ABSTRACT
Silicon–germanium (SiGe) bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) has become a dominant technology for the implementation of radio-frequency (RF) circuits by providing performance, power consumption, and noise advantages over standard CMOS while leveraging the same manufacturing infrastructure. This chapter reviews SiGe BiCMOS technology and provides a basic understanding of how SiGe devices achieve a performance advantage over traditional bipolar and CMOS devices. It reviews historical application drivers for SiGe technology and projects a roadmap of SiGe performance well into the future. The chapter discusses many of the components built around SiGe devices that are part of modern SiGe BiCMOS technologies and make them useable for advanced Radiofrequency (RF) product design. It reviews how SiGe provides an advantage over CMOS and gallium arsenide (GaAs) in key circuit blocks such as low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and power amplifiers and provides a glimpse of future, higher speed applications with a survey of some results in 60 GHz receivers, 40 Gb/s circuits, and high-frequency radar.
