Enabling technology for analog integration

Summary form only given. The semiconductor industry has recently been emphasizing a trend toward integration of precision analog and RF circuitry in CMOS for system-level chips, but is currently encountering significant obstacles in realizing this goal. Growth is rampant in the number and type of RF interfaces required to support voice, data, positioning, video, television and radio in portable devices. Complexity in the analog/RF sub-system begs for technology solutions that enable flexible implementation of new features without compromising performance and time-to-market. The industry roadmap does not provide a viable technology path for single chip integration of all analog blocks in advanced geometry CMOS, so while the digital sub-system absorbs the signal processing requirements for new networking and multi-media functions, the entire analog sub-system remains as the next opportunity for integration.