MagnaChip Semiconductor, a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, announced Monday that it now offers a new 0.18 micron RFSOI process with enhanced switching performance.
Compared to the previous 1.5/2.5V process, this new switch-centric process created specifically for 2.5V reduces manufacturing cost and time-to-market, while providing improved performance for antenna switches used in mobile and Internet-of-Things devices for wireless connectivity.
The new 0.18 micron RFSOI process reduces insertion loss by 20% at 2GHz and low harmonics of better than -60dBm at 35dBm power level. This process, which has successfully been demonstrated with an SP8T (Single Pole Eight Throw) switch, builds on a trap-rich, high-resistivity substrate to suppress harmonic distortion. It also provides additional transistors with useful options such as floating body, low leakage, and enables a reduction in area of approximately 18 percent, from our previous process, for the integration of multiple RF and analog functions onto a smaller die.
Available process options also include a 27-volt metal-inductor-metal capacitor, geometry scalable inductor, high resistivity poly resistor, MOS varactor, and up to 4 layers of metal with 4-micron thick top metal for rich power handling.
There are several benefits to using the new 0.18 micron 2.5V RFSOI process. The primary benefit is that it is a cost effective process. It offers a 150fs of Ron Coff using aluminum for metal1 and reduces the number of photo steps by approximately 15 percent as compared to the industry standard by one poly silicon layer and four metal layers (1P4M).
By reducing the number of mask layers, customers will reduce costs and improve their time-to-market with a shorter turnaround time in the fab. Ron Coff is a figure of merit used to rate the performance of an RF switch.
Another important benefit is that it has robust breakdown at above 4V while also maintaining Ron Coff at 150fs. Through high BV (Breakdown Voltage), the stack number of switch is reduced, resulting in chip size reduction.
“The addition of the switch-centric 2.5V process to our RFSOI technology portfolio is another example of MagnaChip’s strong commitment to our foundry customers, who continually desire cost-competitive and high-performing RFSOI processes,” said YJ Kim, CEO of MagnaChip. “We will continue to offer differentiated processes and expand our RFSOI process offerings to meet the growing and highly specific technology requirements of our global customer-base.”
MagnaChip had announced in January that it now offers a 0.35 micron 700V Ultra High Voltage process technology with process simplification that reduces manufacturing time and cost. This Ultra High Voltage (UHV) process offers 700V nLDMOS, 700V JFET, 30V n/pMOS(Vg=Vd=30V) and 5.5V CMOS devices that are ideal for manufacturing AC-DC converter ICs and LED driver ICs.
Millions of home appliances use AC power, but there also are many millions of high-performance and cost-sensitive products in high-growth markets that use AC-DC chargers, AC-DC converter ICs and LED driver ICs.
The demanding technical specifications of these products require substantial improvements in the price-performance of the UHV process technology used in the manufacture of AC-DC converter ICs or LED driver ICs, particularly for the industrial lighting market.
