GLOBALFOUNDRIES has announced a next-generation radio-frequency (RF) silicon solution for their Silicon Germanium (SiGe) high-performance technology portfolio. This technology is optimized for customers who need improved performance solutions for automotive radar, satellite communications, 5G millimeter-wave base stations and other wireless and wireline communication network applications.
The SiGe 8XP technology is the latest extension to their 130nm high-performance SiGe family and enables customers to develop RF solutions that deliver even faster data throughput, over greater distances, while consuming less power. This advanced technology offers an improved heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) performance with lower noise figure, higher signal integrity, and up to a 25 percent increase in maximum oscillation frequency (fMAX) to 340 GHz compared to its predecessor, SiGe 8HP.
The complexity and performance demands of high bandwidth communication systems operating in the mmWave frequency bands have created the need for higher performance silicon solutions. This creates opportunities for high-performance SiGe solutions in the RF front end of 5G smartphones and other mmWave phased array consumer applications in addition to the current applications that depend on SiGe for high performance, such as the communications infrastructure base stations, backhaul, satellite and fiber optic networks.
With tomorrow’s 5G deployments poised to drive a proliferation of base stations with smaller cell areas, SiGe 8HP and 8XP are designed to help offer a balance of value, power output, efficiency, low noise, and linearity at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies for differentiated RF solutions in next-generation mobile infrastructure hardware and smartphone RF front ends. Their SiGe 8HP and 8XP high-performance offerings enable chip designers to integrate significant digital and RF functionality while exploiting a more economical silicon technology base compared to gallium arsenide (GaAs) and higher performance than CMOS.
In addition to high performance transistors for efficient operation at mmWave frequencies, SiGe8HP and 8XP introduce technology innovations that can reduce the die size and enable area-efficient solutions. A new Cu metallization feature provides improved current carrying capabilities with five times the current density at a 100C, or up to 25 degrees C higher operating temperature at the same current density compared to standard Cu lines.
