Silicon Germanium Carbon Module

Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector has completed the qualification of a silicon germanium carbon module within their advanced radio frequency (RF) BiCMOS wafer process technology. This RF BiCMOS process, with the SiGe:C and integrated RF passive modules, is a cost-effective technology for high performance wireless solutions today.

Motorola has demonstrated integrated HBTs in their RF BiCMOS flow, with performance of 45 GHz and 90 GHz for f _t and f _max respectively, at half the current of traditional SiGe transistors. The addition of carbon provides excellent manufacturing latitude and a low noise figure. Motorola is able to achieve these performance characteristics with the addition of only one masking step into a proven mainstream process. The result is a cost-effective technology that lends itself to system-on-chip solutions, providing substantial cost efficiency for wireless applications such as radio architectures with optimized system partitioning.