Jazz Semiconductor Announces Micron SiGe BiCMOS Process For RF Design

Newport Beach, CA -- Jazz Semiconductor announced the availability of process design kits for its SBL13 process, a 0.13µm SiGe BiCMOS technology combining high performance, low cost SiGe transistors with its low-power (1.2V), 0.13µm digital CMOS platform, CA13. The process also includes a suite of high-density passive elements for more aggressive scaling of analog device area in complex Analog Systems-on-Chip (Analog SoCs). The Jazz SBL13 process technology enables the design of cost-effective and highly integrated circuits for most wireless applications that require the combination of dense digital logic with high performance RF and analog functionality. Examples of products that can take advantage of the SBL13 process include mobile TV tuners, cellular transceivers and WLAN transceivers.

Jazz continues to expand its specialty process offerings, which currently span geometries from 0.5µm to 0.13µm and technologies that promote high performance, high voltage and high levels of integration. The latest addition is the SBL13 platform, created to address the growing need for a low cost RF process that incorporates bipolar devices for better noise and frequency performance. The SBL13 SiGe bipolar device is a Silicon Germanium transistor added to an aluminum-based 0.13µm CMOS process with minimal additional masks. The combination results in a process that is comparable in mask count to an industry standard 0.13µm RFCMOS process which typically also requires a more costly copper metallization scheme. In addition to the low cost bipolar, the process includes a stacked MIM capacitor for aggressive scaling of capacitance area and a thick top metal for inductor performance.

SBL13 uses a 1.2/3.3V dual gate oxide process to form the base CMOS, with the addition of SiGe transistors offering a range of Ft, Fmax, and BVceo for design flexibility, with an Ft up to 90GHz, Fmax up to 123GHz and BVceo up to 6V. The process also supports up to six layers of aluminum metal, a 5.6 fF/µm² linear MIM capacitor, a triple well module, Nwell resistor and unsilicided poly resistor. The top metal is 2.8µm thick aluminum to support high-Q inductors. The technology is offered through Jazz Semiconductor's integrated design environment supporting the latest EDA tools and flows for fast and accurate design cycles of RF, analog and mixed-signal products.

"The Jazz SBL13 process is the first of its kind in addressing the need in the wireless market for a low cost Silicon Germanium process at the 0.13µm node and the combination of features offered by Jazz is suited for many emerging markets including mobile TV, WLAN and 3G," said Joanne Itow, managing director, Semico Research. "These markets require the combination of digital content with good analog performance, which historically does not scale in more advanced geometries without a feature set comparable to the one offered by Jazz SBL13."

"We continue to build out our SiGe roadmap by listening to our customers, understanding end applications, and using our modular infrastructure to develop the right combination of process features to address the demands of those applications," said Marco Racanelli, vice president of technology and engineering, Jazz Semiconductor. "Our SBL13 offering is designed to provide the low power and high performance attributes of the 0.13 micron node without the high cost typically associated with it by incorporating an aluminum back-end as well as a very streamlined architecture for the bipolar device. The process can thus be used not only to provide power, noise and performance advantages but can also be adopted in more cost sensitive segments of the market."

SOURCE: Jazz Semiconductor