On the Ultimate Limits of IC Inductors—An RF MEMS Perspective

Inductors are playing an ever-increasing role in RFICs, motivating extensive work on the development of structures to achieve optimized performance. In this paper we review the different approaches being explored to achieve high inductor Q and self-resonance frequency, in the context of conventional CMOS and BiCMOS processes, and examine how the application of RF MEMS techniques may effect superior monolithic inductor performance, and at what expense