Integrating power devices into silicon roadmaps

Abstract

Although silicon roadmaps have had a major impact on the progress of semiconductor technology, roadmap emphasis has largely been in the digital arena. Integration of high-voltage and high-current devices into chip designs has tended to follow the original roadmap with a delay of a year or more owing to both economic and technological factors. The resulting 'mixed-signal' roadmaps tend to be less structured company-to-company, since more opportunities exist for a variety of approaches. To aid in the understanding of mixed-signal roadmaps, this paper summarises some of the requirements for including power devices into an existing BiCMOS technology. Some of the principles that determine the integration process are described.