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Introduction:
This chapter focuses attention on those aspects of transistor behavior that are of immediate relevance to the RF circuit designer. Separation of first-order from higher-order phenomena is emphasized, so there are many instances when crude approximations are presented in the interest of developing insight. As a consequence, this review is intended as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional rigorous treatments of the subject. In particular, we have to acknowledge that today’s deep-submicron MOSFET is so complex a device that simple equations cannot possibly provide anything other than first-order (maybe even zeroth-order) approximations to the truth. The philosophy underlying this chapter is to convey a simple story to enable first-pass designs, which are then verified by simulators using much more sophisticated models. Qualitative insights developed with the aid of the zeroth-order models enable the designer to react appropriately to bad news from the simulator. We design with a simpler set of models than we use for verification.
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