由技術比較及市場趨勢來探討半導體矽鍺(SiGe)製程技術在射頻元件上的發展

Abstract

半導體發展五十年來，促成資訊產業的蓬勃發展。而半導體技術的更易往往衝擊現有產業的生態。觀察近十年來，無線通訊的快速發展，促使射頻晶片快速成長，而生產射頻晶片的ⅢⅤ族砷化鎵半導體技術更是這一兩年來半導體界另一波投資的熱潮。雖然砷化鎵高頻特性良好，不過無法與目前主流的矽製程結合，這一個缺點在晶片朝向整合的趨勢下越顯其缺憾。 IBM於1998年發表了高頻的矽鍺製程，直接影響到射頻元件的市場，本論文將就製程技術、元件特性的比較以及產業的發展現況來探討矽鍺(SiGe)半導體製程技術在射頻元件(RF IC)上的發展與未來的趨勢，並提供國內投入ⅢⅤ族砷化鎵(GaAs)半導體製程技術業者一個新的產業機會與潛在威脅的參考。

The fifty-year advancement of semiconductor has resulted in the prosperous development of information technology. Also, the frequent evolution of semiconductor technology has easily made an change on current industry environment. During the recent ten years, the rapid development in wireless communication has made the swift achievement in Radio Frequency IC (RF IC). Besides, the GaAs semiconductor technology used for RF IC becomes a hot topic for semiconductor investment in recent years. Although GaAs has good performance of high frequency , it cannot be integrated with main stream Si-base semiconductor technology. This is the fatal disadvantage of GaAs for future tendency of SOC (System On a Chip) technology. In 1998, IBM had announced the SiGe technology for high frequency IC, which has direct influence on RF IC market. This paper is intended to study the future development and influence of SiGe semiconductor technology on RF IC market by comparing device characters and technology trend between SiGe and GaAs. In addition, this study is expected to provide a reference for a new opportunity and potential threat to investors of GaAs semiconductor technology.