Status and Direction of Communication Technologies - SiGe BiCMOS and RFCMOS

Author

Joseph, Alvin J. ; Harame, David L. ; Jagannathan, Basanth ; Coolbaugh, Doug ; Ahlgren, David ; Magerlein, John ; Lanzerotti, Louis ; Feilchenfeld, Natalie ; Onge, Stephen St ; Dunn, James ; Nowak, Edward

Author_Institution

Semicond. R&D Center, IBM Microelectron. Div., Essex Junction, VT, USA

Volume

93

Issue

9

fYear

2005

Firstpage

1539

Lastpage

1558

Abstract

We present the status and direction of silicon semiconductor technologies targeted for applications such as wireless, networking, instrumentation, and storage markets. Various technological aspects for multiple branches of RF foundry technologies that are based on the standard foundry compatible CMOS node are discussed - SiGe BiCMOS HP ("high performance") tailored to high-frequency applications, SiGe BiCMOS WL ("cost performance") tailored to wireless/storage applications, and RF-CMOS optimized for low-cost consumer applications. Future opportunities and challenges for advancement in RF technologies are described in light of CMOS and SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor scaling. In addition, we discuss the maturity of SiGe BiCMOS by looking at the levels of integration and manufacturability.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; CMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; heterojunction bipolar transistors; integrated circuit technology; radiofrequency integrated circuits; RF CMOS; RF foundry technologies; SiGe; SiGe BiCMOS HP; SiGe BiCMOS WL; communication technologies; heterojunction bipolar transistor; high-frequency applications; instrumentation application; networking applications; silicon semiconductor technologies; wireless/storage applications; BiCMOS integrated circuits; CMOS technology; Communications technology; Cost function; Foundries; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Instruments; Radio frequency; Silicon germanium; BiCMOS; RFCMOS; SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT); communication technology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPROC.2005.852547

Filename

1495905