GlobalFoundries begins client prototyping of first 300mm SiGe foundry technology

GlobalFoundries of Santa Clara, CA, USA (one of the world’s largest semiconductor foundries, with operations in Singapore, Germany and the USA) says that its 9HP silicon germanium (SiGe) process is now available for prototyping on its 300mm wafer manufacturing platform.

The firm says that the move signifies the strong growth in data-center and high-speed wired/wireless applications that can leverage the scale advantages of a 300mm manufacturing footprint. By tapping into GlobalFoundries’ 300mm manufacturing expertise, clients can exploit increased production efficiency and reproducibility for high-speed applications such as optical networks, 5G millimeter-wave wireless communications and automotive radar.

GlobalFoundries manufactures SiGe solutions on its 200mm production line in Burlington, Vermont. The migration of 9HP, a 90nm SiGe process, to 300mm wafers manufactured at the firm’s Fab 10 facility in East Fishkill, NY, establishes a 300mm foothold for further roadmap development, ensuring continued technology performance enhancements and scaling, reckons the firm.

“The increasing complexity and performance demands of high-bandwidth communication systems have created the need for higher-performance silicon solutions,” says Christine Dunbar, VP of the RF business unit. “9HP is specifically designed to provide outstanding performance, and in 300mm manufacturing will support our client’s requirements for high-speed wired and wireless components that will shape future data communications,” she adds.

The 9HP process extends a history of high-performance SiGe BiCMOS technologies designed to support the massive growth in extremely high data rates at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies for the next generation of wireless networks and communications infrastructure, such as terabit-level optical networks, 5G mmWave and satellite communications (SATCOM) and instrumentation and defense systems. The technology is said to offer superior low-current/high-frequency performance with improved heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) performance and up to a 35% increase in maximum oscillation frequency (Fmax) to 370GHz compared with its predecessors, SiGe 8XP and 8HP.

Client prototyping of 9HP on 300mm at Fab 10 in East Fishkill, NY on multi-project wafers (MPWs) is underway now, with qualified process and design kits scheduled in second-quarter 2019.

See related items:

GlobalFoundries refocusing FinFET development from 7nm to 14/12nm to target high-growth markets, including RF SOI and SiGe

GlobalFoundries unveils roadmap for next-generation 5G mmWave applications

GlobalFoundries releases 130nm SiGe 8XP performance-enhanced RF technology, optimized for 5G wireless networks

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Visit: www.globalfoundries.com/SiGe