A 0.35 ¿m SiGe BiCMOS Technology for Power Amplifier Applications

Abstract

In this paper we introduce, a state-of-the-art SiGe BiCMOS power amplifier technology that features two NPNs with 40 GHz / 6.0 V & 27 GHz / 8.5 V (fT -BVceo) respectively, a novel low inductance metal ground through-silicon-via (TSV), integrated on a low-cost 0.35 ,um lithography node with 3.3 V / 5.0 V dualgate CMOS technology and high-quality passives on a 50 Q.cm substrate. INTRODUCTIONToday for RF radio applications, the system is partitioned to minimize the overall cost, size, and power. Competing approaches with system-on-a-chip and system-in-a-package effectively address this system partitioning. Based on these approaches, the RF transceiver and front-end-modules (FEM) integration is still a battleground for multiple technologies. Of particular interest is the power amplifier (PA) integration trend. Compared to the transceiver, the FEM elements, such as, PA and switch need to support very harsh environment for power and linearity. Stringent system specifications requirements related to output power, linearity, efficiency etc. force system designers to partition the FEM as a separate packaged module. In effect, this allows the use of best possible technology for the lowest cost module [1]. This situation is expected to get worse in future wireless communication systems where the FEMs need to integrate multi-mode and multi-band PAs with better form-factor and cost. Silicon technology remains as an excellent candidate for providing such an integration path. SiGe BiCMOS has made substantial in-road into PA market segment with the explosion of WLAN applications at 2.4 GHz. A 0.5um SiGe BiCMOS technology [2] optimized for power amplifier design has provided a stepping stone for this application. SiGe BiCMOS integration allows several benefits compared to GaAs HBTs, such as, integrated biasing and regulator to manage battery voltage, temperature compensated

High-resistivity SiGe BiCMOS technology development

“…Figure 1 shows the NPN device with the various elements integrated in this HiRES 0.35µm FEIC technology. Further information on the device offerings and process integration used in this technology can be found elsewhere [6,8]. Cross-sectional drawing showing the unique integration elements added around the NPN in the HiRES technology [6].…”

“…IBM's 0.35µm generation SiGe BiCMOS technologies offer a high breakdown (HB) and high performance (HP) HBT NPN having BVcer of 8.3V and 6.3V, respectively [6,8]. BVcer is the collector-emitter breakdown voltage at Ic=10uA for a forced Ib of 1nA.…”

A 2.1 GHz 30 dBm power amplifier in 0.18 μm SiGe BiCMOS process

“…This principle has been explained in Refs. [9,10]. As a result, the AR characteristics can be divided into two generation techniques: one is the…”

Analytic description, measurements, and modeling of 3D-embedded silicon inductance for High-Performance Hybrid Systems Applications

“…Several proposals have been done in that sense leading to very promising results [7, 8]. In fact, integrated solenoids can be used to produce larger quality factor than in RF BiCMOS/CMOS planar technologies within a given footprint [9–13]. This increase in quality factor can be attributed to both metal thickness and the specific solenoid property of storing energy according to: …”