Si/SiGe HBT technology for low-cost monolithic microwave integrated circuits

Abstract

This silicon-based microwave integrated-circuit technology is suitable for implementation of high-performance low-cost active circuits from 5-25 GHz. This technology promises to dramatically reduce the cost of microwave integrated circuit technology by utilizing manufacturable, high-yield, silicon IC processing, and at the same time enable more highly integrated implementations of microwave transceiver components. A variety of microwave integrated circuits implemented in this technology include mixers, frequency dividers, amplifiers and VCOs, demonstrating feasibility of silicon integrated circuit technology for implementation of low-cost integrated circuits in the upper microwave spectrum.