SiGe fuels high-speed communications

• Published in: Semiconductor International Vol. 23; no. 13; p. 62
• Main Authors: Ahlgren, David C, Jagannathan, Basanth, Stephen St Onge, Dupuis, Mark D
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newton Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc 01.11.2000
• Subjects: Circuits; CMOS; Code Division Multiple Access; Defects; Design; Designers; Economies of scale; Gallium arsenide; High speed; Modularity; Molecular beam epitaxy; Network switching; R&D; Research & development; Semiconductors; Silicon wafers; Technology; Temperature; Thermal cycling; Transistors; Trends; Wireless communications; United States > US
• ISSN: 0163-3767

Like many gallium arsenide devices, the Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) can also address several high-speed wireless and wired needs by effectively mimicking the bandgap-engineered attributes of compound semiconductors in a silicon device. Work in this area has launched a revolution in the semiconductor industry. Starting with a 200 mm silicon wafer, unprecedented levels of functionality can be integrated by combining SiGe analog and radio frequency circuits and CMOS logic components for state-of-the-art BiC-MOS production. SiGe technology is combining active and passive elements, and logic and analog functions in ways never before possible.