUCTION
inductors is divided into multiple current paths. However, the

T HE RAPID growth of wireless communication at radio

frequencies (RFs) has created a huge demand in high-
performance RF elements for monolithic-microwave integrated-
length of the inner path is much shorter than that of the outer
path. Thus, the resistance of the inner path is much less than that
of the outer path. This makes the current-crowding effect more
circuit (MMIC) applications, such as low-noise amplifiers, severe. Nowadays, stacked spiral inductors have been fabricated
voltage-controlled oscillators, and impedance matching net- using multilayer interconnection technology in order to obtain
works [1], [2]. Inductors, capacitors, and resistors have been higher inductance per unit area [2]. The Q-factor and self-
considered as a key technique for reducing MMIC chip area, resonance frequency of the stacked inductors are reduced due
resulting in higher yields and lower cost. Since a spiral inductor to additional current crowding and parasitic capacitance.
occupies a large area in RF integrated circuits, reducing its This paper proposes a novel multipath crossover-
occupying area is crucial for reducing chip size. For spirals with interconnection stacked inductor. The inductor metal line
higher inductances, multiple turns and layers are required in or- is divided into multiple current paths according to the depth of
der to improve the total metal line length per unit area. Unfortu- the skin effects at the response frequency and the process rule.
nately, the Q-factor and resonance frequency often fall far short The current of the inner path is much less than the total metal
of the predicted values as they are limited by the skin effect, wire current, and the magnetic fields will be reduced by the
proximity effect, and larger interwire capacitance [3], [4]. opposite fields from the outer neighboring paths. Therefore,
the current-crowding effect can be depressed, contributing
to the high Q-factor and smaller area. The inner path of the
Manuscript received November 16, 2011; revised April 12, 2012; accepted top metal is connected to the outer path of the underlayer
April 22, 2012. Date of publication June 1, 2012; date of current version
July 19, 2012. The review of this paper was arranged by Editor M. J. Kumar. metal. This crossover-interconnection method can make the
X. Xu, P. Li, and M. Cai are with the Modeling and Testchip Division, total path lengths approximately equal to each other and
Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company, Ltd., Shanghai 201206, China lower the current-crowding effect, which also enhances the
(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; caimiaomiao@
gmail.com). Q-factor. By the proposed technology, 63.8% improvement in
B. Han is with the School of Computer and Information, Fuyang Teachers the Q-factor has been observed as compared to conventional
College, Fuyang 236037, China, and also with the School of Information stacked inductors, and 44% improvement in occupying area
Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241,
China (e-mail: [email protected]). has been observed as compared to conventional single spiral
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TED.2012.2197626 inductors fabricated on silicon substrates.
0018-9383/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
2012 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 59, NO. 8, AUGUST 2012

Fig. 2. Interaction of magnetic fields from each metal line which results in the nonuniform distribution of current. (a) Conventional spiral inductors. (b) Proposed
inductors with two paths.

This paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the

basic theory and design of the proposed stacked inductors.
Section III presents the electromagnetic simulations for differ-
ent types of spiral inductors. In Section IV, experimental results
and discussion are shown. Finally, the conclusions are given in
Section V.

II. P ROPOSED S TACKED -I NDUCTOR D ESIGN

Many geometric-configuration spiral inductors, such as
square, octagon, and circular spiral inductors, have been used
in MMIC applications. We will only describe the octagon spiral
inductors for this study work. The eddy current occurs when the
conductors are subjected to time-varying magnetic fields, and Fig. 3. Cross sections of the top metal and underlayer metal of the proposed
the wire current density becomes nonuniform [11]. According inductor.
to Lenz’s law, the magnetic fields produced by eddy currents
oppose the original field. When the time-varying magnetic of the wires will add up at the center area [13]. The magnetic
field produced by the time-varying current flow in a conductor field strength around the inner edge of the metal line will be
induces eddy currents in the conductor itself, this is called skin enhanced by the fields produced from the other wires. However,
effect. One critical parameter to represent the skin effect is the it is not the case for magnetic fields near the outer edge,
skin depth, which is defined as [12] where they will be reduced by the opposite fields generated
 from the neighboring metal wires. For those metal wires near
ρ the center of the inductor, the cancellation and enhancement
σ= (1)
πμ0 f magnetic field phenomenon is more severe as stronger fields
are generated from the other metal wires of the inductor. That
where ρ is the resistivity of the winding material, μ0 is the
is why the inner diameter of the single inductors must be
permeability of free space, and f is the response frequency.
large enough [13], [14]. In a conventional stacked inductor,
For the aluminum process, the depth of the skin effect is about
the current density in inner metal lines has a strong trend to
2.1 μm at 2 GHz. In the case of proximity effect, the time-
accumulate in the inner edge of the lines, but such trend in
varying magnetic field was produced by the nearby conductors
outer metal lines is much weaker. Compared to the conventional
carrying a time-varying current flow.
stacked inductors, the metal wire is divided into multiple paths
in the proposed inductors, and the current in each path is forced
A. Multipath Technology to be the same for inner and outer metal lines from quasi-
The vertical topology of the proposed multipath octagon magnetostatic point of view. In other words, the current in each
stacked spiral inductor is shown in Fig. 1. In this figure, both path is balanced, which results in less resistive loss. Thus, the
the top-metal and the underlayer-metal wire are divided into proximity effect can be depressed, and the inner diameter of the
two paths. The path width and the spacing between two paths proposed inductors can become much shorter.
are according to the depth of the skin effect and the minimum
design rule. The transverse area of the single path is much less
B. Crossover-Interconnection Method
than the total metal wire. Thus, the skin effect can be effectively
depressed, particularly in the high frequency range. The cross sections of the top metal and underlayer metal
The multipath technology can also depress the proximity of the proposed stacked inductors are shown in Fig. 3. The
effect. This can be easily explained by Fig. 2. The directions paths of the top metal are interconnected with the underlayer-
of the current flow and magnetic fields are shown in this figure. metal paths by the via. In the proposed stacked inductors, the
For the spiral inductors, the magnetic fields generated by all inner path of the top metal connects with the outer path of the
XU et al.: DESIGN OF HIGH-Q-FACTOR MULTIPATH STACKED ON-CHIP SPIRAL INDUCTORS 2013

Fig. 4. Current field distributions from MATLAB at 2.4 GHz. (a) Conventional single spiral inductors. (b) Conventional stacked spiral inductors. (c) Stacked
inductors with multipath technology. (d) Stacked inductors with multipath technology and crossover-interconnection method.

underlayer metal. Referring to Fig. 3, this can be illustrated A. Comparison With the Same Outer Diameter
as path A1 connects with path A2 and path B1 connects with
In this case, four groups with the same outer diameter are
path B2. The crossover-interconnection method makes the total
compared. The S-parameters are simulated from 100 MHz to
lengths of these paths from port one to port two approximately
20.1 GHz. For the SiGe BiCMOS process with six metal layers,
equal to each other. This connected way can balance the in-
the thickness of the top-metal layer (M6) is 2.92 μm, and the
duced magnetic flux and resistance of each path. The current-
thickness of the underlayer metal (M5) is 2 μm. The outer
crowding effect of the inner path can also be depressed. Thus,
diameter Do is 180 μm, and the turn number N is three. The
the Q-factor can be improved compared with the conventional
wire widths of the top metal and the underlayer metal are both
interconnection method.
20 μm (G1 and G2), and the spacing between two wires is
It is noted that the paths of the top metal should lap
2 μm. For groups G3 and G4, the top- and underlayer-metal
over the underlayer-metal paths. This can improve the mutual
wires are divided into four paths. The path width is 3.5 μm, and
inductance.
the spacing between two paths is also 2 μm.
The current field distributions at 2.4 GHz for these four
III. E LECTROMAGNETIC S IMULATIONS
groups from MATLAB software are shown in Fig. 4. The wire
In order to illustrate the merit of the proposed inductors, current densities of G1 and G2 are much more nonuniform than
several inductors with 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS aluminum pro- those of G3 and G4. With the same geometric parameters, the
cess are studied by the MATLAB code (structure mesh and current-crowding effect of the conventional stacked inductors
current plots), which is generated by the commercially available is more severe than that of the conventional single inductors.
software EMX from Integrand Software. The adopted inductors Fig. 4(c) and (d) shows that the crossover-interconnection
can be divided into four groups. method can effectively depress the current-crowding effect of
G1: conventional single spiral inductors; the inner path. It is obvious that the proximity and skin effects
G2: conventional stacked spiral inductors; have been effectively depressed by the multipath technology
G3: stacked inductors with multipath technology; and crossover-interconnection method.
G4: stacked inductors with multipath technology and crossover- The quality of the inductors is measured by its Q-factor and
interconnection method. Ls . Several different definitions of Q-factors for inductors have
2014 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 59, NO. 8, AUGUST 2012

Fig. 6. Single inductors with different outer diameters. W = 20 μm, n = 3,

Fig. 5. Comparison of the four groups with the same outer diameter. and spacing = 2 μm. (a) Q-factors. (b) Spiral inductance Ls .
(a) Q-factors. (b) Spiral inductance Ls .

been discussed in [5] and [16]. In this paper, Q-factor and Ls

are defined as [17]

Im(Y11 )
Q= (2)
Re(Y11 )
 
1 1
Ls = Im (3)
ω Y11

where Y11 is the Y -parameter for port one to port one

which is transformed by the S-parameters. The compar-
isons of Q-factor and spiral inductance for these four groups
are shown in Fig. 5. The spiral inductance values of G2, Fig. 7. Layout for crossover-interconnection method.
G3, and G4 are about 3.2 nH. The values of Q-peak are
6.071 (2.7 GHz) for the conventional stacked inductor, 8.608 B. Comparison With the Same Inner Diameter
(2.3 GHz) for the multipath stacked inductor, and 13.59 In this case, four groups with the same inner diameter are
(2.1 GHz) for the stacked inductor with multipath technology compared. The thickness of the top metal (M6) is 2.92 μm. The
and crossover-interconnection method. The Q-factor of the underlayer metal is composed of M5 and M4 by the slot via.
proposed stacked inductor has approximately up to 96.1% The thickness of M5 is 0.855 μm, and the thickness of M4 is
improvement (2.7 GHz) as compared to conventional stacked 0.385 μm. The wire width of the top metal is 8 μm. As the
inductors. underlayer metal is much thinner than the top metal, the wire
With the same geometric parameters, the inductance value width of the underlayer metal is designed to be 18 μm. The
of the single inductors is about 0.885 nH, which is much top-metal turn number N is 6.5, and the underlayer-metal turn
less than the value of stacked inductors. For comparison number N is 3.5 (G1 and G2). The spacing between two wires
purposes, single inductors with different outer diameters are is 2 μm. For groups G3 and G4, the top-metal wires are divided
shown in Fig. 6. The inductance value of the single inductor into two paths, and the underlayer-metal wires are divided into
with an outer diameter of 280 μm is about 3.25 nH, which four paths. The path width is 3 μm, and the spacing between
is approximately equal to the value of the stacked inductor two paths is 2 μm. The inner diameter is designed to be 34 μm,
with an outer diameter of 180 μm. The occupying area of which is the minimum value for layout. The outer diameter
the proposed multipath crossover inductor has approximately can be calculated to be 180 μm. The layout for crossover-
up to 58.7% improvement compared to conventional single interconnection method of the stacked inductor is shown
inductors. in Fig. 7.
XU et al.: DESIGN OF HIGH-Q-FACTOR MULTIPATH STACKED ON-CHIP SPIRAL INDUCTORS 2015

Fig. 8. Comparison of G4 with and without M4. (a) Q-factors. (b) Spiral
inductance Ls .

Fig. 10. SEM photographs of stacked inductors with multipath technology

and crossover-interconnection method by 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process.
(a) Cross section of the top metal. (b) Cross section of the underlayer metal.
(c) Vertical view.

multipath crossover-interconnection inductor G4 (2.3 GHz)

has approximately up to 63.8% improvement as compared to
conventional stacked inductors G2 (the frequency for Q-peak is
Fig. 9. Comparison of the four groups with M4. W = 8 μm and spacing = 1.5 GHz). Single inductors with an outer diameter of 240 μm,
2 μm. (a) Q-factors. (b) Spiral inductance Ls .
N = 6.5, and W = 8 μm have been studied and are shown in
Fig. 8. The inductance value of the single inductor with an outer
The comparison of G4 with and without M4 is shown in diameter of 240 μm is about 8.6 nH, which is approximately
Fig. 8. It is about 5.5% improvement in Q-factor for G4 with equal to the value of the stacked inductor with an outer diameter
underlayer metal containing M4 by slot via. The variation of of 180 μm. The Q-factors are about with the same value. The
spiral inductance Ls may be neglected. occupying area of G4 has approximately 44% improvement
The comparisons of the Q-factors and spiral inductances Ls compared to G1.
for these four groups are shown in Fig. 9. The spiral inductance
value is about 8.1 nH for G2, G3, and G4. While it is only
IV. E XPERIMENT R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
3.95 nH for G1 with the same geometric parameters. The values
of Q-peak are 6.018 (1.5 GHz) for G2, 7.758 (2.3 GHz) for Fig. 10 shows the SEM photographs of multipath crossover-
G3, and 9.86 (2.3 GHz) for G4. The Q-peak of the proposed interconnection stacked inductors with the same geometric
2016 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 59, NO. 8, AUGUST 2012

Fig. 13. Comparison of G1 and G4; N = 6.5, W = 8 μm, and spacing =

2 μm. (a) Q-factors. (b) Spiral inductance Ls .

Fig. 11. Images of open and through structures. (a) Open structure.
(b) Through structure. in Fig. 13. With the same geometric parameters, the parasitic
capacitance of stacked inductors is much more severe than
that of single inductors, which results in poor Q-factor. The
Q-factor of the stacked inductors by the proposed technology is
close to that of the single inductors. It is obvious that either the
eddy current or current-crowding effect has been depressed by
the multipath technique and crossover-interconnection method.
The value of spiral inductance Ls for single inductors with
an outer diameter of 240 μm is about equal to that for the
proposed stacked inductors (the outer diameter is 180 μm).
The Q-factors are about with the same values. There is about
44% improvement in occupying area for G4 compared with
G1, which is in good agreement with the case in Section III-B.
Table I shows the proposed stacked-inductor parameters for
Fig. 12. Comparison between EM simulated and measured data for the pro- different turn numbers [15].
posed stacked spiral inductor; di = 34 μm, W = 8 μm, and spacing = 2 μm.

V. S UMMARY AND C ONCLUSION

parameters as described in Section III-B by 0.13-μm BiCMOS
process. The on-wafer S-parameter measurement was made up In this paper, a novel octagon stacked spiral inductor fab-
from 100 MHz to 20.1 GHz using Agilent E8363B network ricated with the 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process has been
analyzer with flexible cables and Cascade Microtech device proposed. The metal wire of the spiral inductor is divided into
probes. The measurement was calibrated using the SOLT al- multiple paths according to the process rule and skin depth.
gorithm provided with the Wincal software. The pad parasitics The width of the single path is typically less than or equal to the
were de-embedded by open and through pads. The images of skin depth. The multipath technique can effectively depress the
open and through structures are shown in Fig. 11. proximity and skin effect, contributing to the high Q-factor and
The comparison of EM simulated and measured data for reducing the occupying area. The crossover-interconnection
Q-factor and spiral inductance of the proposed stacked spiral method can make the total path lengths approximately equal to
inductor is shown in Fig. 12. Good agreement between the sim- each other and balance the resistance of each path. The current-
ulations and measurements has been obtained and emphasized crowding effect of the inner path can also be depressed. By
the validity of Section III. the proposed technique, we have obtained a Q-factor value of
The comparisons of the Q-factors and spiral inductances up to 9.78 at 2.3 GHz for an 8.2-nH stacked inductor with an
Ls for G4 and G1 with different outer diameters are shown occupying area of only 0.0289 mm2 .
XU et al.: DESIGN OF HIGH-Q-FACTOR MULTIPATH STACKED ON-CHIP SPIRAL INDUCTORS 2017

TABLE I
P ROPOSED S TACKED -I NDUCTOR PARAMETERS FOR D IFFERENT T URN N UMBERS

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2018 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 59, NO. 8, AUGUST 2012

Miao Cai received the M.S degree in Micro Bo Han received the Ph.D. degree from East China
Electronics East China Normal University, China, Normal University, Shanghai, China in 2012.
in 2007. In 2012, he joins the School of Computer and In-
She is currently working on device modeling in formation, Fuyang Teachers College, Fuyang, China.
Global Foundries, Singapore. Her research includes His research focuses on developing compact model
high Q on-chip RF inductor structure design and and modeling of high-frequency active and passive
modelling. devices.