SiGe technologies for wireless microwave and millimeter-wave applications

Abstract

Ahsimcf-This paper outlin~s the SiGe Technology in tcrni of frequency pcrformanccs, noise pcrftirmanceu sild power performances. The conclusions indicate that SiEe lIBT Iechaolngy arc vary promistug for 1tF and microwavc circuits fcaluring low noise behavior. Wc finally present the works that have been performcd in ttic field of the improvement of thc passive elements pcrformaiices 011 silicon rrubstratc. Tddc I ' List of the main wireicss applications *Industrial Scientific Medical The aGlllur is with LAAS 7 av du colonel Roche 31077 Toulouse Cedex Prancc and with SiGc Inc 1500Montreal Road, MSO, Ottawa, Canah We could think that all these applications would be thc private property of the Ill-V technologics duc to h i r impressive capabilities in term of frequency performances (related with higher carrier mobility). These last ten years, we have seen a dramatic change in thc high frequency landscape behavior. The circuits must be as chcap as possible, they should feature a very high level or integration, and ailother point very important they should present very attractive performances in term of noise and linearity. All these changes have motivated the use oLsilicon as a subsbate. For a long time, the silicon Tor microwave and mil iitnetar-wave applications wtis consideitd EI S n Jrenm, bul w i~h thc cmwgcncc nf thc baridgap engineering in silicon, the rlrcain c a m truc. Silicon will take beiiefit about a lot of atlvantagcs over other semi-conductors materials specially 111-V ones inchding : I ) an extremely high quality dielectric {SiOZ) can be easily grown on Si and used for isolation, passivation, or as an active layer in a case of MOS dcvice for cxamplc 2 ) Si can bc grown in very largc virtually defect free single ciystals (200 xnm wafer diarnetter) 3) Si features exccllcnt rhermal properties allowi~g for the efficient removal of dissipated heat 4) Si can be doped both with n-and ptype impurities with an extremely high dymmic range (10'4-1022 cm-3) 5) Si has axcelieih niechanical strength, facilhing ease of handhg and fabrication 6) Si features very atfractive micromachining facilities which givc some degrees of freedom to renlizc Micro-electromechanical devices or other passive clcrnents 6 ) finally, silicon is very abundant. 0-7803-5235-1 /99/$10.00 G 1499 IEEE