欧盟DOTSEVEN项目目标是把硅锗异质结双极晶体管性能从fmax 500GHz提高到700GHz

CT209-RF2THZ的SISOC-从射频到毫米波和太赫兹的SoC芯片技术

To meet the needs of future radio frequency (RF) and high-speed equipment, the CATRENE RF2THz project aims to develop silicon technology platforms for emerging RF, millimetre-wave (MMW) and THz consumer applications such as 77/120 GHz automotive radars, MMW imaging and sensing, fast measurement equipment, 60 GHz wireless networking and fast downloading systems, 400 Gbit/s fibre optics data communications systems, 4G photonic mobile communications and high performance RF wireless communication systems as well as two-way satellite communications systems. It also targets MMW and THz applications in health science, materials science, genetic screening, security and industrial automation.European communications equipment suppliers are only able to be competitive against their Far East rivals through higher performance enabled by innovative products based on the latest semi­conductor technologies. They rely on early access to powerful microelectronics technology plat­forms to maintain their leading position world­wide. Successful research and development (R&D) on ultra-high-performance communica­tions equipment must therefore be based on the close interaction of all players in the vertical technological supply chain.

Until now, relatively little effort has been made to close the THz frequency gap in the application spectrum of microelectronics communications technologies. The CATRENE CT209 RF2THZ SISOC project will focus on the technological and design-related prerequisites for the necessary THz-range applications.

As this discipline is still in its infancy, it is ne-cessary to prepare the foundations. The close co-operation of experts from technology development, design methodology and application areas will accelerate the necessary process enor­mously. Consequently, European manufacturers may be able to gain a leading position and be the first to place applications on this important future market.

New BiCMOS technologies

RF2THZ SISOC will involve development of new bipolar plus CMOS (BiCMOS) technologies. For this purpose, one of the partners will integrate and optimise silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) and back-end modules developed in previous projects in an advanced 55 nm CMOS technology. This will make possible a 0.5 THz 55 nm SiGe BiCMOS platform suitable for RF, MMW and THz system-on-chip (SoC) applications.

One partner will follow an integral approach to focus on improvements and breakthroughs in BiCMOS technology for the essential high-perfor­mance passive RF components. The necessary MMW packaging and the required RF testing solu­tions will also form part of this project. Another partner will develop silicon photonics devices for future silicon photonics foundry offerings.

After optimisation, characterisation of the THz, MMW and RF components will be carried out and models will be adapted and model parameters extracted. Design blocks will be developed both for full function integration and for design-for-test (DfT) or built-in self-test (BIST) introduction and full demonstrators will be assembled. Exploration of some promising advanced applications will also take place.

 Three project partners have complementary technologies so they aim to collaborate to address directly different portions of the THz, MMW, RF and photonic markets. Furthermore, the development of high performance passive devices will be used as input for benchmarking back-end performance of 55 nm BiCMOS technology.

Two project partners will co-operate on photon­ics device development in the new BiCMOS technology to preserve the future integration of such components together with the high level digital integration required for SoC applica­tions in a European foundry.

Challenging global competition

This CATRENE project builds on one of the strongest European fields of expertise in micro­electronics and offers true European differenti­ating technologies with respect to US and Asian foundries. Consequently, it will strengthen European R&D and microelectronics businesses.

RF2THZ SISOC represents a European counter­balance to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency SWIFT programme. It will strengthen the discipline of RF circuit and sys­tem design, which has been traditionally strong and vital in European countries such as Germany. This will help avoid future depend­ence on expertise from the Far East or other markets outside the EU. The combination of photonics and extremely fast high-performance microelectronics should represent serious competition to developments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and IBM in the USA.

The MMW market segment has historically been held by III-V semiconductor technologies. Due to the high manufacturing cost, high power consumption and limited integration scale of those technologies, this market has remained limited as a niche by comparison with the total semiconductor market.

However, the situation is changing rapidly, with silicon now being considered as the default semiconductor material for addressing more and more applications. This is due to a signifi­cant increase in the frequency performance of active silicon devices – cut-off frequencies ft/fmax, larger than 300 and 500 GHz respec­tively, are targeted by SiGeC bipolar transistor devices – an fmax of 425 GHz has already been reached at room temperature.

Higher degree of integration

With regard to radar transceiver applications at 77 GHz and above, all of the main critical circuit building blocks, such as low-noise amplifiers, mixers, voltage-controlled oscillators and power amplifiers, have now been demonstrated.

Thanks to the MEDEA+ SIAM project, a MMW SiGeC BiCMOS technology is now available in Europe for the full integration of complex sys­tems operating at MMW frequencies. For the integration of future full systems operating at higher frequencies – at or above 100 GHz and approaching the THz domain – or for RF and MMW, very low and ultra-low-power systems together with a higher level of digital integra­tion require a dedicated THz SiGeC BiCMOS technology, which is currently not available in Europe.

A higher scale of digital integration is mandatory not only for complex SoC realisation but also to allow more and more signal treatment; pre-and post-distortion; on-chip calibration; pro­cess, voltage and temperature compensation; and DfT and BIST, as well as the implementation of analogue, RF and MMW performance enhancement being developed in the ENIAC MIRANDELA project.

Previously, silicon technologies were mainly driven by the frequency performance of the bipolar or CMOS devices. Improvement of these active devices is required between technology generations. However, high performance pas­sive devices and technology back ends are also mandatory to meet application require­ments – such as low parasitic capacitance, low-loss transmission lines, high quality factor inductance and variable capacitance – and also have to be improved between generations.

This CATRENE project aims to provide answers to all of these complex issues and is expected to improve business and employment oppor­tunities across the European microelectronics sector.