SiGe HBTs and BiCMOS Technology for Present and Future Millimeter-Wave Systems

Thomas Zimmer,Horst Hettrich,Björn Debaillie,Akshay Visweswaran,Philippe Ferrari,Alper Karakuzulu,Caroline Maye,Pascal Chevalier,Wolfgang Templ,Rolf Schmid,Fred Buchali,Thomas Zwick,Karsten Schuh,Tim Maiwald,Michael Collisi,Haitham Ghanem,J Böck ,Michael Møller ,Marc Margalef‐Rovira ,C Gaquière ,H Rücker ,Karina Schneider ,Mingke Deng ,Sébastien Frégonèse ,P Sakalas ,A Mukherjee

doi:10.1109/jmw.2020.3031831

Abstract

This paper gives an overall picture from BiCMOS technologies up to THz systems integration, which were developed in the European Research project TARANTO. The European high performance BiCMOS technology platforms are presented, which have special advantages for addressing applications in the submillimeter-wave and THz range. The status of the technology process is reviewed and the integration challenges are examined. A detailed discussion on millimeter-wave characterization and modeling is given with emphasis on harmonic distortion analysis, power and noise figure measurements up to 190 GHz and 325 GHz respectively and S-parameter measurements up to 500 GHz. The results of electrical compact models of active (HBTs) and passive components are presented together with benchmark circuit blocks for model verification. BiCMOS-enabled systems and applications with focus on future wireless communication systems and high-speed optical transmission systems up to resulting net data rates of 1.55 Tbit/s are presented.

Highlights

The COVID-19 crises taught us that performant communication systems for widespread use of home office, video conferences, etc. are of utmost importance for keeping economy alive, even under shutdown conditions
The superior high-frequency performance of SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) facilitates the integration of these RF functionalities on smart electronic chips with a performance that is not in reach of even most advanced pure CMOS technologies in the near future, while the combination of HBTs and CMOS allows the right combination of analog and digital performance
Compact model based harmonic distortion analysis show that the dominant non-linearity sources beyond −10 dBm of input power in investigated SiGe power-cells are related to diffusion capacitance non-linearities CBE(VBE), see Fig. 9 and CBC(VBE) as well as IB(VBE) and IC(VBE,VBC) non-linearity [31]

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 crises taught us that performant communication systems for widespread use of home office, video conferences, etc. are of utmost importance for keeping economy alive, even under shutdown conditions. The running European Research project TARANTO [1] already addresses this concern This project aimed at the establishment of the BiCMOS technology platforms with improved SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) performances and Higher Integration level needed to address High Speed & High Data Rate communication systems. TARANTO further strengthens the leading position of the European semiconductor industry in SiGe BiCMOS technology (this position is tackled by the DARPA funded research project T-Music [2]). It provides a solid industrial base for the development of new products in areas such as telecommunications, home electronics, and car electronics which are of key importance for Europe’s high-tech industries

Objectives

Results

Conclusion