ON Semiconductor Is Now To learn more about onsemi™, please visit our website at www.onsemi.com onsemi and and other names, marks, and brands are registered and/or common law trademarks of Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC dba “onsemi” or its affiliates and/or subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. onsemi owns the rights to a number of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property. A listing of onsemi product/patent coverage may be accessed at www.onsemi.com/site/pdf/Patent-Marking.pdf. onsemi reserves the right to make changes at any time to any products or information herein, without notice. The information herein is provided “as-is” and onsemi makes no warranty, representation or guarantee regarding the accuracy of the information, product features, availability, functionality, or suitability of its products for any particular purpose, nor does onsemi assume any liability arising out of the application or use of any product or circuit, and specifically disclaims any and all liability, including without limitation special, consequential or incidental damages. Buyer is responsible for its products and applications using onsemi products, including compliance with all laws, regulations and safety requirements or standards, regardless of any support or applications information provided by onsemi. “Typical” parameters which may be provided in onsemi data sheets and/ or specifications can and do vary in different applications and actual performance may vary over time. All operating parameters, including “Typicals” must be validated for each customer application by customer’s technical experts. onsemi does not convey any license under any of its intellectual property rights nor the rights of others. onsemi products are not designed, intended, or authorized for use as a critical component in life support systems or any FDA Class 3 medical devices or medical devices with a same or similar classification in a foreign jurisdiction or any devices intended for implantation in the human body. Should Buyer purchase or use onsemi products for any such unintended or unauthorized application, Buyer shall indemnify and holdonsemi and its officers, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, and distributors harmless against all claims, costs, damages, and expenses, and reasonable attorney fees arising out of, directly or indirectly, any claim of personal injury or death associated with such unintended or unauthorized use, even if such claim alleges that onsemi was negligent regarding the design or manufacture of the part. onsemi is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. This literature is subject to all applicable copyright laws and is not for resale in any manner. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. AND8068/D Chips that Rip SiGe Activates the Next Generation of Broadband Communication Devices http://onsemi.com APPLICATION NOTE New broadband communication applications and • Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switches devices promise much. To fulfill their promise, • Passive Optical Network (PON) manufacturers must find integrated circuit (IC) technology • Smart ATM+Internet Protocol (IP) networking that continues to push performance higher while driving switches, routers and access concentrators total cost per gigabit lower. Broadband communication has • unique characteristics that are fast pushing traditional High–speed optical switches and terabit routers CMOS technology to its limit. The race is on to find new • Gigabit Ethernet links materials that will deliver high performance for • Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) high–frequency applications while maintaining the metro–area equipment manufacturability and price point required for • 3G Wireless voice and data networks cost–effective mass production. Several new materials • Point–to–Point Microwave Communications show promise. Gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium Equipment phosphide (InP), and silicon germanium (SiGe) materials • Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions deliver significant performance advantages over CMOS. • ON Semiconductor has carefully evaluated the benefits of Network Attached Storage Equipment each and selected SiGe for its next generation of broadband Not Just Any Chips communication ICs. With ultra–low noise performance, solid speed and power characteristics, ease of The steeply rising broadband equipment market, multi–channel integration and wide support for traditional therefore, results in projectile estimates for broadband silicon processing techniques – ON Semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs). Not just any ICs, however. As believes that the best choice for next–generation demand for communication speed and distance intensifies, broadband IC products is SiGe. so does the need for new semiconductor materials that can cost–effectively meet the unique demands of broadband Keeping Talk Cheap – The Market for Low–Cost, communication devices. High–Functionality Communication ICs Stand near any airport arrival gate or baggage claim area 9000 and you’ll see the future before your eyes. Wireless phones 8000 sprout from pockets like weeds after a spring rain. Wildfire adoption of wireless and optical communication 7000 technologies is driving demand for new chip capabilities. 6000 Broadband applications that can put data, voice and 5000 high–bandwidth, delay–sensitive services like videoconferencing into the palm of a hand need gigahertz 4000 Internet speeds and miniscule footprints. 3000 ICs Demand for applications and services naturally creates in Millions (USD) Sales a market for devices that can deliver them. Networking 2000 equipment manufacturers are pitted against each other to 1000 deliver more bandwidth through a dizzying range of core 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000E 2001E and access networking products, including: • Source: Salomon Smith Barney Various Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) systems Figure 1. Internet IC Sales • Cable modems Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC, 2001 1 Publication Order Number: May, 2001 – Rev. 0 AND8068/D AND8068/D One such unique demand is high scalability. While device can be recouped over a large installation or many today’s conventional Complementary Metal–Oxide users. A second drawback of GaAs is that it is a bit finicky. Semiconductors (CMOSs) aren’t going away anytime It is not conducive to applications that require high levels soon, they do have limits. As networked communication of integration to combining multiple functionality on a technologies, such as Synchronous Optical Network single chip. Finally, the thermal properties of GaAs are (SONET), push data transport speeds toward 40 gigabits three times worse than traditional silicon, so heat removal per second (Gbps), CMOS can’t keep up. In fact, according can be a challenge. Therefore, for broadband to the Semiconductor Industry Association of San Jose, communication that requires multiservice capabilities, Calif., within the next ten to twelve years, most known GaAs is not the best choice. semiconductor technologies will be approaching – or will have reached – their limits. Indium Phosphide–Small and Super–sensitive In addition to having high scalability, broadband Ultra–high speed and highly sensitive at detecting and communication ICs must minimize noise and distortion emitting light–indium phosphide (InP) will be used for levels that interfere with radio frequency (RF) high–performance applications. These applications will be transmission, reception, and reliability. To assure high found in 40 Gbps fiber–optic systems and high–frequency performance at high speeds, ICs for broadband must also transceivers. InP is expensive, making it impractical for be reliable – that is, they must be able to resist degradation large–scale applications. It also presents manufacturing over time. Finally, they must be manufacturable. challenges. Too–fragile materials result in high defect rates and low Today, InP substrates are smaller than conventional cost–effectiveness. Too–temperamental materials limit the CMOS substrates, which means they require special number of functions that can be integrated on a chip. fabrication processes and yield significantly less usable Ideally, broadband communication ICs must be robust material per wafer. Their high sensitivity also has a enough for standard CMOS fabrication and able to negative side – InP compounds must be highly precise in integrate with existing CMOS circuits. composition, and like other III–V materials, the wafers are extremely fragile. InP compounds that vary even slightly New Materials. New Options. New Trade–Offs. compromise reliability. And small fragile wafers Conventional CMOS devices have been the subject of significantly limit production yields – contributing to their research and development for almost 50 years. Today, they already higher cost. TRW recently has announced the first are the workhorse ICs found in virtually every computing high–volume production line for InP fabrication, which device made. Easy to manufacture with standard fab may ease the manufacturing issues for OEM customers, but processes and highly cost–effective, CMOS will remain the there is still much work to be done to approach the cost mainstay for many applications. However, communication effectiveness and reliability of CMOS. requirements for RF or efficient light–emitting properties spurred research into new materials and combinations. Silicon Germanium–Broadband’s Best Bet These new combinations are formed from elements found Silicon germanium (SiGe)