On-chip integrated inductors with Ni-Zn-Cu-Fe and Y-bi-Fe ferrite thin-films for RF IC

On-chip RF integrated inductors with Ni0.4Zn0.4Cu0.2Fe2O4 and Y2.8Bi0.2Fe5O12 ferrite thin-films have been fabricated using IC compatible processes. The ferrite thin-films prepared by spin-coated method show good magnetic performance for RF inductor applications. The high-frequency characteristics of inductor samples are tested, compared and analyzed using the equivalent circuit, with the data of Co7ZrO9 ferrite inductor in prior work. The experiments demonstrate that, ferrite thin-film integration improves the inductor performance significantly, which is a promising way to achieve super compact high-performance on-chip inductors for RF IC.