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IBM offers chip foundry services for wireless

IBM has expanded its device foundry services to include CMOS and SiGe technologies designed for the production of wireless chips.
IBM has decided to offer foundry services for various process technologies through its chip manufacturing facility in Burlington, Vermont. The processes span CMOS and SiGe-based bipolar technologies and extend down to the 180 nm level.

Chips can be designed in these processes for use in wireless applications such as cell phones, wireless networks, automotive sensors and storage devices. According to iSuppli, the market for RF and mixed-signal ICs is estimated to be over $30 billion in 2003, and will command an 18.8% share of the total semiconductor market by 2007.

IBM says that it has built a portfolio of the most advanced foundry technologies for wireless applications. "With this announcement, we are demonstrating yet again IBM s intent to bring our most advanced technologies to bear for our customers,” said James Doyle, VP of foundry services at IBM Microelectronics.

IBM says that its CMOS 7RF process is ideal for low-cost wireless applications such as Bluetooth technologies, handsets and RF identification tags. The transistors support analog RF-compatible models. This technology offers a wide range of optional passive features to enable analog designs, and the design kit and design tools match those available for BICMOS 7WL.

The BiCMOS 7WL process uses IBM s SiGe technology with deep trench isolation and a partially self-aligned bipolar structure. The technology is best suited for higher performance wireless applications such as local area networks and cellular phones. The use of copper wiring at the first metal level and aluminum wiring at the remaining metal levels, along with other innovative processing techniques, reduces the product complexity and processing time compared to standard BiCMOS products.

IBM’s BiCMOS 7HP process incorporates a high-performance SiGe bipolar device optimized for high-speed or low-power applications. It is ideally suited for 40-100 GHz applications, such as fiber-optic transceivers, test instrumentation and automotive proximity sensors.

Customers have already voiced their approval. "Our first silicon 7HP hardware returned from the fab meeting production quality standards, which speaks highly of IBM s new process and ensures that we are able to get these next-generation ICs into production quickly," said Jack Hurt, director of foundry relations at Tektronix. "We are seeing good correlation with the modeling, and other testing results have been extremely positive at this stage of the implementation."

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